AFC Butetown’s secretary welcomes investment for community but has concerns about his club’s future
PLANS to build new sports facilities on Canal Park in Butetown have been approved by Cardiff Council.
The plans include a new 3G pitch with new floodlights and seating, as well as new changing rooms.
Canal Park is the home to AFC Butetown, who play in the South Wales Alliance League.
AFC Butetown’s registration secretary, Mohammed Islam, 48, said he is looking forward to playing on a new 3G pitch instead of grass, as it will mean “games rarely getting called off because of waterlogged pitches”.
However, he has expressed concerns about what could happen to his club while the new pitch is being built.
Mr Islam said: “We at AFC Butetown are happy for all of the community to benefit from the new improvements as long as it doesn’t affect our club, as we have been playing on Canal Park for 30 years plus.”
One of his main concerns is that his club could end up disappearing, as this was what happened to Cardiff Grange Harlequins after they agreed to move from their old ground so that the Cardiff City Stadium could be built.
Because the Quins couldn’t find anywhere new to play that would have been affordable, they had to withdraw from the Welsh Premier League, and eventually the club folded.
Mr Islam is concerned that a similar situation could face his club.
He said: “Our players are from the community and we couldn’t afford this. We wouldn’t be able to survive.”
He says that although there have been meetings with councillors, “we need to have a meeting with everything in writing.”
But he welcomes the new plans, and says that the new facilities “should be for everyone in the community, not just football, not just rugby.”
Canal Park is next to Cardiff and Vale College, and the council plans to allow local schools to use the new facilities once they are built.
Mike James, Chief Executive of the Cardiff and Vale College Group, said: “We are delighted to see this project come to fruition. We look forward to working with Cardiff Council and the local community to develop this exciting facility and a range of sporting and learning activities within it that will grow the wellbeing of the community and help make a difference to so many.”
The initial planning application was submitted in February 2020, and they were approved by Cardiff Council on November 19, 2020.
Welsh government has provided £1.9 million in funding for the construction of the new facilities.
Cardiff Council Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Cllr Peter Bradbury, said: “If you provide communities with good quality sports facilities they will use them. That’s the experience we’ve had with the recently installed 3G pitches in Pentwyn, Grangetown, Ely and Caerau.
“Increasing participation in sport, particularly in our city’s most deprived communities, is so important and we’re confident that these new facilities will lead to more and more people in Butetown enjoying the boost to physical and mental wellbeing that regular sporting activity brings.”
