Give us our stadium

Wednesday May 18, 2005

By Rob Hustwayte

We gave you three MPs, now give us a stadium.

That is the loud and clear demand from Brighton and Hove Albion fans to the new Labour Government today.

Voters want payback for electing Labour candidates Des Turner, David Lepper and Celia Barlow, all of whom pushed a pro-Falmer message as a central part of their campaigns.

They responded by tabling a motion on the first day of Parliament yesterday calling for a swift "yes" verdict on the long-running stadium saga.

The Argus today publishes messages from hundreds of Albion fans who have taken the trouble to write to us this week with messages for Tony Blair.

The overwhelming feeling is Labour owes Brighton and Hove a favour and only a green light for the 22,000-seat Falmer community stadium will do.

John Prescott, expected to make a decision by the end of the year, must base his verdict purely on the application's merits.

The Albion is confident it has proved Falmer is the only viable site in the city after one of the most extensive public inquiries in planning history.

The club this week announced crippling financial losses and the pressure is mounting on the Government to say Yes as soon as possible.

The quest to find a new stadium for the Albion dates back to when The Argus exposed a plot to sell the Goldstone Ground for £7.4 million in 1996.

The paper has always backed the club and its supporters.

At the time, The Argus chief reporter Paul Bracchi travelled to Bill Archer's home in Lancashire and offered the then club chairman a cheque for £56.25 – the amount he had paid for his shares.

The stunt got The Argus banned from the ground for a short while. Fans were incensed by the sale of the Goldstone and invaded the pitch during the final match against York on April 27, 1996. Supporters pulled down both sets of goalposts and the game was abandoned after 16 minutes.

Then began two dismal years ground-sharing with Gillingham 70 miles away. The idea of moving to Withdean was floated, although the athletics track required major improvements to satisfy Football League requirements.

A phone poll by The Argus revealed a narrow margin of supporters were against the idea but a group of fans keen on the move launched a campaign to Bring Home The Albion.

The Argus gave out 12,000 supporter packs and campaigned hard for the Withdean cause.

Eventually more than 32,000 fans signed a petition in favour of the plans and it was approved by councillors. The Seagulls flew back to Brighton in 1999.

Falmer was identified as a possible site for a new stadium that year and The Argus enthusiastically supported the vision of a new stadium. We urged members of the public to vote Yes to Falmer in a city-wide referendum and 45,000 residents duly obliged.

The first stage of the public inquiry was held between February and October 2003, before Albion fans including Des Lynam and Norman Cook, alias Fatboy Slim delivered thousands of pro-stadium letters to 10 Downing Street.

Fans were stunned when Charles Hoile, one of two inquiry inspectors, concluded Falmer was too small and too near the South Downs for a stadium after a 38-day hearing. His report sparked further campaigning from February to May.

Much of this took place at matches, including a sit-in by fans after a game at Wycombe, the wearing of John Prescott masks from The Argus for the play-off semi-final at Swindon and a carefully choreographed display of banners during the play-off final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

More than 140 MPs, including well over a third of Labour backbenchers in England, have signed a motion urging Mr Prescott to approve the stadium.

He threw fans a lifeline by reopening the inquiry last July to find out if there were any alternative sites, despite the advice of two inspectors.

The hearing finished two weeks ago after 24 days in which ten possible alternatives were explored.

Mr Prescott has recently said he accepted the national need for a modern stadium in Brighton and Hove and complimented the way the Falmer For All campaign had been fought.

But the pressure will not relent until he says a final Yes to Falmer.