Why Sheffield needs to solve its real sporting problems before dreaming of Olympic future
To see the Olympics come to Sheffield in the 2040s would be fantastic., but...
A Northern Olympic games is today being discussed by some of the most powerful people in the North of England.
It comes after the Government commissioned research into whether such a games would be a possibility in the North of England in the 2040s. It would look at whether it could to use sports to power regeneration of towns and cities.
To see the Olympics come to Sheffield in the 2040s would be fantastic.
But first, we need to take a step back here, and think whether the 2040s is soon enough for this city.
Sheffield tried regeneration through sports once before. The city spent a huge sum of its own council tax payers money on the World Student Games in 1991. Yes, it regenerated the Don Valley. But the showpiece athletics stadium which it produced, which saddled the city with debt for a generation, was demolished less than 25 years after it was built. We still have the Sheffield Arena, home to Sheffield Steelers, and the Ponds Forge swimming facilities.
But now, 12 years after the closure of the Don Valley Stadium, we have seen the venue that was vaunted as its local replacement, the small Woodbourn Road Stadium, closed. As it stands, it cannot even hold schools sports days because of its poor condition.
The city’s athletics community may well be unimpressed at the idea of looking at nearly 20 years into the future when they do not event have the most basic facilities right now.
Before we think about an Olympics, perhaps this is something that needs to be looked at.
But the truth is, when it comes to access to sporting facilities, Sheffield has been going backwards for too long, compared to other cities.
So if an Olympics was held in the North, what realistically would Sheffield see?
Perhaps we may have a shout for for swimming and diving? Ice skating at Ice Sheffield? But beyond that, what would we get?
There was a time when the city would have a good case for football. Hillsborough hosted games in World Cup 1966, and Euro 96. Up until the 80s, it held an FA Cup semi final most years.
Now it has fallen massively behind. The Leppings Lane end has changed little since the tragedy of 1989 which saw 97 Liverpool fans lose their lives. Sheffield has now fallen behind Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sunderland when it comes to football grounds.
We love Hillsborough and Bramall Lane. They fill the city with pride and are bursting with history. But they now lag behind facilities in many other northern cities.
The city badly needs investment in its football stadia now, not in time for an Olympics which may never happen.
It is not just in football and athletics where we have fallen back from leaders to also rans.
Bramall Lane was once a venue for Yorkshire county cricket matches. After its pavilion closed, later to to be demolished, games were briefly held at Abbeydale, with temporary stands, But county cricket games have not been played in the city since the 1990s, when Yorkshire abandoned playing games here. Most of the games are now played in Leeds.
We are building on our former sports fields in Handsworth, where a planning application was recently filed to build houses.
The former King Edwards Swimming Pool, in Broomhall, has recently closed, with no money available for repairs.
Historic Sheffield FC, the world’s oldest football club, cannot currently find anywhere to play in the city and is playing in Derbyshire.
And where are the next generation of athletes going to come from, to compete in a Northern Olympics when there are no facilities in the city for them to train and develop?
Yes, it would be lovely to see some of the Olympics taking place here in Sheffield.
But first, our leaders must sort out the many problems our sporting communities need solving now.
Editors note:
South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard issued a statement in response.
He said: “Never has it been more important for us to set our ambitions high and deliver world class athletics and sporting facilities for the whole of South Yorkshire.
“A Great North Olympics would be an opportunity to drive investment into South Yorkshire and create the facilities our immense talent demands.”