Jones targets all-age ‘wow factor’ football centre
THE Indoor Sports Centre at Hougue du Pommier has been sold in a £3m-plus deal that will see the island’s first state-of-the-art football tech facilities and a 3G five-a-side pitch.
Rob Jones, the former Guernsey midfielder who enjoyed a long career at Priaulx League level for Vale Rec, and collected a Muratti cap off the bench against Alderney in 1997, is the man behind the Aztech Soccer Arena project at the Castel site, which should open officially in May 2022.
It will be only the third such football tech-driven facility in the UK and Jones is confident it will prove hugely popular and a ‘serious training centre’ for all ages.
Talking on the Guernsey Press Football Podcast, Jones explained the rationale and his excitement for the project.
Jones, who has been involved playing in playing and coaching for more than 30 years, including a big role in the successful Aztec Soccer School, said he had long been frustrated at the lack of indoor football facilities but after a year of negotiations with its founder and previous owner, Jon Ravenscroft, had acquired the building last week. His vision is turning it into a state-of-the-art indoor five-a-side pitch with a technical zone and some funky latest equipment bought in from the UK.
‘It is going to be a centre that will be for three-year-olds up to 80-year-olds. It will be available to all and I want to see it vibrant, new life breathed into the centre and great footfall.’
Jones said it will not be 'an ‘amusement arcade but a serious training centre’.
‘I am passionate about developing local football talent and the sort of equipment we are bringing in will definitely do that.’
At the heart of the centre will be a 31m x 24m 3G pitch with electronic goals and the tech zone will be data-driven.
‘Data is the key thing in this technology.
'You can compete against yourself, your mates if you want to, your club and, more importantly, people around the world.
‘I want it to be a wow factor centre.’
