Old Track stand to get a new look
AFTER more than a century of serving Island football, the old Track Stand is likely to take on an altogether different look in the near future.
And that look will mean a canopy that no longer covers the entire seating area approaching one thousand.
Belgraves club president Andy Robert confessed that the club had been forced into fairly immediate action after safety fears with the old roof.
‘The situation is that we did have an issue in getting our salle publique licence renewed because, among some of the conditions, is that every year we have had to report on a six-week basis that there had been no movement. That’s been for the last three years.
‘In June last year the engineer wasn’t prepared to sign it off any longer and Building Control said you cannot carry on and open the stand to the public.
‘As a result some remedial work has been done to satisfy Building Control.
‘The plan is that at some point in the not-too-distant future to replace the roof.
‘It will probably be done by next season and it all depends on who we can get to manage the project. We have the funding.’
For Track regulars and the untrained eye, the stand looks no different than it has for decades, but Robert said only patch-up work has kept the stand open to satisfy regulations.
Five years ago Bels stalwart Hilary Sarre spoke publicly of his dream to replace the stand with a modern one incorporating offices and a restaurant.
Those plans never materialised but Bels now realise the urgency of the situation and will press on quickly, even though the old characteristics of the stand will inevitably alter.
‘I think we would like to put a more efficient and practical roof in place and that might not be the whole width of the stand,’ said Robert.
‘At the end of the day we don’t need a roof to cover 900 in a stand any longer. In an ideal world we would want to get it done for the Island Games next year.’
