Newly released state papers show that the former prime minister Tony Blair backed proposals for Wimbledon FC to move to Belfast but his Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam was more sceptical.
Previously confidential state papers include a note from 1997 described as “following up earlier informal discussions about the possibility of an English Premier League football club relocating to Belfast”.
It was described as something that would be a “significant breakthrough if Belfast had a football team playing in the English Premier League”, and “should be able to build up strong cross-community support and provide a positive unifying force in a divided city”.
It was also mooted that it would come with a principally private sector-funded modern 40,000-seater sports stadium, and potentially an academy for sport, located on Queen’s Island in east Belfast or the North Foreshore site in the north of the city.
At the time Wimbledon was groundsharing with Crystal Palace, which had an all-seater stadium, and was looking for a site to build one of its own. After the 1989 Hillsborough disaster in which 97 Liverpool fans lost their lives, the Taylor report had recommended that top-flight clubs remove standing areas from stadiums.
The state papers indicate the possibility of the Dons moving to Belfast was discussed at the highest levels of government in 1997 as part of proposals for a national stadium in Northern Ireland.
A Wimbledon v Nottingham Forest game at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park in 1995. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Allsport
At the time the Blair government was trying to bed down the peace process before the Good Friday agreement the following year. It was suggested the club could be renamed Belfast United.
The then permanent secretary of the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment, Ronnie Spence, hoped a Belfast-based team “would be able to build up a strong cross-community support”.
He also believed the city’s reputation would grow if the team “was performing at the top level in English and European competitions”.
That view was shared by Blair, who thought “it would be excellent if Wimbledon were to move to Belfast”.
But the proposal was opposed by Mowlam and other officials. Mowlam in particular did not think the proposal was “particularly safe”.
Gerry Loughran, who at the time was permanent secretary at the Department of Economic Development, noted that Wimbledon was a mid-table club in the Premier League. He believed it was unlikely it would play in Europe and thereby enhance Belfast’s reputation.
Loughran was also sceptical that local fans would transfer their loyalty from English and Scottish clubs to the proposed Belfast United. These were “bonds for life” in “which the passion never dulls”, he wrote.
He also suggested to Spence that he read the writings of Nick Hornby, the author of Fever Pitch, to understand the passions and loyalty of football fans.
Wimbledon FC eventually moved to Milton Keynes,…
2023-12-28 06:29:43
Source from www.theguardian.com
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