Mowden Park

[Markodarlo]

Appeantly there first game at the arena is Feb 2nd, apparently free parking.

The council have had us big style!

[Quakerz]

You couldn't make it up could you?

[Darlospike]

Cant say im really surprised Marko! I hate this fookin council!

[The_Ozzman_Cometh]

Nor me!!

I think it was the Chairmen they hated and not the club!!

the Ozzman

[lo36789]

They've sold all the boxes already I've heard and they are preparing for an attendance of around 2,500. I am sure normality will return by the next game though!

[darlotoon]

local residents don't have permits any more so they will say they don't need paying for

[loan_star]

It seems its one rule for football fans and another for rugby fans. I bet they can drink alcohol wherever they choose too!
If this is a regular arrangement with the council then we should bombard the councillors protesting against it. Its hypocritical!

[BlackandwhiteBOB]

It's not a regular arrangement, it's the norm. I can only assume that the parking charges were agreed between the council and Reynolds as part of the planning process. As far as the rugby club are concerned there will never be any charge for parking, private land and its up to them.

[divas]

The car park charge was never mandatory unless a certain amount of people turned up but the club kept it in place anyway as it was a good revenue stream

[loan_star]

It's not a regular arrangement, it's the norm. I can only assume that the parking charges were agreed between the council and Reynolds as part of the planning process. As far as the rugby club are concerned there will never be any charge for parking, private land and its up to them.

It was private land when we had it too!

[loan_star]

The car park charge was never mandatory unless a certain amount of people turned up but the club kept it in place anyway as it was a good revenue stream

Im sure it was mandatory as it was meant to encourage use of public transport. It was also expected to be set as a percentage of the entrance fee.

[divas]

The car park charge was never mandatory unless a certain amount of people turned up but the club kept it in place anyway as it was a good revenue stream

Im sure it was mandatory as it was meant to encourage use of public transport. It was also expected to be set as a percentage of the entrance fee.

Only mandatory if we had an attendance over a certain amount, plus there was never a fee set in stone but as someone mentioned above we were billed for the residents parking so had to get some money back for that, there were other specifics too which i can't remember off hand - but yeah it did link in with reducing number of vehicles.

It's all in the planning application for the stadium.

[walshys_wingman_11]

how could we have been billed for a parking scheme that was free to those residents and only active on matchdays ? They should have had to pay like the rest of the town....but like the other parking schemes most up there had drives to park their cars on. One of the excuses the council gave was that they lived there before the ground was built.....well I lived in my house before a scheme was put in place in my area and now years later they have decided to put a speed bump right outside my house....as a result I now pay £30 a year to park on a speed bump!

[divas]

how could we have been billed for a parking scheme that was free to those residents and only active on matchdays ? They should have had to pay like the rest of the town....but like the other parking schemes most up there had drives to park their cars on. One of the excuses the council gave was that they lived there before the ground was built.....well I lived in my house before a scheme was put in place in my area and now years later they have decided to put a speed bump right outside my house....as a result I now pay £30 a year to park on a speed bump!

It was a stipulation of planning, we either agreed and got permission or didn't and well...didn't.

[broadsexile]

I was in a pub with TDK1 and another mate a month or so back and we were talking about the way football and rugby are percived in relative terms. TDk came out with the following - excellent - rematk: 'They say football is a gentleman's game played by thugs. Well, rugby is a twat's game played by twats.'

He was right.

The fact that the council are waiving things for MPRFC that they wouldn't do for us is completely indicative of the relative statuses of the two sports. Rugby is a game played, amateurishly, by the local great and good (and those terms are used in a highly relative way), whereas football is played and supported by people who didn't have their schooling at Barnard Castle. Bollocks to rugby. It's rubbish.

[divas]

Let's face it, knowing what we do now, had the council agreed to roll over for one of those devious owners would we be in any different of a position? Probably not, but one of them would have had a nice cheap plot of land.

[Hilly]

I was in a pub with TDK1 and another mate a month or so back and we were talking about the way football and rugby are percived in relative terms. TDk came out with the following - excellent - rematk: 'They say football is a gentleman's game played by thugs. Well, rugby is a twat's game played by twats.'

He was right.

