COMING HOME
I
t is hard to believe that a full year has passed since we played what turned out to be our final fixture at the Madejski Stadium in Reading. We are just about settled into our new home at the Brentford Community Stadium …… albeit with no fans currently permitted and plans for the ‘housewarming’ party still on ice! Whilst it was sad not to say an official farewell to the Madejski, there is no doubt that our move back to London has breathed new life into the club, both on and off the field. London Irish Rugby Football Club has been around since 1898, and from the early 1930’s has been embedded in and around West London. Soon after the game turned professional in 1996, the famous home ground at ‘The Avenue’ was deemed too small to stage professional matches, so the club had to find an alternative home venue. Initially in 1999, we had a very successful season sharing with Harlequins at ‘The Stoop’, so successful in fact that they showed us the door after just one year as they thought we were damaging their brand! Two decades followed at the Madejski Stadium right up until March of last year when Covid brought a premature end to our last season in Reading. During this long spell away from London it is fair to say we have yearned for a move back to the capital and a closer link with our spiritual home. The chance to do so at a new state-of-the-art stadium as tenants of Brentford FC was the perfect opportunity to realise this dream and, in the process, provide a catalyst for the growth and future success of the club. With a capacity of 17,250, the Brentford Community Stadium will play a crucial role in realising our ambitions, both on and off the pitch. A world-class,
8
NETWORKS
Sponsored by www.sosgroup.uk
MARK BENSTED JOINED LONDON IRISH RUGBY CLUB AS THEIR NEW CEO AT THE START OF THE YEAR. FORMERLY CEO AT POWERDAY, THE COMPANY OWNED BY LONDON IRISH OWNER AND PRESIDENT MICK CROSSAN, BENSTED SPOKE TO BITA ABOUT THE CLUB’S EXCITING FUTURE FOLLOWING THEIR MOVE BACK INTO LONDON AS TENANTS OF BRENTFORD FC’S NEW STATEOF THE-ART, BRENTFORD COMMUNITY STADIUM.
modern stadium giving our players every opportunity to showcase their skills, it will provide an enticing atmosphere and a great match-day experience for our supporters and will help grow our support base across the wider London Irish family. With its excellent transport links, the stadium is ideally situated in the heart of the club’s traditional area of West London as well as for loyal supporters from the Thames Valley and beyond. Importantly, we feel the move will attract new rugby supporters from across the capital, perhaps those who have followed London Irish over the years but only occasionally made it out to Reading. The return to the capital has presented us with a fantastic opportunity to really move forward as an off-field commercial operation. West London, as a significant economic sub-region, is home to a huge variety of businesses across the
areas of White City, Park Royal, Chiswick, the emerging Old Oak Common/HS2 regeneration area and the Heathrow hub, in addition to those adjacent major businesses forming the ‘Golden Mile’ in and around the impressive redevelopment of the Brentford area itself. With such a concentration of major businesses on our doorstep, coupled with the wider corporate world across the City, we are well-placed to grow our business relationships and hopefully in so doing, create long-lasting value for all involved. Interest in the club has grown significantly in recent months and building on that momentum will be key as life returns to normal. The scope for a wider connection with the business community, both in England and Ireland, is high on our priority list as we enter this new chapter for the club. We feel we have a real opportunity to expand the London Irish brand, engaging with up-and-coming companies across a wide range of industries and sectors, including construction, technology, manufacturing, and engineering, on both sides of the water. The Irish communities across London and its surrounding areas will be at the forefront of our plans, as we look to engage and interact with a community who have been on a journey with us for over 120 years. Under Declan Kidney’s guidance, we have an outstanding group of players, coaches, medics, and strength & conditioning staff all of whom are contributing to what we know will be an exciting future for the club. In Declan and Les Kiss, we have a wealth of rugby knowledge and coupled with a blend of experienced world-class players and an exciting crop of young players (who have come through our Academy structure), we feel we have the necessary foundation
