Berkhamsted Raiders

[Rhodes]

On 25/09/2019 at 10:51, Berko Fan said:

As someone directly involved in this 2 year dispute I can categorically confirm it was an underhanded attempt to takeover Berkhamsted FC's ground and trust me he more than met his match and went away with his tail firmly between his legs.  

Daily Dose - Do you mean from BerkoRaiders or Arsenal Fan, their two stories are certainly World's apart aren't they so I wonder which one is correct. This was a post made in September last year from someone involved with Berkhamsted FC who I gather is referring to the Berkhamsted Raiders Chairman so the plot thickens doesn't it.

[Daily Dose]

It’s quiet from Berko. Evidence provided! ?‍♂️

[Rhodes]

On 19/11/2020 at 14:30, Arsenal fan said:

Lee Groves was sacked on philosophical grounds!

Arsenal Fan - Would Berkhamsted Raiders have unceremoniously dismissed Lee Groves though as he was part of the furniture at the Club, he would have also built up a strong rapport with players and their parents, he's very well known in the area and was also a decent player with Tring Athletic, Berkhamsted Town, Welwyn Garden City Tring Corinthians.

[Rhodes]

The recently published Berkhamsted Living Magazine for Winter 2020 and guess who feature heavily, the Club never miss an opportunity for self publicity:

Berkhamsted Living Magazine - Winter 2020 by Magazine - issuu

[BerkoRaiders]

"I’d be surprised if Raiders could access £500k+ funding if they weren’t a party on the new agreement."

In a Community Sports Trust, none of the clubs involved have control. Clubs are represented. Who raises the money does not "buy" influence over the Trust's decisions. 

"The silence is almost deafening"

Some people don't spend their lives on forums and social media. ?

[Daily Dose]

? ? 

[Rhodes]

Yes, that's interesting, lets's see how Arsenal Fan responds to BerkoRaiders post, it is true that funding can be a can of worms and you have to jump through countless hoops to get it although, having said that, Berkhamsted Raiders know all the tricks of the trade.

[Rhodes]

Arsenal Fan seems to have gone to ground so I can only assume that BerkoRaiders has laid any doubts to rest, he certainly talks a good game and is very articulate. The Club do unfortunately attract their fair share of criticism for their 'overbearing' manor and the way they always try to push themselves to the forefront however they do a lot of good work within the Community and give local youngsters the opportunity to play football who may not otherwise get the chance.

[Rhodes]

I wonder whether Berkhamsted Raiders are behind this worrying development at Broadwater:

The board of Berkhamsted Football Club has issued the following statement about the future of the club's ground at Broadwater

At a public meeting this week via Zoom, the chairman of our landlord, the Berkhamsted Sports Ground Charitable Association Limited (BSGCA) outlined a potential plan to sell Broadwater stadium for housing development in order to partially finance a new sports hub as part of a property development proposal known as "Bulbourne Cross" in Bourne End. BSGCA is working with a property development company from Sussex called Thakeham, and leaflets describing this proposal are being sent to homes in Berkhamsted.

In summary, the "Bulbourne Cross" proposal is to provide over 2,000 houses in three settlements, 1,100 of which would be built on Green Belt land, effectively extending Berkhamsted east as far as Bourne End, almost joining Berkhamsted to Hemel. Another 800 new houses are proposed on another site on that side of the town, but not shown in the leaflet is a further 100+ housing units proposed to be built on the football ground site at Broadwater right in the centre of Berkhamsted.

The Bulbourne Cross proposal and building housing on Broadwater do not feature in the recently published Dacorum draft Local Plan. The consultation on that plan closes in just 7 weeks, and the Thakeham/BSGCA team are belatedly seeking to have their proposal included into the plan.

It is not our preference to have Berkhamsted FC moved out of town to a site in Bourne End. Football has been played at our current scenic ground in the centre of Berkhamsted for roughly a century, and has been enjoyed at that location by generations of Berkhamsted residents. The directors of the club wish to see that continue, long beyond our current lease expiry date in May 2023.

We also believe that sports facilities for Berkhamsted residents, notably tennis and cricket as well as football, belong in Berkhamsted and not next to MacDonalds in Bourne End. The Bulbourne Cross proposal envisages 400 car park spaces at their sport facilities site, which illustrates the unhealthy travel required by siting sports grounds outside Berkhamsted. Anyone travelling by train will note the proposed sports site is nearer to Hemel station than Berko station.

