EDINBURGH RUGBY have stepped up the quest to find a purpose-built stadium for the team on the outskirts of the Capital.
Senior oval ball officials have been closely examining sites in the west of the city around Hermiston Gait that might prove suitable for a ground with a crowd capacity of approximately 10,000.
Should an area of land be identified, and planning per
missions obtained for a move that would mean breaching greenbelt, Edinburgh would eventually be able to play their home fixtures in the Magners Celtic League and Heineken European Cup away from the cavernous Murrayfield Stadium.
Murrayfield has a capacity of 67,800 and its size is regarded as counter-productive for a team whose average home league attendance in 2007-08 was 2682.
Edinburgh chairman Gavin Hastings denied involvement at this stage in finding an alternative location but admitted: "It is probably fair to say there are one or two Edinburgh people looking at the options.
"I don't think there is any doubt that is a current agenda item. I know it would be lovely to think that by the end of the coming season we might know at some stage where might go in the medium to long term.
"If there is an option that comes to my attention we will go down that avenue."
A source said: "Edinburgh and, more relevantly, their Scottish Rugby owners are looking at land near Hermiston Gait close to where there was once a proposal for Heart of Midlothian to re-locate to."
Hearts' alternative stadium plans in that area were abandoned in the early 1990s after the then Lothian Region knocked back planning consent.
Bearing in mind the change in the city's political administration it is looking increasingly likely that the idea of a stadium on the west side of Edinburgh will be revisited provided city fathers are of a mind to consider ancillary enterprises guaranteed to maximise revenues from the stadium site. So far as Scottish rugby is concerned the past year has seen increased optimism regarding the future of the professional game and their own finances.
Sponsorships are occurring regularly topped by businessman Sir David Murray paying £2.7million to put his company name on the Scotland team shirts in a three-year deal. Debts have dropped to around £17m and, besides being able to look forward to six home fixtures in 2008-09, bosses have been successful in attracting a number of attractive sporting events to further boost income. Murrayfield has just hosted the Hibs versus Barcelona football match and the first part of 2009 will see a weekend of top-class rugby league to be followed by the Heineken European Cup Final.
With the rugby league "May Mayhem" festival alone reckoned to be generating £4.2m for the Edinburgh economy rugby bosses could be more bullish in their attempts to break planning deadlock.
Hastings has long recognised that, with league attendances peaking last season at 6225 against Glasgow, there is an urgent need to obtain a more atmospheric home ground which, in itself, would encourage more fans to support a team who are fresh from achieving their highest ever finish in domestic competition – fourth.
The former international full back and captain has even gone so far as to prioritise a new ground and, on May 9, he told the Evening News: "The big challenge is to get a dedicated stadium for the team, which would be fantastic, though it isn't going to happen straightaway."
While stopping short of proposing a new ground on that occasion, Hastings has used his chairmanship to travel widely.
Referring to how Leinster are using temporary facilities at Dublin Showground with considerable success while Lansdowne Road is re-developed, Hastings said: "I was in Dublin .. and looking around the Showground with over 18,000 supporters, and three temporary stands, I thought 'we can do this'.
"The guys at Leinster were telling me that only about eight or nine years ago they had 600 watching them play Ulster.
"The two things stopping us are having a good, atmospheric ground and, through sustainable growth, building up a team that is successful. Playing at Murrayfield in front of 2000 is just not sustainable – it just does not stack up," he went on.
"Put aside whatever deal Edinburgh have with the SRU for the stadium, who thinks 2000 people for each home game can sustain a professional club?
"Nothing would give me greater pleasure, if I'm to be involved for a long time, than to see our 2000 loyal supporters moving into a permanent home for Edinburgh, with substantially bigger crowds on a regular basis and world-class players in the team."
The full article contains 788 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
