WORKINGTON AFC
THE RE-BIRTH of BOROUGH PARK
1) Introduction
Workington Association Football Club has been part of the life of the town since 1884 – for almost 130 years, and for more than 70 years our home has been Borough Park. But the facilities and condition of the ground are showing their age. To remain viable and to help the Club grow, investment in the ground is needed to ensure that the Club’s potential – and to win promotion back to the Football League – can be fully realised.
2) Where we have Been
Founded in 1884, the Club was disbanded in 1911 only to be reformed 10 years later. From 1921 the Club competed at a high level within the then regional football leagues until 1951 when the Club was elected to the Football League replacing New Brighton and during 1954 and 1955 was managed by Bill Shankly.
The highpoint of Workington’s league history was 1966 when we finished 5th in the then third Division, narrowly missing promotion to the Second Division (now the Championship). However the Club’s fortunes declined steadily until 1977, we finished bottom of the 4th Division and were voted out of the league to be replaced by Wimbledon.
In recent years, the Club’s performances have improved. Following promotion from the North West Counties League in 1998-99, we have climbed steadily to reach Conference North in 2005. Since then we have twice finished in the top five, only to fail to win promotion via the play-offs.
3) What we have Now
The majority of the Club’s facilities are housed in a truncated main stand. This includes office accommodation, dressing rooms, two bars and a small board room. All these facilities are antiquated and inadequate. The nature and the age of the building, erected in 1937, means refurbishment would be too costly and also ineffective. The stand has an odd appearance as after the Bradford Fire disaster in 1985, the local authority misunderstood the requirements to restrict the use of wooden stands and despite being a brick structure, the Club was ordered to remove the upper tier, losing the seating accommodation.
The ground’s capacity is now restricted to 3,100. Spectator accommodation is a combination of covered and uncovered terracing. There is a small number of covered seats available in front of what remains of the stand with further covered seating opposite on the ‘Popular Side’. The toilet and refreshment facilities are limited and the availability for hospitality or other events is non existent.
This season, we came very close to being promoted to the Conference Premier, however such promotion would present many problems at Borough Park. The facilities just do not meet the requirements needed to be allowed to compete at this higher level. If the Club’s success on the park continues, we shall need to address these deficiencies.
For some years, the task of tackling the upgrading demanded by the League authorities was put to one side awaiting the outcome and negotiations concerning plans put forward by Allerdale Borough Council to create a new stadium which would be shared with Workington Town RLFC. Under these circumstances only minor improvement work was carried out at the ground. Recently, the decision was taken not to build a new stadium, and so the club is now focused on creating the best, most sustainable and productive environment at Borough Park.
4) What we want for the Club
Our objectives are to ensure that the Club develops both on and off the field. This means creating facilities that will allow income generation, increase capacity and better spectator facilities. Given the ground’s position, on the banks of the River Derwent and alongside one of the town’s main access roads, it is important to the regeneration of the area that the stand’s frontage is attractive and eye-catching.
We want to achieve this as quickly as possible, but ensure that the development meets local needs. We would with partners such as Allerdale Borough Council and the Energy Coast Initiative be able to achieve our objectives believing that the development of the Derwent Valley is a shared objective.
5) What we are going to Have
Our principle objective is to replace the main stand with a larger multi-purpose spectator facility which can include all of the elements needed to compete in the Football League, as well as sufficient revenue generating space to allow the Club to be self sustaining. Our early thoughts are that this could include:
- Office accommodation – there is a lack of high quality office space in Workington
- Community space – for events, keep-fit, training courses as well as our own community programme
- Function suite – for club use and public hire
- Resource Units – for nursery/crèche and primary care trust use, catering location and educational suites.
The Club need to ensure that it has sufficient changing rooms for both players and officials together with a separate medical room. Office and board room space, a utility room and also bar and hospitality areas. But beyond those necessary requirements there are many options. The size of the footprint and the location would allow the inclusion of other elements which could fulfil the purpose of generating revenue income to sustain the Club and community resources. We are also considering the possibility of renewable energy generation for the site. We are aware that this project will take substantial financial resources and some years to fulfil.
As far as the rest of the ground is concerned, the work begins this closed season with the installation of new floodlights to replace the current 50 year old system. New lights will ensure that the ground grading requirements are met for our existing league and for the Conference Premier and Football League. The next project is to install additional toilet facilities on the ‘Popular Side’. But this presents problems due to the lack of electricity, water and sewerage connections on that side of the ground. Our objective is to construct a unit which makes use of renewable technologies rather than the huge cost of running connections for these services.
6) Where do we go from Here
But we do need help to deliver our plans. This will include the need to raise finance for the main stand project which we hope will come from a number of sources including grant support. The Club is managed by a small number of volunteers and, although we have the vision, we do not have all of the necessary expertise and time to develop our ideas. Our first need, however, is for help to take the new stand project to the next level. We will need to consult with anumber of potential partners and then commission professionals to design and estimate construction costs followed by securing planning permission before being able to raise necessary funds from local and sports funding organisations for the project.
At this early stage, we are seeking support from potential partners, and help and direction in acquiring professional advisers. We hope you are as excited by the potential of this development for Workington as we are and would wish to be involved in its delivery.