Changes

With Bristol's season going from bad to worse, is it too much to expect that the current round of changes herald a new direction?

Are we about to see a new management team taking over, with Chris Booy as chairman? What about further investment?

Endgame

For the third time in a decade, Bristol Rugby Club's future is uncertain. Many long term Bris fans are greeting this with weary resignation rather than indignant outrage. It's not that our affection for this fantastic old club is any less, but twice now we've seen this to and fro of rumour and denial and it's depressingly familiar.

Depressing, because we know that with our rugby heritage and the massive rugby community that is the greater Bristol area this club could and should be one of the most successful in the country.

It's almost impossible to pick out fact from fiction at present. Certainly, Bristol did not help themselves with their appeal for investment. So far none has appeared, and it seems to have done no more than power the rumour mill.

The club admit that they are suffering in the current economic climate, but that they are not in immediate danger. This is not the spin that the media are choosing to put on it.

It's easy to dismiss rumours as rumours, but the last time Bristol were in trouble, five years ago, rumours about the club being potentially moved to Oxford or merged with Bath were initially laughed off. Both turned out to be to be true.

I suspect Bristol's position is worse than they are letting on. The recession will hit them harder than many clubs because of the simple fact that your average Bristol fan has less disposable income than his or her equivalent at Harlequins or Wasps. On top of the fall out from the Memorial Ground debacle of the summer, income for this year will have dropped considerably.

But are they about to go to the wall? I just don't know. What can be said for certain, though is that action needs to be taken now for Bristol to get through this period.

Firstly, professional rugby as a whole needs to make sure it is sustainable. It is easy to write Bristol off as a basket case, holding the others back, but that view is naive. Earlier this week it seemed like the rest of the Premiership clubs were looking to ditch Newcastle and Bristol for a ten team premiership. Happily, that view has not prevailed, and Premier Rugby are looking at measures to help the poorer clubs, starting with a reduction in the salary cap. This is sensible. Professional sport is not immune from recession.

Secondly, Bristol need to exploit the strongest resource that they have. The rugby community and people of the Bristol area. This has always been the strength of the club, and the reason why it prospered for so long. The club should not cease the search for further corporate and private investment, but now it needs to bring in the local community in a wholehearted and long term way. Happily, moves seem to be afoot in just this direction.

The state of the economy poses a major challenge to the future of Bristol Rugby Club, certainly in terms of whether it can continue as part of the elite, and possibly to its very existence.

As Bristol supporters, we would appear to have two choices. The first is to roll our eyes and await what would become the inevitable. The second is to remember what a wonderful club Bristol is, and take advantage of adversity to build an ownership and investment structure that finally bridges the tension between the community rugby club of our memory and our aspiration, and the realities of professional sport.

Other challenges remain. The ground situation needs to be resolved, and everyone associated with the club needs to pull together for the rest of the season to keep us in the Premiership, but we can build a club worthy of our history and our potential. Times might well be tough now, but this could we the opportunity for us all -club, supporters and city - to put Bristol on the sure footing it deserves.

Poor season start

Bristol's tally for the first weeks of the season is played five, lost five.

This has been accompanied by ongoing complaints from the club that they cannot afford to match the spending power of other teams in the division.

Of course, the collapse of the redevelopment of the Memorial Ground punctured Bristol's financial and on-field planning, but the noises emerging from the club are that Bristol are in some way elementally and fundamentally ill-equipped to compete with the current elite.

A rhetoric very different from 2003 when the current regime took over.

Bristol is, and remains, a huge rugby area with unmatched potential and a heritage in the game that is second to none. It still astounds me that you have to explain to people why teams such as Wasps are comparative minnows if you cast your eyes over the last century or more.

So, the questions need answering. Why is it that Bristol can't attract the finance? And, are we doomed to being a second rate side?

Bristol, as a city and a rugby community, should expect the best, and certainly deserves better.

Staying put

So, my slightly pretentious goodbye to the Memorial Ground has turned out, thanks to the credit crunch, to be premature.

Whoops.

What this means for Bristol Rugby, Bristol Rovers, Newport RFC, Cheltenham Town FC and a patch of ground that used to be Buffalo Bill's in Horfield we'll have to wait and see.

My gut feeling is not good, though.

Springtime sport

DIY day yesterday, which I meant to spend in the company of Test Match Special, but the weather saw to that.

So, my sporting weekend was dominated by the FA Cup Final. It's not the end of the winter games for me, as I hope to be at Wembley next weekend as Bristol City strive for the Premiership (if I can get a ticket).

I enjoyed the match. It felt like an occasion, and you got a real sense that it was about Cardiff and Portsmouth as places, as cities. Much more so than if it had been one of the 'big four'.

Sobering, then, to read that rugby risks the same differential between haves and have nots - and to see Bristol being used as an illustration of the poorer end of the scale.

Last day at the Mem

Memorial Gates, 3 May 2008

A sad day with a disappointing result. Bristol were a point down at the death, but there was to be no repeat of Jason Strange's drop goal heroics as his kick was charged down a the final whistle.

So, the Mem is now consigned to being a part of my history.

I got quite a few snaps of the last day, and there are plenty more on Flickr.

Goodbye to the Memorial Ground

So, it's definitely happening. The Memorial Ground is to be demolished. Two years from now a new all-seater Mem will arise, far removed from the Ground that I have known and grown up with.

There's regret that T will never stand on the terraces and watch Bristol with me as I did (and still do) with my Dad, but I know things have to move on.

