Alison Hume, the Scarborough and Whitby MP, has raised Scarborough Athletic’s on-going pitch issues with former Premier League star Graeme Le Saux.
The National League North club, which is wholly fan owned, will be forced to stage ‘home’ matches away from their Scarborough Sports Village base for at least part of next season after problems with its 3g playing surface and drainage system were identified.
Although the complex’s owners – North Yorkshire Council – are attempting to limit the disruption caused to Scarborough Athletic, both their volunteer board members and supporters alike fear the situation will create a series of financial and sporting challenges.
As part of her drive to try and ensure the matter is resolved as quickly as possible, Ms Hume spoke with Le Saux at a Football Foundation event in Westminster.
Le Saux, who played for Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers and Southampton as well as being capped 36 times by England, asked her to keep him updated about Scarborough Athletic’s predicament.
Ms Hume said:
“I had a good chat with Graeme about the problems with Scarborough Athletic’s pitch.
“He already knew a lot about the club and was aware of its background.
“That was really encouraging to hear and shows what a standard bearer for the town as a whole Scarborough Athletic are.”
“Graeme asked to be kept updated with what is happening at Scarborough Athletic and was clearly interested in knowing how it is going to affect them.”
Originally it was thought its playing surface, which is also used by Scarborough Ladies and local community youth teams, simply needed replacing.
But after further faults were discovered, the projected repair costs have spiralled.
Scarborough Athletic have also been told the work will not be completed ahead of the new season, meaning they will be required to temporarily stage games elsewhere.
The prospect of ground-sharing is an emotive one among Scarborough Athletic supporters, given that it was not until 2017 that they were able to play in Scarborough itself due to a lack of a suitable stadium in the town.
Managed by Jono Greening, Scarborough Athletic put their present worries behind them to lift the North Riding Senior Cup earlier this week – beating Middlesbrough under-21’s 2-1 in the final.
After congratulating that success on social media, Ms Hume said:
“It was brilliant to see the team finish the season on a real high.”
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