Arsenal recommend Vietnamese club to copy Keepmoat Stadium
ONE of the biggest names in world football has recommended Doncaster's Keepmoat Stadium as the blueprint for a brand new home for a Far East club.
Arsenal invited six delegates from Hoang Anh Gia Lai FC, a Vietnamese club from Pleiku, near Ho Chi Minh City, to see Doncaster's 15,000-seater facility in operation and see its value to the local community.
Hoang Anh Gia Lai - or HAGL - are one of the top clubs in the Vietnamese league and linked up with Premier League giants Arsenal 12 months ago to build on the growing interest in football in southeast Asia.
The partnership has already led to an Arsenal Academy being built which will develop young Vietnamese players and improve their national game.
They now want to build a stadium to develop football interests in the local community similarly to how the Keepmoat stadium provides a venue for Doncaster Rovers and leisure and business facilities for its public.
Chris Bevan, marketing manager at Arsenal, said: "HAGL regularly attract in excess of 15,000 supporters to Vietnamese League matches so we wanted to show them the possibilities of what a new stadium of a similar capacity could offer.
"We felt the Keepmoat provided the perfect case-study. It demonstrated to the delegates the quality of facilities that Vietnamese fans could enjoy, and how their club could generate revenues 365 days a year through a medium-sized stadium, which plays a major role in the local community."
Stadium Management Company's operations director Shane Chalmers said: "We were delighted to show the Vietnamese delegates around the stadium and provide our support for their project. It is a huge compliment."
Here are Doncaster:
READ MORE
More Doncaster news
Main news index.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sheffield
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