The fact that the council are waiving things for MPRFC that they wouldn't do for us is completely indicative of the relative statuses of the two sports. Rugby is a game played, amateurishly, by the local great and good (and those terms are used in a highly relative way), whereas football is played and supported by people who didn't have their schooling at Barnard Castle. Bollocks to rugby. It's rubbish.

Bitter much?

[carver30]

Whatever you thought of the previous chairman the intransigent stance of DBC certainly made things worse for the future of the club. With the threat of a white elephant on the doorstep I'd imagine other covenants will be lifted. What frustrates me out of all of this is 1883 came away from the stadium without any financial deal in place now or in the future.

[loan_star]

The thing is, if we hadnt had to pay for parking schemes and been able to charge around a couple of quid instead of a fiver to park in the ground, who knows how the gates would have been affected? The sticking point for many was the expense of parking and ticket price and the fact that to avoid parking charges you had to park halfway down Neasham Road to avoid getting a parking ticket. Imagine what Morrisons would say if the council told them they had to charge people to park at Morton Park!

[m62exile]

Whatever you thought of the previous chairman the intransigent stance of DBC certainly made things worse for the future of the club. With the threat of a white elephant on the doorstep I'd imagine other covenants will be lifted. What frustrates me out of all of this is 1883 came away from the stadium without any financial deal in place now or in the future.

1883 had no bargaining power on this whatsoever though did they? They were two regimes removed from ever having any negotiating rights with the stadium. They (we) didn't have a pot to piss in, as they say.

[MikeinBlack]

Whatever you thought of the previous chairman the intransigent stance of DBC certainly made things worse for the future of the club. With the threat of a white elephant on the doorstep I'd imagine other covenants will be lifted. What frustrates me out of all of this is 1883 came away from the stadium without any financial deal in place now or in the future.

1883 had no bargaining power on this whatsoever though did they? They were two regimes removed from ever having any negotiating rights with the stadium. They (we) didn't have a pot to piss in, as they say.

True, we were always going to have to rely on the good will of S&S, and to be fair they did all they reasonably could for us in the financial climate of the time. Now, when things start to go pear shaped for the rugby club when their crowds drop to their normal level, we may be able to cut a ground share deal for a season or two if we need/want to go along those lines at any point in the next few years.

[Stan_Darlo]

It makes me laugh that there is so much negativity towards Mowden, it's almost like a lot of our fans want them to fail. I thought we were meant to be a community club now?

At the end of the day the arena was a curse for us but i for one would love to see Mowden make it work, I'm glad the council have helped them out. Stop being so bitter and move on.

[flanker123]

As a Mowden member who happened to be checking out the forum, I feel compelled to reply to “broadsexile” and “loan star’s” post.

Firstly, I’m surprised that you’ve got your own resident philosopher – “twats games played by twats”. Wow! It must have been hard growing up with that massive chip on your shoulder, “relatively speaking”.

I would say Mowden (as with most rugby clubs) are 75% state school lads and 25% private – not that it should matter in any way! In a rugby club you don’t get labelled a “twat” if you had a different upbringing.

I guess from the whole class warfare thing that you most likely vote Labour, which is ironic as the very same party controls the council that you so despise.

I have no idea why some on here attack MPRFC.

The arena was not our first choice, as we were screwed out of West Park. As such, we were looking for a new place to call home and the arena was an option that came up. We discussed terms with the council and then purchased it. What’s your problem with that? Nothing to do “with the great and the good”, whatever that means?

Loan Star -- you seem, out of spite (?), to want us to face the same barriers that DFC faced. Why would you want that? It was not Mowden who set the rules whilst DFC played at the Arena – we had nothing to do with the contracts signed between DC and DFC!

Mowden had nothing to do with DFC’s downfall- so why the hate?! I imagine all of Mowden have followed DFC, to some extent, over the years.

[love it!]

The parking charge was advisory only from the council to encourage use of public transport. Simple.

It makes me laugh that there is so much negativity towards Mowden, it's almost like a lot of our fans want them to fail. I thought we were meant to be a community club now?

At the end of the day the arena was a curse for us but i for one would love to see Mowden make it work, I'm glad the council have helped them out. Stop being so bitter and move on.

I totally agree with this statement. Im not even a rugby fan and am considering going to support a local team

[TDS]

Funny thing is though, there's negativity from Mowden Rugby Club, against Mowden Rugby Club.

