Rugby club to appeal over punishment for eye-gouging incident


MAIDSTONE Rugby Club is to appeal against an RFU discplinary panel 's pun- ishment for an eye-gouging offence a year ago.


The deduction of 50 points would mean almost certain relegation. It follows an in- cident in which 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.


Stones’ plan for all-weather surface Report by Stephen Eighteen


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


THE club hopes to have raised all the nec- essary funds by the end of April. Chief executive Bill Williams said that the


club had sent a glossy brochure promoting thescheme to 32 of the45 business owners it had earmarked.


the country to go with 3G from the outset. It is a bold move but we believe that for the non-league game to survive in the future, other clubs will opt for this high-quality synthetic surface.


Of these, five had been interviewed, with


one person verbally, though not yet offi- cially, pledging £150,000. Meanwhile, the Kent Messenger has agreed a deal to become the club’s shirt sponsor for the rest of the season.


Derek Nicholson of Maidstone architects 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 previous chairman Paul Bowden-Brown in October, they have cleared all debt, which in- cluded a £100,000 loan from Maidstone Council for a 99-year lease on the James WhatmanWay land. The overall stadium project


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


Sex assault appeal


A 14-YEAR-OLD girl was sexually assaulted as she walked down an alleyway in East Malling. The incident happened between Carnation


Close and the A20, London Road (near Tesco Express) onWednesday, December 22. She was followed by a man who grabbed


her, touched her inappropriately and threat- ened her before driving away in an old car parked nearby. The girl was not injured. The man, aged in his 20s, was wearing a


dark coloured hooded top, with the hood up, and dark coloured tracksuit bottoms. Info - 01732 379217 (if possible quoting reference 18229).


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


“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 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. The ground, which has been designed by


messy invitation THE Salvation Army is holding a “messy church” at its Union Street basein Maidstonefrom 4-6pm on Thursday, March 10. A spokesman said: “It's a time


for primary school-aged children and their families to enjoy fun and messy activities as well as worship and have a meal together.” The event costs £2 per family. Contact thecommunity office on 01622 681808 or register on ar- rival.


Sally Army’s


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 any risks coming from football itself. 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. 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.” 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. “People are waiting for this new pitch to


be put down and we are doing all we can to make it happen.”


Speed limit campaign


RESIDENTS campaigning to cut the speed of traffic on part of Lunsford Lane, Larkfield, have won the backing of parish councillors. East Malling and Larkfield Parish Council has


sent a formal request to Kent Highways to re- view speed restrictions at the north end of the lane. The move follows concern expressed by resi-


dents who attended the parish council meeting that this stretch is currently subject to the na- tional speed limit of 60mph. Parish councillors agreed with the residents


that the limit should be reduced to 30mph on the narrow lane which has no pavements and a right angle bend.


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