Aston Villa Star Makes Plea on Behalf of His Former Team in Chiswick

Old Meadonians say club and school football jeopardised in row with Hounslow Council

Riverside Lands football pitches

Aston Villa star Albert Adomah has said that it would be 'terrible' if increased fees being demanded by Hounslow Council to allow Old Meadonians to use the Riverside Lands grounds at Dukes Meadows led to the club closing down.

He expressed concern over the threatened future of his former football club, Old Meadonians where he played as a teenager in Chiswick before turning professional.

Just before narrowly missing out in the Championship playoff final at Wembley on Saturday, Albert said he was sad to hear that Old Meads might be forced off its traditional playing fields because of the dispute with Hounslow Council.

Albert while playing at Old Meads

Although a management agreement between the Council and the football club runs for another 10 years, the council is now proposing a new agreement with a £10,000 per annum increase in fees. Additionally it wants to cut back on the number of football pitches, to increase those given over to rugby.

Old Meads says the Council's plan to change funding would force them to halve the number of teams it can run and would mean that Sunday and Youth football in Chiswick would be severely reduced. The Council has been engaged in talks with Old Meads since FA Parklife pulled out of its £3.5m investment to transform facilities at the home ground, when the club refused to support the Parklife model.

"The combination of a huge increase in pitch costs with a simultaneous reduction in the number of footballers paying to use them is likely to drive Old Meadonians out of existence", Old Meads said.

When asked about the situation Albert said, “I loved my time playing for the Meadonians and appreciate how much the club does to support grassroots football in Chiswick. It would be terrible to see them have to close down.”

Old Meadonians have maintained their own football pitches at Dukes Meadows since 2001. When the council announced then that they could no longer afford to provide the service, the football club agreed to do cut the grass, mark the pitches, and improve the land, and to do the same for the adjacent rugby pitches of Chiswick Rugby Club.

While Hounslow Council is now proposing a new agreement with a £10,000 per annum increase in fees, at the same time, Chiswick Rugby Club (CRFC) is seeking to expand its presence on Dukes Meadows by taking over the management of some of the football pitches. The rugby club’s desire to become a mixed sports club, is, according to Old Meads, apparently driven by a desire to control enough facilities to allow them to be rented to Independent Schools from outside the borough.

A request by CRFC to Hounslow Council to extend the demise of their recently granted 50 year lease from 32% to 50% of Riverside Lands would result in the number of pitches available to OMFC being reduced from the existing 9 to 6 and the Old Meads say these new pitches are in the least desirable parts of Riverside Lands and there is a lack of suitable space to accommodate junior football pitches.

According to Old Meads, the change in funding would force the football club to halve the number of teams it can run and would mean that Sunday and Youth football in Chiswick would be severely reduced. The combination of a huge increase in pitch costs with a simultaneous reduction in the number of footballers paying to use them could drive Old Meadonians out of existence.

“We are hugely concerned that our ability to provide community football in Chiswick will end if these proposals are allowed to continue” said Derek Barnett, Chairman of Old Meadonians. “As a long standing custodian of Dukes Meadows we are enthusiastic about the council's efforts to redevelop and improve the area for all sports clubs and for the wider community. We hope we can convince the council to speak to us openly to find a solution that works for all”.

Old Meadonians estimates that the saving to the Council by the club managing the pitches since 2001 is over £500,000.

Hounslow Council's Masterplan for Dukes Meadows offered a significant investment to improve the facilities for football on the site through the Football Association Parklife Programme. Old Meadonians were offered preferred partner status with input to the design and operational model. The Council submitted its planning application for the development of sports facilities at Riverside Lands to include, amongst others, the provision of a rugby Artificial Turf Pitch (ATP), an extension to the existing CRFC clubhouse building and the provision, under the Parklife programme, for a new football pavilion and two football ATPs. Planning approval was granted.

However, OMFC had serious concerns over the proposed project costs and the uncertainties regarding the available funding. The club felt that any funding gap would result in cut-backs to the pavilion design such that the club would have access to fewer facilities than those currently available. In addition, even as a Partner Club, Old Meadonians felt they were likely to pay significantly more than the club could afford. This was coupled with the fact that the club would have less security of tenure than under the current arrangements. Consequently the club voted to not support the Parklife proposal. Subsequently Parklife informed the council that, due to the existence of the Management Agreement, they no longer viewed Riverside Lands as sustainable and wished to look for other sites for their project.

What was described as "positive on-going dialogue" then took place between the club and Hounslow Council to consider an alternative solution that would be a better fit for Old Meadonians FC. However, the talks appear to have fallen apart, principally because of the increased rent but also because of the move for an extension of the rugby clubs to 50 per cent of Riverside Lands instead of the current 32 per cent.

It is believed the rugby club is seeking to obtain funding from an out-of-borough independent school to assist with their development work in exchange for a ‘package’ that would include use of their rugby pitches, the hockey ATP (under arrangement with Barnes Hockey Club) and two grass football pitches under their control. Thus Old Meadonians would be reduced to 6 adult football pitches in what they claim is the least desirable part of Riverside Lands. Junior and youth football pitches would disappear.

CRFC development work on their site started on 21 May 2018.

Asked about the situation, Hounslow Council recently said it was in discussions with the Football Foundation with regard to the structure of the funding for the football facilities on site and there was still some work to be done. "The County FA have stated that the Football Foundation would welcome the proposals for the developments at Dukes Meadows and continue to work in partnership with Hounslow Council."

The RFU is investing £1.3 million to lay an artificial pitch and also added additional funds which means they can play on it more often and share with other rugby clubs to expand the game. Chiswick Rugby Club have said they have been hugely impressed with the support so far from the RFU.

May 27, 2018