Be that as it may, now seems an apposite time to recall the words on the Memorial Gates which I have passed hundreds of times on the way to and from my place on the terrace, and which, for me, has always made this more than a rugby ground.

IN PROUD AND GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THE SERVICES RENDERED TO THEIR COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR BY RUGBY FOOTBALL PLAYERS OF BRISTOL THIS GROUND WAS ESTABLISHED. AND IN THE WORLD WAR OF 1939-45 THE RUGBY FOOTBALL PLAYERS OF THIS CITY GAVE THEIR SERVICES AND THEIR LIVES. TO THEM ALSO IS THIS GROUND A MEMORIAL.

Bristol Between the Wars
Originally uploaded by brizzle born and bred

"This is the Memorial Stadium, home to Bristol Rugby"

It was in 1990, as a fourteen year old, that I first went with my dad to the Memorial Ground to see Bristol play. Eighteen years later and I'm still going. Less frequently these days (T has put paid to my season ticket), but it remains one of the most important locations in my own personal map of the world.

My lifetime has coincided with a decline in Bristol's playing prowess, so the good days at the Mem have probably been outweighed by defeats, but it is the good times that loom largest in the memory. I have seen personal heroes like Paul Hull and Derek Eves in their pomp. I hold dear the memories of derby wins that banished previously cocky Bath fans before the final whistle. I've seen the odd game, such as against Saracens in 1999, when the quality of the rugby has been of the very highest calibre.

So, it is with nostalgia and regret that I anticipate the proud old ground's impending demolition. We Bristol fans can't afford to be too precious. It was our own club's mismanagement that brought us to be tenants in our home, and we need to modernise the facilities if we are to prosper in the future.

So, I accept the need to rebuild the ground, but I am fearful of the two years it will take for the new Memorial Stadium to emerge. It's looking increasingly likely that Bristol will spend this time playing over the Bridge in Newport.

I love the Memorial Ground because it speaks to me of Bristol. It nestles into Horfield because it's part of the city, and when you go there you feel part of the city. That's why the Ground is special - and that is why the club is special. And to my mind it's a return to that heritage that has been at the heart of our mini-revival over the past four seasons.

If to Newport we must go, then we could put this in jeopardy. Sport is an unforgiving environment, and it won't wait for us to get back on our feet again simply because we've become temporary nomads.

Over the next few days the facts about the future will emerge, but we must not forget that Bristol Rugby prospers when it stays true to itself. If we have to leave the city temporarily then we have a fight on our hands to stand still, let alone stop ourselves falling back.

Nice Sunday

To the Village Taverna in Lee for a very pleasant lunch in the company of friends. Ostensibly to celebrate my birthday, this was more of an excuse to catch up with people over a surprisingly non-boozy lunch. It was just the right place to be, as it wasn't crowded and people could pop in and out as they pleased.

A year ago this would have been a very different gathering. Now there are three new people (including T) who didn't exist twelve months ago, and from our lunch companions there will be two more new arrivals by the start of the Autumn.

It was a good time to pause and take stock. Our lives are entering a new phase, events this week might herald my job moving in a more positive direction, and, when we got home, we found out that Bristol had won at Newcastle - the first time they have recorded two away wins on the bounce since March 2006.

A good weekend.

Derby defeat

A very disappointing day at Ashton Gate. Bristol were exceedingly poor, Bath better (but not by much) and a cold and increasingly dark day did little to lift the spirits. This picture captures the atmosphere as well as it does my mood.

Bristol's rationale for shifting this fixture from the Memorial Ground to Ashton Gate has been that its significance as the biggest West Country match of the year befits the biggest stadium in this part of the world. In addition, you also get the crowd and increased gate receipts that go with it.

Fair enough if the event lives up to this billing, but this one very definitely did not. Not every Bristol versus Bath derby is of the same magnitude as that in 2003, and Richard Hill was right to acknowledge that Bris risk ceding home advantage by moving across the city. Especially so if it is always the same opponents you get here. Sure, there were 16,000 there, but did extra revenue justify the game at the Gate?

I'm not sure it did.

Derby match

My tickets for the Bristol versus Bath game at Ashton Gate on Sunday have arrived. I've only seen Bristol play once this season, and last year for the first time since 1990 I missed the derby with Bath altogether.

Bath have stumbled a little of late, and have been shaken by some star names leaving. Bristol, on the other hand, are beginning to play well, beating Gloucester and putting in a creditable performance against Wasps.

I can't wait.

One last chance

Bristol lost to Stade Francais. It's an outside bet, but they've got one last chance to qualify by beating Cardiff at home on Sunday - and even then their progress isn't assured.

We'll see.

Allez les bleus

This evening in Paris, Bristol take on French mega club Stade Francais in the Heineken Cup. Here's what happened when the two sides met back in November.


Can we triumph again? It seems unlikely. Stade will have been waiting for this chance to put Bristol back in their place, and their home record commands respect.

Nevertheless, I will make my way to the pub with a couple of other exiles to see what transpires. In sport anything is possible - and we are Bris, after all.

A win's a win

Despite the fact that Bristol have only lost two of their last seven matches, the Memorial Ground faithful have been working themselves up into a state of panic. OK, so the two defeats were against local rivals Gloucester and Bath, and no one likes losing the derbies, but a sense of perspective is always required. Director Nigel Pomphrey's ill judged comments didn't help.

Today brings a league win over Saracens. Bristol aren't going to set any domestic competition alight this season, but they are in much more robust shape - on and off the pitch - than some would have us believe.