New home: Allianz Park
Related links
Teams
Also see
Saracens are holding talks with Barnet Council as they attempt to stage their Heineken Cup quarter-final showdown against Ulster at Allianz Park.
The club's new home can accommodate 10,000 fans, which is 5,000 seats short of tournament organisers the ERC's minimum capacity.
"There are a number of hoops to go through before we can hold the match at Allianz Park," explained club chief executive Edward Griffiths.
"We are in talks with the council over the capacity to see if it's perfectly possible to increase the capacity for one match, or if it's too soon."
Should Saracens not be granted their bid to stage the quarter-final, Wembley or Twickenham are the potential alternatives for the European clash.
"This is our home ground now so we'd like to stage the match here. This is absolutely our first choice," added Griffiths.
"We want to try and bring those discussions to a close by the end of next week. We want something agreed as soon as possible."
Comments
BWJC says...
Waz4before - you're all good thanks mate, we'll have plenty of fun at the Stoop.
99call - not fear sunshine, we're just enjoying the right to play at our home ground having won all our games.
Posted 13:36 23rd January 2013
99call says...
Quins wouldnt move to Twickers as they would be afraid the munster fans would out number the home fans which they probably would, theres no point in taking munster to a big ground because youll lose the home advantage with the numbers that will travel.
As an ulsterman i would be happy if they move it to a big ground as there would be more room for us away fans but as others have said in this post if Sarries can only bring in 8 to 10k then there would be plenty of room at Watford if they cant use their new place and trust me there will be plenty of us turning up to support the boys in white!!!!!!!!
Posted 11:06 23rd January 2013
rugby_rockstar says...
Oops, Saracens forgot somfink a bit important.
Posted 10:58 23rd January 2013
Waz4before says...
well, at least Twickenham is free this weekend now - go on Sarries, move it to Twickenham and show Quins what they missed out on ;-)
Posted 02:59 23rd January 2013
waz4before says...
IronMan - the plan was to start small and increase the capacity over time both through permanent and temporary seating, I'm not sure what the "final" capacity is planned to be but i thought I'd read 25,000 sometime last year.
I think the issue is the timing of this one game - the ground has yet to be tested to recieve its safety certificate (a game with a max. capacity of 3,500 coming up) which when received will then open the ground for attendances of 10,000 people; the problem here will no doubt be the safety certificate terms and will they permit a 15,000 crowd. If not sarries will do what they've been doing well and take the game to a bigger stadium which, to be honest, i would have thought they could attract 30-40,000 easily for this game??
Posted 04:46 22nd January 2013
melkdave says...
@IronMan1441
Couldnt agree more with your post,seems a very strange decision by Sarries imo,and not upto their usual planning,whichis usally so good ,and forward thinking.
Posted 01:21 22nd January 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
Given that the Saracens were nomadic tribes it seems to be quite appropriate. They also fought the Crusaders so perhaps they should try for the Super... 16.
Posted 23:13 21st January 2013
stumpy says...
Theshaw, Saracens are a very strange club in that sense. Unlike the other big English clubs (Leicester, Quins, Northampton), they never seem to reach past about 8000 fans in a normal game. But they played at vicrage road before, a stadium of roughly 22,000 seats, so their stadium looked rather empty, hardly an atmosphere u wud pay to be part of. That lack of atmosphere added to the fact that Sarries dont play attacking rugby, thus they dont fill seats. I think theyve got a smaller stadium so the atmosphere is more electric, which I agree with.
Posted 22:00 21st January 2013
davodiablo says...
@IronManI441 Agree totally with your post . Well said .
Posted 17:50 21st January 2013
Theshaw says...
Why does such a "big" club have such a small ground?
Posted 15:54 21st January 2013
RoadRed says...
Double header with Quins at Twickenham?
Triple header with Quinns & Wasps!!!
Posted 15:53 21st January 2013
IronManI441 says...
Wait a minute, are you telling me that Sarries have knowingly built a stadium that will never be able to hold an Heineken Cup 1/4 final or higher?? Please tell me there are and have always been plans for a quick and easy snap-on 5k more seats for situations like this and it just hasn't been completed yet. If not somebody should be getting the axe.
Posted 15:47 21st January 2013