Sport Imperial to suspend sporting activities at Teddington

College has recently announced the suspension of all sports activities at the Teddington Sports Ground in Richmond for next academic year.

Sports Imperial said: “With the acquisition of Heston we’ll be taking stock of the facilities we now have and the best way to make use of them to deliver a good service. This means in the 2014/15 academic year we will be focusing on the use of Harlington and Heston for all Imperial sport, suspending College sporting activities at Teddington sports ground until we can properly assess the new arrangement.

We’ll be considering carefully the future use of Teddington as there is a lot of overlap between its facilities and those available at Heston, though the Heston site’s amenities and location provide a better sporting offer. The College has a responsibility to ensure that all of its assets are used efficiently and effectively.”

The Teddington sports grounds were bought by St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in 1937 and were the home of St. Mary's Hospital Rugby Football Club before the school merged with Imperial in 1988. Medic sports teams often use the grounds for training and fixtures.

Teddington does provide a similar availability of resources to the new Heston site, including a small number of rugby, soccer, tennis and netball pitches/courts. The site also boasts a cricket square and nets. The England 7’s team even occasionally uses pitches, which gives the students the benefit of extremely well maintained turf.

Speaking to Felix, one Imperial (Medicals) 1st XV player said, “…it was the home of St Mary’s sport. It's like a home.”

Another said, “…My current opinion on the matter is that Sport Imperial have overlooked the interests of the students they are meant to be representing ... Teddington is steeped in history and has been part of our club for decades from when we were St Mary's Medical School. Many traditions were born there and it would be a shame to lose its history and worth to our medical school for a purely profitable means. #saveteddington“

Over the last seven days, students have taken to social media (namely via #saveteddington on Twitter), to voice their opinions on the decision, calling for clarification from Sport Imperial.

Many students are concerned about the perceived lack of student consultation before the purchase of the Heston site took place. However it seems that due to the commercial sensitivity the only student representative to know about the purchase beforehand was the Union President.

Union President David Goldsmith said, "... College kept me informed when possibilities of obtaining the site were realised. This was on the basis that the information was confidential and that, upon announcement of the sale, a thorough consultation with students would be undertaken. The Consultation Framework does recommend that sensitive information is shared with the Union President in confidence to discuss how best to go forward.

We are very excited about the purchase of the new sports ground and the important part student consultation will play in determining how the site develops."

However, the consultation required for suspending activities at Teddington was a process that could potentially have been brought to a wider audience as a separate issue, if the President even knew about that at all.

Students also raised concerns about the consequences of moving all medic sport fixtures and practices from to the Harlington and Heston sports grounds.

As one commenter pointed out on our previous article, “Medical students in years 3, 5 and 6 are placed all over the Northwest of London. In the past, while playing at Teddington, students [have] take[n] the train from their placement on a Wednesday morning to Teddington (which has very good transport links) taking 30 minutes from most hospitals. The new ground would preclude this from happening as the transport links are poor and the distance is rather larger.“

The new Heston ground can be reached by taking an underground train to East Hounslow, followed by a 15-17 minute bus and a 7 minute walk, or a 40-50 minute journey by road, although this may increase the number of clubs that need to hire minibuses.

Additional points have been raised about access to sport, with the same person suggesting, “...if you can't make it to the game, you aren't going to play. This results in exactly the opposite of what Sport Imperial are saying they are trying to do, with a decrease in sporting participation.”

What are your thoughts? Tell us in the comments section below!