London Wasps

There is now every chance the club could leave Adams Park following Wycombe District Council’s decision to ditch the controversial stadium project at Booker.

This piece is not a criticism of that decision because I had no strong view either way on that issue, despite claims of bias against me from both sides of the fence.

Whatever your view of the stadium project, the fact remains the fall-out from it could mean Wasps go. The club has previously suggested it would have no future in High Wycombe if the sports complex at Booker didn’t go ahead.

Lots of non-Wasps fans opposed to the stadium replied good riddance and buzz off. I do understand this point of view because residents do not want to be coerced into building an unwanted complex on the green belt just to satisfy a club which has London at the front of its name.

However, I do think every reasonable effort must be made to try to find a solution to keep Wasps in town, if it’s really proven that Adams Park is unviable.

Cynics have suggested online that our attempts to help Wasps (a similar piece was written in the Bucks Free Press last week by Sports Editor Alan Feldberg) are a ploy to help prepare owner Steve Hayes launch a stadium appeal.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The democratically-elected council has spoken and its decision should be respected because, in my view, it does represent the will of the people – or at least the people who have bothered to tune in to this debate. There should be no appeal for Booker and that should be an end to it.

Now, the main priority should be finding a way to turn the club into the Wycombe Wasps.

Most other towns would die to have a professional sports club of this status; instead, many would prefer Wycombe just to die RATHER than have this club of ‘outsiders’.

I played rugby just once as a kid and ended up in A&E with a sprained thumb.

The sport also gave me one of my worst professional embarrassments when I went to a rugger night at the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe. I was introduced to a large chap, but didn’t quite catch his name, so I foolishly asked if he read the Bucks Free Press.

He gave me a puzzled look and it was only afterwards that I learnt he was the keynote speaker and his name was Willie John McBride, a former captain of the British Lions.

But what I do know about rugby is that Wasps mean prestige, money and constant air-play for Wycombe. The club gives rugby-obsessed kids local role models and makes our town a focal point rather than just a sleeping place for commuters.

If Wasps win, then the glory reflects on Wycombe and people begin to feel pride in where they live as a result.

The cynics are bound to rubbish this, and indeed some won’t be happy until Wasps are back in London, Wycombe Wanderers are back in the non-league and the Eden Centre is smashed down in favour of resurrecting the old Octagon in the town centre.

But consider this. If Wasps go, then so does the considerable ground share they pay to Wanderers at Adams Park, which will leave the football club in an even more precarious state.

Wasps and Wanderers currently have the same admin staff, so will they be duplicated at extra cost?

I admit, I don’t know the answers, and as usual I will be trashed by the anonymous critics on various websites.

But mark my words, this is a perilous time for our main sporting clubs. Victors of the stadium saga should enjoy their moment in the sun because they have earned it. But equally they should be careful not to rub it in for too long, because in the end we might all be losers in this.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, involved in this saga should now bury the hatchet, come together and work out how best to deliver professional sport in High Wycombe.