brendy_eire Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Dear Friends, This is from a group of concerned Derry City fans. We have formed a group called SOS, Save Our Stadium in order to publicise the impasse regarding our stadium, the Brandywell. We have set up an online petition for you to pledge your support. Please forward this e-mail to anyone who supports football so they can add their support. It only takes a second to sign but your support is vital. If you can, leave a short message http://www.petitiononline.com/dcfcsos/petition.html Derry City are a football club who play in the eircom League Premier Division. We are tenants of the City Council at the Brandywell Stadium. The stadium is famous throughout Ireland and last year was in the top 10 of “atmospheric grounds” in a poll conducted by BBC Online. http://www.petitiononline.com/dcfcsos/petition.html Derry are a famous club, unique for having competed both in the Irish League in Northern Ireland and currently in the League of Ireland in the Republic. Derry have played teams such as Steaua Bucharest, Vitesse Arnhem, Benfica, Anderlecht among others in the European Cup. In the last four years the Brandywell have hosted sell out friendlies with Celtic, Manchester United, Real Madrid and in August we played Barcelona. http://www.petitiononline.com/dcfcsos/petition.html At present the capacity of the stadium is 9,000 but due to new UEFA safety guidelines this will be reduced to 2,500 next season. One whole side of the ground will be closed and “the Jungle”, the standing area which is the spiritual home to the City faithful will be off limits. We understand that change must come, but at present there are no plans for redevelopment. http://www.petitiononline.com/dcfcsos/petition.html The problem lies that the lease for the ground lies with Derry City Council. For years they have refused to refurbish the ground and they appear unwilling to budge from this position. The ground is a shameful advertisment for a sports arena in the 21st century. SOS can understand that a total redevelopment may not be financial viable for the council, with only a limited budget. However the football club are not able to access any sources of funding such as Lottery, Sports Council etc as Derry City FC do not hold a long term lease on the ground. http://www.petitiononline.com/dcfcsos/petition.html The club needs a ground which generates revenue throughout the week, not just once a fortnight when a game is played there. Save Our Stadium believes that the club would be in the position to apply for significant funding if they were granted a long term lease of the ground. This funding would allow the football club to redevelop the ground privately to ensure the Brandywell is a venue that all citizens of Derry can be proud of. http://www.petitiononline.com/dcfcsos/petition.html We believe that rather than further procrastination then the Council are duty bound to give the fans and people of Derry an answer. They can either Agree to a full redevelopment of the Brandywell into a modern stadium. Grant Derry City FC a long term lease in order that the club may pursue alternative funding for redevelopment. Release a statement stating that they are unwilling either to grant a lease to Derry City or to redevelop the ground themselves, thus allowing Derry City to search for a site for a new stadium. If you would like to learn more about or group, have any ideas, or just want to drop us a line, please e-mail us at save_our_stadium@hotmail.com, or check out the msg board at www.derrycityfc.net http://www.petitiononline.com/dcfcsos/petition.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 But what's the URL for the petition? Guys, maybe we could get them to pack up this stadium and ship it to Toronto... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sstackho Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 But what's the URL for the petition? Guys, maybe we could get them to pack up this stadium and ship it to Toronto... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendy_eire Posted October 23, 2003 Author Share Posted October 23, 2003 €8,000,000 and it's yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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