Moving goalposts is below the belt

I am currently youth team manager at Racing Club Warwick and as a club, we are looking to set up more junior teams alongside our U14s, who currently play in the Coventry League this season.

In and around Racing Club, there are lots of children who are desperate to have the opportunity to play for a team - I see some of them on a Sunday morning at our Mini Racers sessions. They want to play on a proper pitch, with safe and up to date equipment, in a proper kit and in an environment where they can be safe and learn the game regardless of ability levels.

Ask most local clubs in the area what is the hardest thing about setting this up and they will tell you that it is finding somewhere to play that is both local and doesn’t cost too much. So imagine my disappointment when our club recently received a letter from the district council stating that if the club did not agree to meet with the district council to discuss the club’s lease, then the football posts on the racecourse would be taken down! That threat has now been carried out and for the first time in many years, there is no football pitch on the racecourse.

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The letter was sent on behalf of Councillor Doody and I for one would like to know why the councillor feels that depriving local children of a place to play football, on common ground, can help resolve the issues between the district council and Racing Club.

I can fully understand the second part of his letter with regard to taking away the club’s 34 allocated parking spaces and closing the car park at 8pm. This will obviously have a financial impact on both the club and its members and is just another obstacle that the district council can put up as they try to push the club towards closure. However, taking away the football pitches that are available to the whole community, and used regularly by local children in the school holidays, seems to be hitting a little below the belt.

At a time when we are trying to revive the fortunes of, not just Racing Club but the area as a whole (we currently have the Scouts on our site as well as the local boxing club), it’s a shame that the district council seem to have a different agenda. Hopefully, someone from the council will write in and explain exactly what that agenda is! - Phil Haycock, Barnack Drive, Warwick.

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