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Twickenham switch meets local opposition

Ian Walton

A few weeks ago news that Chelsea had made an approach to the Rugby Football Union about the possibility of relocating to England's national ground Twickenham for a season in order to expand Stamford Bridge. This was always going to be a long shot, and now it seems that it's met some serious opposition on the ground, with some local councillors speaking out in protest of the idea:

While we have nothing against Chelsea FC or their fans, the public announcement of Chelsea's interest in relocating to Twickenham is brazen and unwanted by local people.

Many nearby residents are concerned by the RFU's silence over the proposal and each day that goes by without an answer only adds to the fear that Twickenham Stadium is available to the highest bidder, regardless of the impact on residents.

Source: GetWestLondon.

These complaints are both predictable and probably fair. Chelsea play far more matches a season than Twickenham is used to accommodating, and although traffic concerns might seem trivial to Blues fans scattered all around the world I imagine it would be rather annoying to have London's biggest club suddenly turn up in your neighbourhood and make itself at home for a year.

That said, I'm not sure how serious this opposition actually is. Given that all that's happened so far between Chelsea and the RFU is a quick approach, there's probably plenty more to come should we indeed decide to go down this path.

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