Former Premiership club Wasps have moved a step closer to a return to professional rugby by securing land to build a new stadium in Swanley, Kent. Club owner Christopher Holland said the club had secured a 10-year option on land as part of a wider development scheme in North Kent, just off the M25 junction.
The six-time Premiership title winners were relegated after going into administration two years ago with debts of £95m. They were then subsequently barred from competing in the Championship last season but have applied to re-enter the second tier for 2025-26.
Christopher Holland said “It is rewarding that we have managed to achieve this milestone with the support of key stakeholders. It brings our aspiration of a new home in the region closer and hopefully demonstrates our determination to recover Wasps sustainably.”
Wasps have been based at various homes in London from the club’s inception up to 2002, when they moved to groundshare with Wycombe Wanderers at Adams Park. In 2014, the club then relocated to the West Midlands, using the Coventry Arena. The club was suspended in October 2022 before going into administration a week later and making 167 players and staff redundant.
Worcester’s vacated Sixways Stadium had been an option for Wasps to return to playing competitive rugby but in October 2023 Holland said the owners were determined to return the club to the south east. It is not clear why Wasps have such a desire to move to the South East, other than it is a huge market without any other professional rugby clubs.
Residents living in the area are shocked by ther recent announcement. They say that there is no supporter base for the new club and therefore why would there be a need for a huge stadium. If they are forced to play at the bottom of the rugby pyramid in Kent, it would mean starting in the 11th-tier Counties 5 Kent division.
Others have said that the new stadium should not be allowed until the £95m in debts have been paid back to creditors.
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