Assistant Economic Development Minister Steve Pallett, who has responsibility for sport, said that a national stadium would allow Jersey’s sporting organisations to support each other and could be done with States support or through private investment.
While no discussions have yet taken place, Senator Pallett says plans for a new national stadium will form part of a wider review of the Island’s sporting strategy.
He suggested that Les Quennevais or the current St Peter rugby ground could be used.
As part of a 2018 sports facilities review, the States were recommended to ‘assess the feasibility’ of creating a national stadium for football and rugby with ‘adequate spectator capacity’.
Jersey Reds has struggled financially in recent years and late last year were handed a £150,000 grant by the States to help them with the day-to-day running of the club for the remainder of the Championship Rugby season.
Mr Pallett believes that a long-term solution could be to bring the Reds – along with the newly formed Jersey Bulls FC and Team Jets netball – under one roof.
He said: ‘When the grant was made to the rugby club in regards to their shortfall, one of the things the Council of Ministers agreed was to fund the second part of the sports-facility strategy work.
‘We will soon be starting the process of the second part of that which will look at a national stadium as part of the review.
‘Obviously, in terms of the sites, the rugby club has been mentioned previously but there are a lot of other sites that could facilitate something like that – Les Quennevais for example.
‘It will form part of a wider review of what we need from our sports facilities moving forward and what the costs might be.
‘Playing at the level they [Jersey Reds] are at,
they need to be sustainable – that could be done by sharing a ground with the Jersey Bulls or the Jets or both. If that can be combined with possible entertainment events and training facilities for other sporting organisations then that could be a big boost to top-level sport across the Island.’
Mr Pallett added that if the Council of Ministers were serious about addressing Islanders’ health and wellbeing – one of the core priorities in the Common Strategic Policy – then sports needed to be included, and funded, in the upcoming Government Plan which will set States spending budgets.
‘If we are not providing decent facilities to keep fit, then it is not going to work,’ he said. ‘We need to make sure our facilities keep up with modern standards because in some areas it is beginning to fall apart a little bit.
‘The second part of the [sporting facilities] report will be done in time to feed into the Government Plan.’
And he added that if private investors could be found, then the various clubs might want to investigate building a national stadium independently from the States.
‘If we want a long-term sustainable rugby club then we need to base that on having a facility that they share with other sports like football and netball,’ he said. ‘I think it is important to sit those major sports on one site.
‘Whether it is a public site like Les Quennevais or a private site like the rugby club – possibly a private site might be better.
‘They need to have the money available and we need to have the will of private investors and they would need confidence that government would be supportive. That might be assistance through certain red tape or the planning process.’
