A frustrating week just gone, with last weekend’s FA Trophy tie against Salisbury postponed and then we crashed out of the tournament in the rearranged game on Tuesday night with a disappointing 2-3 defeat in front of a crowd of just over 250. Tomorrow (Saturday) we will be looking to put all that behind us and bounce back in the league with a very difficult trip to play Boreham Wood.
The FA Trophy defeat highlighted the challenges we face, on the pitch we have a squad that has been battered and bruised by a lot of physical matches in a short space of time and we were stretched to the limits on Tuesday night, never really reaching the heights we have enjoyed this season. Off the pitch we faced the financial loss of a much smaller crowd than we would have had were the game played on Saturday, particularly when you put bar takings into the equation as well.
That said, had the game gone ahead on Saturday we would have faced the potential situation of having supporters trapped at the ground as at around 2.45pm another large tree fell across the driveway up to The Meadow, blocking exits and entrances. I’m starting to feel like an arboriculturist as it was only a couple of weeks ago we spent a large sum of money removing trees from the perimeter of the ground that had damaged the drainage system we have installed. Suddenly it becomes very easy to see how costs build up – what the FA Cup giveth with one hand, nature and misfortune takes with the other.
All of this reiterates our need, desire and determination to make the difficult decision to move to a new purpose-built ground. On Saturday we travel to play a Boreham Wood side that are full-time players, one of several teams in our league that are in that situation, and we have put in good performances in those games. As a club, all of us, we have worked extremely hard to get ourselves into the position where we are competing with these sides on a weekly basis. It is a massive step-up, and we are determined to not let all that work go to waste and find ourselves dropping back down the leagues again in a few years’ time because it becomes unsustainable. We cannot let that happen. But we are fighting against the tide.
In an ideal world we would love to build the club’s future here at The Meadow, it is an idyllic setting. If a player goes down injured you can probably look up and while away the time watching a red kite hovering over the rolling hills. Or if it has been raining you might catch one of those spectacular rainbows arching over the town. It is special. However, you could equally look down and see crumbling terracing that constantly needs repairing, unfinished toilet blocks nowhere near any drains, a club office with holes in the floor, cramped toilets, pitch perimeters that are like maintaining the Forth Bridge and you might even catch the groundsman running on with a pitchfork, taking the opportunity to fix a divot that has been kicked up on the over-used pitch. It is a battle.
Behind the scenes the work, conversations and investment continue to try and get the ball rolling on the move to a new ground, and I wish I had an exciting update to give you, but the reality is that we are still facing an endless succession of obstacles in our way. Every time we clear one, another appears that we must dust ourselves down and prepare to tackle.
Turn on any news channel and we know there is a housing crisis in this country. New homes are needed. We have a fully funded solution for providing additional housing close to the town centre on our existing site and moving our community sporting facilities ground to a larger, more spacious area, where we can sustainably meet the demands for sport and physical exercise for the growing population of Chesham. It seems a very practical option that you would think we would have our arms chewed off for, but currently there does not seem to be the shared drive to make this happen.
All of us on the Board are local people and have grown up in the area and love the countryside we reside in. We are not outsiders that have come in and are looking to build all over our green and precious land, we know we must, and very much want to, work with and protect the environment in everything we do and that is at the heart of our application, alongside the other issues that make up the three pillars of sustainability – Social and Economic issues.
I have already talked about how our current ground situation is economically unsustainable. We cannot always rely on FA Cup runs to help fund the repairs, maintenance and development needed to provide a safe and comfortable experience when visiting the club. We need to be able to tap into the other revenue streams that will be available at a new state of the art complex.
Then perhaps the most important issue is a social one. As a club we have hundreds of boys, girls, men and women associated with Chesham United throughout our different sections, but we are not able to facilitate them in a way that we would want to at our current residence – it is simply not practical. As an example, we have the almost embarrassing situation whereby the youth section, the Chesham United youth section, are hosting their prestigious end of season tournament at the Chiltern Hills Academy again. We would love to host that tournament. We should host that tournament, but we just do not have the space or facilities to do so. A new ground would change all of that.
The other frustration is that with every month that passes the cost of building a new ground is going up with material and supplies on the increase, likely to be up by more than 30% since we first explored the idea. That is all money that we want to use to build the best possible facilities and a football ground that will retain as much of the character of The Meadow as we possible can. We don’t want an identikit football ground; we want The Meadow with extra facilities in a new more accessible and spacious location. With every month that passes we are faced with additional costs or difficult compromises when it comes to the facilities, that is so frustrating. But we won’t let the challenges defeat us.
Anyway, you know all of this, but sometimes I feel it is important to reiterate why it is we are still so passionate to move to a new ground. It will be heart-wrenching for all of us, but we also cannot watch the club stagnate and drop backwards as a senior non-league club, and also as a key part of the community that provides physical and mental well-being to so many people of Chesham. That sounds cheesy, but it is also true.
I hope to see many of you at Borehamwood tomorrow, your support is always appreciated.
Peter Brown
