Rugby club fined £2,000 and face relegation over eye-gouging


MAIDSTONE Rugby Club will almost cer- tainly be relegated after being deducted 50 points by an RFU disciplinary panel. It follows an incident a year ago when a Gravesend player, Clarence Harding, lost the sight in his right eye. An RFU hearing in November found Maidstone player Matt Iles not guilty of gouging Mr Harding during the Kent Cup


game at The Mote. Then, Maidstone was charged with being "responsible for the ac- tion of unidentified players". The club was fined £2,000 plus the points deduction. After the ruling, Mr Harding revealed no


one fromMaidstone had said sorry to him. He added: "The club's reputation has been tarnished but they'll get their reputation


back over time - I can't get my sight back. Maidstone chairman Andy Golding said


the RFU judgement, which would "practi- cally" relegate the club from London 2 South East division, had astounded him. "I did not envisage any punishment at


all. We have maintained all along that while it was an unfortunate and terrible event, it was accidental," he added.


MAIDSTONE United FC has unveiled plans to become the first football club in the coun- try to build a new stadium featuring a “third-generation” synthetic surface as its main pitch. The Ryman Premier Division club says


the ‘3G’ pitch will enable sustained use that will attract investors to contribute the re- maining £1.2m needed to build the new 3,000-capacity stadium in James Whatman Way, which already has planning permission. Chairman Oliver Ash believes


an all-weather surface, which would maintain the longevity of artificial grass by underpinning it with thousands of rubber pellets, could be crucial in getting Stones’ first team matches back in Maidstone for the first time since 2001. He pointed out that all the


club’s 32 teams and 650 players – alongside other local clubs, businesses, community groups and schools – could use the pitch without having to worry about degradation of the surface. This would increase rental income as well as clubhouse takings. “For the past two seasons we


Stones plan for all-weather surface Report by Stephen Eighteen


non-league game to survive in the future, other clubs will opt for this high-quality synthetic surface. “Using an artificial surface gives us the


opportunity to make the business finan- cially viable and provide excellent facilities for our own teams. Equally important is that


Prime Building Consultants, would consist of 300 seats and cater for another 2,700 standing. Over time, it could expand to hold 5,000 people. Since the new board took over from pre-


vious chairman Paul Bowden-Brown in Oc- tober, they have cleared all debt, which included a £100,000 loan from Maidstone Borough Council for a 99-year lease on the James WhatmanWay land. The overall stadium project


will cost £1.6m. The directors have put in £250,000, and a Foot- ball Foundation grant will secure another £150,000. The plan is to set up a new


company, Maidstone United Ground, to separate the stadium from the football club in business terms. Investors will be offered a stake in this ground-owning com- pany to isolate them from the risks inherent in the football club business. Mr Ash and Mr Casey will own


52% of Maidstone United Ground, and offer the remaining 48% to those who can produce the rest of the funding. The directors believe that in-


have lost six weeks of matches to weather,” he said. “If we had enough space on this site we would build an artificial and grass pitch. But the only way to get all of the teams feeling they can identify with the club is to have somewhere they can play without worrying about the damage it will cause. This is a revolution- ary concept.” The synthetic surface is used in Scotland


and mainland Europe. In recent years, this kind of pitch has played host to England in a European Championship qualifier in Rus- sia, and Tottenham Hotspur in a UEFA Champions League qualifying game at Young Boys of Bern, Switzerland. Chief executive BillWilliams said: “Some


clubs have gone from grass to a 3G surface but our football ground will be the first in the country to go with 3G from the outset. It is a bold move but we believe that for the


LONDON Road’s suitability for office buildings is becoming “ob- solete”, according to a man who intends to convert one into a home.


Applicant Dr Intisar Mirza says


49 London Road, Maidstone, has been vacant and on the rental market for a year and he has now been granted permission to re-


Oliver Ash, BillWilliams and Terry Casey with the plans for the new stadium at James WhatmanWay.


we have a venue that community groups, schools and others can hire to play sport and maintain a healthy lifestyle.” The big drawback is that, should the Stones gain promotion to the Conference South, there is doubt over whether the sur- face would be deemed suitable for that level of football. Nobody has yet applied to have a 3G pitch


in this higher division, but co-owner Terry Casey has been led to believe that it would be considered unsuitable. But Mr Ash said: “Getting promotion and


not being allowed to use the pitch would be a nice problem to eventually have. If this did happen, we could replace it with grass if required.” The ground, which has been designed by Derek Nicholson of Maidstone architects


convert the Victorian building into a family home. The consultant cardiologist


wrote in his supporting state- ment: “It appears unsuitable as an office building compared to the design of moremodern office buildings in Kings Hill or Eclipse Park. “A few yards up the road there


Police HQ gets permission for homes KENT Police has been given planning permission for nine four-bed- room homes on part of its headquarters off Sutton Road, Maidstone. The development will include the demolition of two existing garages, creation of five garages and additional parking inWeald Close.


4 Town


come from pitch rentals, the clubhouse and from Maidstone United FC, who will officially be


tenants of the ground, presents an attractive proposition to investors. Mr Ash said: “There are three income


streams and our initial forecast suggests it is not unreasonable to think that investors will get a 4% initial return, which is better than you would get from a bank at the mo- ment.We want to offer something more in- teresting to people who want to invest.” Mr Casey said: “This is an historic oppor-


tunity for people to do something quite monumental for Maidstone United FC.Alot of people just think about the first team but there are hundreds of people who will use this and rely on its training facilities. “Our teams are currently playing all over


the place. People are waiting for this new pitch to be put down and we are doing all we can to make it happen.”


London Road ‘is becoming obsolete’ for offices


is a large office building that has been vacant and on the market for many months and there are plans to convert it into a GP practice. This suggests that the demand for offices in this area is becoming obsolete. “There are other office build-


ings further down London Road that are vacant and unused. Hence, the re-conversion of 49 should not cause a problem for office space availability as the demand is not in this area.” Maidstone Council approved the plan.


You can e-mail the Downs Mail—info@downsmail.co.uk Sally Army’s


messy invitation THE Salvation Army is hold- ing a "messy church" at its Union Street base in Maid- stone. A spokesman said: “It's a


time for primary school-aged children and their families to enjoy fun, messy activities as well as having time to wor- ship and a meal together.” The event, from 4pm to


6pm, costs £2 per family. Contact the community of-


fice on 01622 681808 or reg- ister on arrival.


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