How can you help?
If you oppose the Bulbourne Cross proposal and the building of housing on Broadwater, please send an email to stevenpdavis60@btinternet.com. The football club will pass any such views on to Dacorum Council in bulk.

Future Of Broadwater Final Version (pitchero.com)

Edited December 25, 2020 by Rhodes

[Arsenal fan]

Rhodes may be right.

Raiders have probably gone to ground because they do not want to upset their mums and dads by being linked to the plot to join Hemel and Berko at Bourne End and build thousands of houses on green belt land and Broadwater.

The chairman of Berkhamsted Raiders is a director of the BSGCA who own the Comrades ground. He is also on the Dacorum Sports Network along with the guy that was chairman of Tring Athletic before the recent coup.

There seems to be a history of plotting behind closed doors.

Back to work now-busy days explain my absence..

[Rhodes]

59 minutes ago, Arsenal fan said:

The chairman of Berkhamsted Raiders is a director of the BSGCA

Arsenal Fan - Thanks for that, I wasn't aware that the Berkhamsted Raiders Chairman, Keith Pollard, is a Director of the Berkhamsted Sports Ground Charitable Association Limited (BSGCA), that explains a lot doesn't it

[BerkoRaiders]

The usual rumours of plotting and conspiracy. Am I surprised? Not really. We’ve heard it all before.

So, you can understand what’s going on:

·         The developers have posted this recording of a webinar that I sat through before Xmas.

·       Raiders has issued a statement on its neutrality on the issue. The Club and the Raiders Chairman are bound by that statement: https://www.berkhamstedraiders.com/statement-on-bulbourne-cross/

What Raiders is saying is that it’s up to local residents to decide where the housing development ends up, and that if houses are developed then the appropriate sports, leisure, education and healthcare facilities need to be part of that.

There’s also been some comments on Facebook and Twitter accusing the BSGCA Trustees/Directors of showing bias towards various sports clubs. Similar to the insinuation in the previous comment.

e.g. as the BSGCA Chair plays tennis at the Tennis Club, then he’s biased.  This got posted in response:

“Let me put in a good word here for the excellent, independent Chair of the BSGCA, Paul Forster. For a gentleman of a certain age, he plays a decent game of tennis, (or so I'm told). Bear in mind that all Directors/Trustees of the BSGCA are bound by charity law to act in the best interests of the charity and to maximise public benefit. The BSGCA objectives within its governing document are: “To provide for the inhabitants of Berkhamsted and the neighbourhood in the interest of social welfare, facilities for recreation and leisure time occupation for the purpose of relaxation and with the object of improving the conditions of life for the said inhabitants.”. So, the various accusations of bias being spread about BSGCA Directors, based on their other volunteer roles with sports clubs, are completely unfounded.”

And another response:

“BSGCA Directors are legally bound to represent the interests of the Berkhamsted community. That's about 22,000 people. If you look at the numbers represented by the organisations that are part of BSGCA or have benefited from funding, then the number is around 4,500. Add in the clubs that might benefit from a development at Bulbourne, the number exceeds 5,000. Berkhamsted FC has around 100 regular supporters (2/3 of the average attendance?) That's 2% of the sports people that BSGCA directly represents. If you were in charge of a charity that might benefit from £10m of funding, would this influence your thinking? That puts things in perspective and highlights the difficult decisions that the BSGCA Charity Directors are faced with.”

So, I don’t see it as a conspiracy to kick BFC out of its ground. It’s about delivering something  - a multisport community hub on a 10ha site – that would massively benefit the people of Berko. Do I want 2,000 houses to be built in Berko. No. But the reality is that quite a few are going to get built somewhere around the town, and there’s a chance of creating something for the future around that. I imagine quite a few non-league clubs would jump at the opportunity to get a brand new stadium at no cost as part of that. But not BFC it seems.

