Community reaction to SportsTown

A new plan aims to propel Oldham’s ‘ferocious’ sporting culture into the national spotlight.

The £70M ‘SportsTown’ plan has impressed local footie fans.

The concept announced on Monday (March 17) involves a huge expansion of Boundary Park football grounds. The home of Oldham Athletics AFC and the rugby team Oldham RLFC is to get a netball pitch, improved cricket facilities and state-of-the-art football grounds for junior and community teams. 

The ‘ambitious’ project also aims to open a brand new learning centre, where youngsters can gain qualifications in athletics-adjacent industries, including health, wellbeing and teaching. 

The ‘dream’ culminates in a 3,000-seater sports arena for netball competitions, rugby league, basketball and wheelchair sports. It aims to bring 25,000 weekly visitors to the site within five years. 

Despite the biting cold on a deceptively sunny day in Oldham’s town centre, several people stopped to share their enthusiasm for the plans with the Local Democracy Reporting Service. 

“It’s brilliant,” Lee Winterbottom, 40, told the LDRS, his entire face lighting up. The Oldhamer, a Latics (Oldham Athletics) fan ‘from birth’, thought sports had ‘always’ played a central role in the local community. 

But with the attraction of local football waning – he felt more needed to be done to inspire the next generation, he said. 

“And Oldham really needs some more things for youngsters,” he said. “There’s nothing for them to do around here, except get into trouble. This gives them something positive to pour their energy into.

“It’ll give youngsters a kick up the a***, if you’ll excuse my French.” 

Beyond sports teams, the new learning campus at the Oldham Events Centre will be aimed at kids seeking an ‘alternative path’, who may not fit in at mainstream schools or are facing exclusion, according to Darren Royle, CEO of Oldham Athletics and SportsTown.

In partnership with a number of universities and health services, Royle hopes the centre will give youngsters access to qualifications they may otherwise not have been considered for because of their academic backgrounds. 

“It’s definitely something that’s needed,” Steven said. The 46-year-old, who was waiting for his partner outside a shop in Spindles shopping centre, admitted he ‘wasn’t really a sports fan’. 

“But I know that sports is great for kids. This will make a really positive difference to them, especially if they can get qualifications out of it.” 
Some of Oldham’s youngsters were initially less keen about the idea.  Marvellous, 17, Glory, 18 and Wisdom, 17, all said they hadn’t heard about the new project. 

“But it sounds like it’s not worth it. Because [local] football is going bad,” Marvellous said. But after some debate between the three teens, they decided SportsTown sounded like a good idea after all. 

“I guess it’s good if they’re investing in training up the next generation to improve the [football] team,” Glory said. “Though I’m not sure about the other sports. Football is the biggest.” 

Down the road, Mohammed Hasan Mahmud, 30 and his partner were lent against the entrance of Primark deliberating where to go next.

Mohammed was also excited by the plans and the opportunities they presented – for youngsters, but also the community as a whole. 
He said: “They’re turning Oldham into a sports town. It’s good for Oldham, because there’s nothing here, it needs investment. 

“It will attract the youngsters. It’ll mean young people will grow up committing less crimes. At the moment they just walk about causing problems, because there’s nothing else for them to do. 

“It will also bring different people together and I think that will help with the racists too. It’s harder to hate each other if you’re working towards a common goal. And everyone loves sport, whether you’re Bengali, Pakistani, black, white.” 

Mohammed isn’t the only one to raise this point. Much of the publicity for the project has centered on ‘giving opportunities to young people’ – especially those who tend to fall by the wayside of mainstream education. 

But Oldham Council leader Arooj Shah shared with the LDRS that her own experience with sport had prompted her to become involved with the project. 

“Sport brings people together,” she said. “I remember my first time going to a rugby match and everybody was predominantly white, and I was thinking ‘oh my god, how are people going to receive me’ but actually it was the most friendly, welcoming and respectful space I’ve ever been in.”

The council has provided £6m of funding to kickstart the project. Around £1m of that money has already been used to returf the Boundary Park stadium. A further £5m, taken from a £20m pot of cash from the government’s recently announced Community Regeneration Fund, will go towards ‘Phase 2’ – creating the new pitches and education hub. 

While everyone the LDRS spoke to saw the positives in the project, some expressed their reservations. 

“It might do a whole load of good for Oldham,” Amir, 28, admitted while carrying his groceries home. “I’m just sceptical it will actually happen. The council is always complaining about not having any money, and I guess it makes you wonder if the money wouldn’t be better spent elsewhere? People are really struggling at the moment, you see people out on the streets.” 

Amir suffers from PTSD, which has left him unable to work. He said he’d rather see government money going towards the NHS or supporting people in need than handed out as ‘regeneration funding’ for local authorities. 

Daniel Royle, 30, was similarly cautious: “They’re trying to make a hub for multiple sports, that’d be amazing for Oldham. If it happens, it’ll create lots of jobs for young people, it’ll bring investment in, and it’s definitely an area that needs development. It’s very run down around the Boundary Park. 

“The question is just how many plates can they spin at the same time? The council has all these big regeneration projects going on. At the same time, you keep hearing about the financial troubles and the ‘black hole’ in the budget. 

“I guess the proof is in the pudding.”

Asked about the financial implications for the council, Coun Shah noted that ‘a lot of thought’ had gone into the decision to help fund the project, which was a ‘real investment’ for Oldham’s future.