Mounds of soil were blasted out of the earth and shattered window glass lay strewn across the clubhouse floor. In 1944, a supersonic German V-2 rocket had struck New Beckenham, at south London cricket club founded out of the ashes of the First World War.
Against all odds, the NBCC survived the strike and continued to call the ground home for more than a century. Now they have been told they must “vacate the ground and remove all equipment” by 13 October. Eighty-two years after enduring one existential threat, they fear they are being bulldozed aside by a Premier League giant.
Around the adjacent Copers Cope Road, Crystal Palace already own a training ground and the academy next door. The HSBC Group Sports Club, which hosts the cricket club, will soon be added to that portfolio. Contracts have now been signed, the land sale has been agreed. The deal is expected to run into the millions.
It is a trend across the urban jungle connecting Croydon, Lewisham and Bromley, where the enduring rattle of cage football is credited with producing a disproportionate number of Premier League players. Green spaces disappear. Multiplex elite training centres pop up.
Concern and uncertainty
“If the sale completes and the site is no longer available to us, we face the possibility of being without a home ground for four Saturday league teams, two Sunday senior sides, junior training and matches, ECB All Stars and Dynamos programmes and winter training and community cricket activity,” Alpen Patel, the NBCC’s Junior Chairman, tells The i Paper.
“This affects hundreds of players across all age groups and raises significant concerns about continuity, player development, and access to cricket in the local area. Across both senior and junior sections, the response has been one of concern and uncertainty.”
Palace are planning to extend their training facilities (Photo: Getty)Palace confirmed to The i Paper that they are “in the process of acquiring the Beckenham Sports Ground, with the sale expected to complete in the middle of 2027”. An HSBC spokesperson said they “continuously review our estate”.
The NBCC fear that even if they find an alternative home, they will not have a surface of similar quality to the current pitch, which has hosted the Women’s World Cup.
Players told The i Paper how “upsetting” it was that the decision had been taken out of their hands. In a landscape where cricket clubs are often criticised for a lack of diversity, New Beckenham is particularly prized because of its accessible fees, emphasis on girls’ cricket and adult and junior sections for cricketers of all abilities.
It is understood HSBC will offer to work with the cricket club as they search for a new venue. It is not the first time the banking group has sold off a cricket ground, handing Sheffield United the reins to Limb Lane in Yorkshire so the Championship club could develop the plot into a men’s training ground in 2024.
Palace’s off-field revolution
Palace’s current training ground, which opened in 2021 and cost £20m, has been further revamped over the summer. The players’ gym has been expanded to reach two storeys, media facilities have been refreshed, and the groundsmen have been given more space for equipment.
The club has already had to navigate one complex battle over their plans to redevelop the Main Stand at Selhurst Park. Now the wrecking ball has finally begun to roll. Six houses in nearby Wooderson Close have been demolished and the land behind the stand has been cleared.
Between home matches, work is underway to increase the ground’s capacity from 25,486 to over 34,000 and the away dressing room was relocated before the first home game, a 4-1 defeat to Manchester City last month.
Selhurst Park’s Main Stand project is getting underway (Photo: Getty)The Main Stand’s reception and several hospitality lounges have been removed, along with the fan zone outside. KSS Group, an architecture firm, are dealing with the redevelopment which is expected to cost at least £200m – significantly more than originally envisaged.
Palace are fighting on two different fronts. Croydon Council has jurisdiction over the stadium area, with planning permission unanimously granted in April 2018. Bromley Council, on the other hand, are responsible for Beckenham, where the new expansion will be.
Palace were previously renting their own training ground but finally acquired the existing site in 2013 for £2.3m. The nearby Academy has six largely synthetic football pitches, an outdoor 3G pitch with floodlights, a pitch with a 500-seater stand and a 3G indoor pitch with a sprinkler system. There is also a medical centre and classrooms and lecture theatres, with more than 200 young players on the club’s books.
Read more
Crystal Palace: FFP latest, how it affects January and if they risk sanction Kat Lucas: There is method to Crystal Palace’s madnessWhat else is happening at Palace?
Three-and-a-half thousand miles from south London, co-owner David Blitzer is also part of a consortium investing $1bn (£739m) in a new arena for his Philadelphia 76ers basketball franchise.
Meanwhile Crystal Palace Women, who play in Sutton at the same venue as the U21s, are braced for the verdict of a WSL investigation after making substitutions in four separate windows, rather than the permitted maximum of three, in a recent match against Everton. Punishments could include a fine or points deduction, depending on how leniently the league look upon the case given the error was inadvertent.
Hence then, the article about the upsetting row over crystal palace s controversial new training ground was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The ‘upsetting’ row over Crystal Palace’s controversial new training ground )
Also on site :
- Walmart’s ‘Vintage-Style’ $15 Cordless Milk Glass Lamp Has All the Retro Charm of an Antique Store Find
- The Trump Family’s Ireland Trip: From a Bathroom Mirror Selfie with the President to Twinning with Don Jr.
- ‘The Last Photograph’ Review: DC’s Zack Snyder Comes Back Down To Earth With A Violent But Surprisingly Human Action Drama – Toronto Film Festival