[Rhodes]

I wonder what Arsenal Fan makes of that and also the Berkhamsted Vice Chairman Benny Mitchell who spoke so eloquently on Ollie Bayliss's BBC Three Counties Radio Non League Show on Sunday afternoon. At the end of the day it's 'criminal' what is happening and the Berkhamsted Sports Ground Charitable Association Limited (BSGCA) should be utterly ashamed of themselves for wanting to 'pull the rug', Lewis Capaldi style, from under Berkhamsted Football Club who have been at the iconic Broadwater Stadium for over one hundred years:

Comrades Get Coverage In BBC The Non-League Show (pitchero.com)

[Rhodes]

Just to add that I fully understand it from Berkhamsted Raiders perspective as they have the most to gain and all their prayers would be answered in one fell swoop, you can't blame them at all but they should be open and above board about it and not get into bed with the Berkhamsted Sports Ground Charitable Association Limited (BSGCA) behind Berkhamsted FC's back and then hide behind the BSGCA as if butter wouldn't melt in their mouth.

[BerkoRaiders]

On 07/01/2021 at 16:45, Rhodes said:

I fully understand it from Berkhamsted Raiders perspective as they have the most to gain and all their prayers would be answered in one fell swoop,

I've watched the video and read the stuff on the development. Raiders gains shared use of some grass pitches, of a 3G pitch and of a community clubhouse. That's good for football in general and in particular girls football which is massively increasing.  It won't own or have exclusive rights to any of the facilities. The site will also serve a multitude of people and multiple sports in the community -  social football, futsal, walking football, rugby, netball, gymnastics, cycling, running. It's a 24 acre multisports hub for the use of the 20,000 people in Berkhamsted which replaces an ageing stadium with an average attendance of 150 or so. It's about community benefit.

I know Raiders is also looking at other sites to provide a clubhouse and more pitches, so it doesn't "solve all their prayers". If we're going to get a load of houses built around Berko, Hemel and Tring, then we're going to need some sports facilities to cope with the demand. This development seems like a potential solution and would be a real bonus for everyone who participates in sport. 

[Rhodes]

6 hours ago, BerkoRaiders said:

This development seems like a potential solution and would be a real bonus for everyone who participates in sport. 

So why are Berkhamsted FC so dead set against the development then, particularly their Chairman Steve Davis who was born and bred in the town as I believe was his Father George, why don't the Club share your enthusiasm for the good of the people of Berkhamsted and bordering areas who presumably would also benefit.

[Arsenal fan]

Simples- as the meerkat would say.

Berko FC want to play in Berko town centre -not Bourne End.

If Raiders want to move from Kings Langley to Bourne End , where the big attraction is free land and lots of pitches, the Comrades are not stopping them. The Comrades just do not want their ground sold to pay for Raiders' buildings. Raiders' trustees have got some nerve (or is it just Pollard wearing his BSGCA/Dacorum Sports Network hats) !

[Rhodes]

On 06/01/2021 at 17:52, BerkoRaiders said:

The developers have posted this recording of a webinar that I sat through before Xmas 

BerkoRaiders - Thank you for taking the time to post the Webinar that the developers Thakenham produced together with the BSGCA, it was all very interesting and as Steve Davis said in the article below 'in theory, it sounds quite good, you'll get a new stadium out of it and everything is rosy'. However Mr Davis goes on to say that the stadium will be three miles out of Berkhamsted and run by a Sports Trust so it takes away most of Berkhamsted FC's income that they currently have at Broadwater, the Club would therefore find it very difficult to survive in that type of environment:

Edited January 23, 2021 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

Here's a surprise, Berkhamsted Raiders were involved in the production of an FA video for 'FA Playmaker', a free and innovative online entry-level course. The Club really know how to get their foot in the door don't they: 

The FA Playmaker is our most accessible course ever. It's open to anyone over the age of 14, is completely free, and no previous football experience or qualifications are needed to sign up: http://www.TheFA.com/Playmaker

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by Rhodes

[BerkoRaiders]

Correcting the misstatements as usual. ?

"The Comrades just do not want their ground sold to pay for Raiders' buildings. "

Raiders will not have any buildings at Bulbourne. They would share a community clubhouse with other sports clubs. They would share the pitches and the 3G and pay to use them as they do elsewhere. The BSGCA are proposing to sell Broadwater to create a brand new stadium for BFC (for free) and meet the sports and leisure needs of the 20,000 Berko residents across multiple sports.

"The Club really know how to get their foot in the door don't they"

I think it's more a case of when the FA want to showcase a best in class/best practice model, they come to clubs like Raiders, St Albans City Youth, Harpenden Colts etc who are leading the way in terms of participation and player development.