THE year 2015 will be an exciting year for Gloucester. The city and the rugby club will be hosting the Rugby World Cup. I interviewed Paul James, Conservative leader of Gloucester City Council, who helped to secure the bid, and Adam Balding, former Gloucester captain, and now Rugby World Cup events management coordinator. Kingsholm hosted a Rugby World Cup game in 1991, but it was not the major event or festival that they have planned for 2015.
Paul believes that the “Kingsholm faithful” (of which he is one) were a major influence in ensuring Gloucester Rugby were successful in their bid and, as a result, despite being the smallest stadium, it will host four games.
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reporting: Kate Hayes talked to Paul James, above, and Adam Balding for Young Citizen.​
kicking it: Paul James and Adam Balding in Gloucester Park.
How, as children living in Gloucester, can we get involved in this brilliant event? Paul and Adam are creating a vision of a ‘Fanzone,’ where people will be able to watch the matches on a big screen and soak up the atmosphere at the same time.
They have plans for ‘Posts in the Park’. This is where rugby posts will be put in Gloucester Park and nine other sets in other locations around the city.
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Adam hopes this idea will encourage children to take up rugby in the same way when other sporting events are on, such as Wimbledon, as children’s interest will be ignited and they will want to get involved.
I asked Adam and Paul how they plan to ensure this enthusiasm of rugby continues locally – what will be the legacy of this event?
Paul feels that the legacy on a larger scale will benefit the city and county as a whole, through future tourism and improved public services such as the bus and train station development.
Work around the bid revealed Gloucester has an amazing 46 rugby clubs in a 15-mile radius of Kingsholm.
Adam and Paul want these clubs to benefit by increased attendance/ new players and possibly increased future funding.
One of the concerns I raised was the potential cost to the city of promoting the games, and the high cost of tickets to the games, meaning children would not be able to attend the event.
Paul believes the investment in the city will be returned many times over by the visiting public.
The price of the tickets is unfortunately not the responsibility of the city, this will be set by the RFU.
Adam hopes that they will be able to allocate some tickets to children who, due to their family’s economic circumstances, would not normally be able to attend.
Aviva, the major sponsor of Premier Rugby, has listed the top five most passionate fan-based clubs in Europe. Gloucester were crowned number one!
I hope the world cup will encourage more children to watch and participate in the game, and make Kingsholm the number one place to be.
â– Read the interview in full in Young Sport – Kate’s Pitch column.
Article source: http://www.express.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/431490/Saracens-31-Bath-17-More-of-the-Goode-life-for-Sarries
Young Citizen: Why 2015 Rugby World Cup will benefit us all
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