I wouldn't say considering a ground share as a possibility as 1) wanting Mowden to fail or) hating on Mowden.

There are many "members" annoyed that they paid a fee to Mowden Rugby Club and didn't even get asked the question whether they wanted to move to the Arena, even if their answer would be yes, what are they paying for?

Safe to say the Model T and the Mowden will be looking on with glee, couple more rugby lads in the pubs than usual!

[flanker123]

Yeah- I personally was annoyed by the way everything was, and still is being handled. Communication between the committee and the members has been dire, but at the end of the day, the committee members are volunteers, bar than one who I think is paid.
In an ideal world I wouldn't go anywhere near the arena. But the fact of the matter remains that we had very few options after West Park fell through and a very strict time limit on which to move from Yiewsley Drive. For 2.3 million, some would argue that the deal was a bit of a bargain.
As a member, I was reminded that there was a vote that empowered the committee to do as they saw fit and organise the move. Whilst not the same, the committee can rightfully argue that they were given the right by the members to arrange. I would have preferred a vote on the move to the arena, but what’s done is done. Furthermore, I guess the committee couldn’t say too much about the move as contracts were being negotiated.
The ‘hate’ to which I refer is only from a few on here and, perhaps, I misjudged it – although I think broadsexile’s post speaks for itself. Most people on here seem very supportive.
Anyway, now that we have found ourselves with the arena, I hope that we sell at least one side (the north stand) and ideally the east and west stands too, leaving us with a 7,000 seat main stand with function rooms etc. I also hope that we turn the main stand’s bars into something more homely, as they are pretty corporate at the moment!
I think we may lose the odd member, bar than matchdays, but this would have been the same with the West Park move! The main thing is that all of our minis, juniors and women can train under the same roof throughout the week.
I can’t imagine that the Model T and the Mowden will pick up much extra trade, as they are perhaps two of the worst pubs that I have ever been to!

[shawry]

I think we were cursed before moving to the Arena, otherwise why else would we of needed 'rescuing' by GR.

As for the Arena, too much of our time (meaning owners) was spent trying to realise extra profit from surrounding lands, than making what was available work as best as it could.

Its a little annoying the way the council seemed to put roadblocks up, but considering the owners we had, its not that much of a surprise.

[lancedarlo]

Flanker, what went wrong at west park ?

[loan_star]

Loan Star -- you seem, out of spite (?), to want us to face the same barriers that DFC faced. Why would you want that? It was not Mowden who set the rules whilst DFC played at the Arena – we had nothing to do with the contracts signed between DC and DFC!

Mowden had nothing to do with DFC’s downfall- so why the hate?! I imagine all of Mowden have followed DFC, to some extent, over the years.

You misunderstand me then, I dont care either way whether Mowden succeed or fail but I would be happy for them if they did succeed. All I am saying is that its wrong for the council to allow one party to do one thing and force another to do something totally opposite. Had the council shown the same leeway to the football club regarding parking that they have the rugby club then "maybe" crowds could have been at a much better level, especially when we had Penneys team. Maybe then Houghton wouldnt have pulled the plug?

What next? Permission for a bowling alley which Houghton wasnt allowed?

[shawry]

Loan Star -- you seem, out of spite (?), to want us to face the same barriers that DFC faced. Why would you want that? It was not Mowden who set the rules whilst DFC played at the Arena – we had nothing to do with the contracts signed between DC and DFC!

Mowden had nothing to do with DFC’s downfall- so why the hate?! I imagine all of Mowden have followed DFC, to some extent, over the years.

You misunderstand me then, I dont care either way whether Mowden succeed or fail but I would be happy for them if they did succeed. All I am saying is that its wrong for the council to allow one party to do one thing and force another to do something totally opposite. Had the council shown the same leeway to the football club regarding parking that they have the rugby club then "maybe" crowds could have been at a much better level, especially when we had Penneys team. Maybe then Houghton wouldnt have pulled the plug?

What next? Permission for a bowling alley which Houghton wasnt allowed?

Im assuming that the bowling alley thing could possibly get the go ahead now (if they applied) as it seems the plans for the one in town is no longer ongoing? unless its part of the cinema project that I heard mentioned a month or so back?