London Penguins, named after one of the only posters speaking any sense on this thread.

Probably because AFC Wimbledon haven't announced exactly what they are up to meaning the article is likely to be a mish mash of guess work and gossip.

Dons have intentionally not named sites yet to avoid the price of the land shooting up. It is an open secret they are working on a plan, and three or four sites are widely whispered. In April 2010 their Chairman said that if all went well they may put forward a planning application in late 2011 so we may know more before next season.

There are also some interesting goings on behind the scenes at a Merton based non league football club who have quite a good ground (not Superleague standard though). It hasn't escaped some people's attention that at least one Merton Councillor had already mentioned this as a possible home for Dons. If that were to happen there won't even be a new ground.

Having said that if there is a new ground I wouldn't be totally surprised if we are involved. A dual sport ground opens up routes of funding not available to a one sport stadium.

i have a suggestion!!
lets try and find a stadium thats ideal for rugby with a good playing surface
Good stands with an acceptable capacity for super league
reasonably easy to get to with good road link to the m25 for away (and some home) supporters
tell you what lets try and find a place thats got a train station pretty close
Somewhere that can cope with the parking issues, if people have to drive
a stadium with decent bar, or a couple of bars if we get the folk through the door open em both
somewhere with decent clean toilets
oh yes and maybe the ability to have corporate boxes for those that want to pay the money
Maybe a purpose built rugby stadium! ith the realisation that our home support id not congregated in a small area around the club like wigan/saints/Huddersfield etc
we cant really afford to build our own stadium so we probably will have to share or rent somewhere we could have team/squad events if the need arises with an events room

Anyone think of anywhere?
maybe the Stoop would be good

What the London Penguins, are you sure?

The person who dares to suggest that RL league is not working class. And fails to see that moving to a working class area is the answer to all are problems. In these difficult financial times we all know the working class are falling over themselves to spend the 50 quid for 2 hour entertainment/ humiliation for family of 4!

At least we now all know what the really problem with RL is in capital, it's all Maggie’s fault if only she hadn’t driven the working class out of London !?!

Vote Penguin!

I'm surprised that on one has pointed out yet that Wimbledon is home to that other great sport of the people: Tennis.

It's really the perfect candidate.

London Facsimiles......WELL, If my numbers come up this weekend

I think you'll find that although close geographically the Wimbledon of tennis,strawberries and cream is a million miles from the Wimbledon of Plough Lane (old home of Wimbledon FC and the dog track)!

The All England Tennis Club is actually on the outskirts of Southfields.

Not sure if this thread has drifted or not......

And old home of Wimbledon Speedway. Chris Brown will be back.

It's not prejudicial to state that you don't like your club playing in an area where it is dominated by another sport.

My statement was based on fact. The club does not seem to be well loved locally and the crowds are terrible.

Time to move on

far be it from me to be pedantic about your pedantry, but surely the outskirts of Southfields is Wimbledon itself? I should know - I used to live five minutes from the All England Club.

I await any credible ground alternative with interest, but I for one will be very disappointed if we leave the Stoop. Good ground, accessible, nice location. It is hardly because of the shirt we play in and the place where we wear it that few people come and watch the team.

True. In the end I hope we stay at the Stoop as it's a cracking ground.

With no fans, no identity and no chance of ever developing. So many fans have stopped going nowadays (many never went again after the move from Brentford which had a far better atmosphere - especially when the club had the gumption to open 3 sides up)

So if you moved to your own permanent home in Wimbledon you'd be disappointed?

Granted the Stoop is a great stadium but it's someone else's, having your own base that no one will ever dictate to you must surely be the end goal in terms of stadium?

Yup, amazing atmosphere at Brentford. They opened that terrace once didn't they? And about 10 people stood on it?

I forget the season but we played Broncos 1st game of the season at Brentford, i stood on the terraces and nearly died of hypothermia* it was that cold.

*[size=85slight exaggeration[/size

The away terrace was decent. Some supporters lobbyed for the use of the terrace at the other end of the ground though.

Listy do you remember when they opened the other end for home fans

Yes. It was a complete failure.

No it wasn't.......250+ people in there including 2 very large and very peed off Leeds fans when Botham kicked a last minute conversion to get the draw after we had been dead and buried with 10 minutes to go. the 2 leeds fans only came in for the last 15 minutes,,,,,,,they thought they had the game in the bag



I took 4 new fans that day....2 still go to the stoop a few times a year.

The thing with the Brook road end being opened was about getting an area where 'noisy" fans could get together.......many a time I was told off by a certain poster on here for being too vocal when in the breamar road stand

Yes Brentford was a great ground for Superleague rugby. In the same class as Knowsley Road, Wheldon Road, The Willows etc. Under current legislation we'd have dropped out of Superleague after going bust there, and if we hadn't gone bust we'd have a much better chance of losing our Superleague licence because it's a relic from a bygone age.


I'd be delighted with a permanent home of our own (or one that is genuinely at least 50% ours in partnership with another club) anywhere in an easily accessible part of Greater London. It would have to be of similar standard to The Stoop though, and I don't think we'd be in a situation to pick and choose exactly which part of London it was in, so all the musings about which districts or quarters of the metropolis might be most conducive to pulling in thousands of new supporters seems a bit irrelevant to me at this stage. In the meantime I think The Stoop is an excellent home for our club unless, or until, something which offers us much more favourable terms of tenure arises. Squatting at QPR, Millwall, Leyton Orient is not the answer for me, and I despair that anyone can even make such suggestions.

How about [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priestfield_StadiumHERE[/url then

Well I think we all agree that London is dominated by Association Football so back to the M62 it is.

Man Utd and Liverpool are on the M62