It’s always painted as black and white, when surely there are shades of grey. Wasps weren’t ripped from a local community (like Wimbledon to MK), they were ripped from a region, which diluted the impact. They’d been out of London for a very long time, on an industrial estate in a town way outside the M25, which is the only way to explain why moving to the Ricoh only sparked some angst on social media. With no proper protest, there was nothing to coalesce around – CCFC fans marching on Twickenham in support of angry Wasps supporters might have made a difference, who knows? I’d have been there myself if Wasps fans had felt strongly enough about it to do that, but it didn’t happen and wasn’t likely to.
I’ve said similar to the above a few times before and got slammed for it, so I threw in the towel, but it’s still my view. Depressingly here we are years later with Sky Blues Talk in still in full swing (even on Christmas Day) name-calling and agonising over the morality of it, while lots of people enjoy watching the new West Midlands regional rugby franchise, and the world of rugby seems to have taken it on board with little problem. I don’t see Wasps as particularly evil, if anything I’m glad they’re putting the stadium to use for top sport in Coventry – but when there are TWO top clubs playing there I’ll be a lot happier. Some kind of more equal partnership has got to happen in the long run, I just don’t know how given the mountainous debts on both sides. It will probably take a decade and few more insolvencies and legal battles I fear.
I have never been to a rugby match btw, and it’s highly unlikely that I ever will. Six Nations or World Cup on the telly is about it for me.
