East Stirlingshire could make Grangemouth Stadium new home as part of 'multi-sports community hub' rescue package

With Falkirk Council trying to make cutbacks amidst a £64.4 million funding gap over the next five years, the international-standard stadium – which was built in 1966 and features a 150-metre running track – has been deemed ‘unaffordable’ and could go along with other local sports premises including Stenhousemuir Gym, Bo’ness Recreation Centre, Polmonthill Ski Centre and many community halls.

And one of the ideas discussed by key stakeholders, including the Shire, is that the venue could host various sports under community-led ownership, with a new artificial surface allowing Grangemouth to host and engage with local sports teams and community groups 365 days a year, alongside still being one of Scottish Athletics’ key track and field arenas.

"Falkirk Council have been great with us, I have to say,” said Fraser Cromar, chief executive officer of East Stirlingshire. “They are open to suggestions and as a working party behind the scenes, the club and those involved are really trying to find a way to save Grangemouth Stadium. The big problem of course is how do you sustain a site that is incurring such a big loss when it is only being used a handful of times rather than on a regular basis? We need to find a way to keep this great facility open and it is sad that it has taken until now for people to really stand up and say ‘how great a place this is and that we need to really keep it open’.

“Over the last eight to ten months all of the stakeholders involved have been thinking about 'outside of the box' ideas that could be viable in order to save the site. In my opinion, the only way to save the site is to turn the stadium into a community hub that can host a multitude of different sports.

"The venue has a vast amount of space inside and out and it is an accessible location. My suggestion was to create a community sports hub charitable organisation that would in turn run Grangemouth. That would include East Stirlingshire FC and a couple of other key stakeholders from different sports.

"We cannot keep pigeonholing Grangemouth as an athletics-only arena if we want to find a viable solution. We'd need a magic wand and a pot of gold to make that happen and don’t think it would come. Falkirk Council do want to save the place but the venue cannot be a noose around the neck of Falkirk Council taxpayers.

“I think an all-weather pitch instead of the current grass surface is key and that would turn the facility into being available and open 365 days a year. The goal would be to have a surface that is compliant with football, but also crucially, other sports such as hockey that have a lack of usable surfaces currently in the central belt. We need to make sure Grangemouth caters for the all and not just the few.

“The inside areas could be used for educational purposes and there is so much scope to work with groups like The Falkirk Foundation and Warriors in the Community, who already do fantastic work.”

Last weekend, Scottish Athletics confirmed that they have commissioned independent consultants to assess the costs of saving Grangemouth, with the hope of discovering “potential future viable operating models” as they look to find ways to generate new income and keep the facility open.

Colin Hutchison, chief executive of Scottish Athletics, said: “We’ve had to take the lead on assessing viable options to keep the stadium open and athletics happening at Grangemouth.

"They will look at, firstly, the operations of the venue and possible cost-savings in that area. Secondly they will look at possible ways to generate new income. Thirdly, they will look at potential future models for a viable facility.

“We need that information to assess the viability of Grangemouth Stadium remaining open as an athletics venue protecting the future of the local clubs (Falkirk Victoria Harriers and Forth Valley Flyers) and supporting local, regional and national competition and training. There remains a real threat that the venue could close in 2025 unless a suitable rescue package can be agreed.”

A Falkirk Council spokesperson confirmed talks were ongoing: “We continue to work with a number of groups and are willing to consider options to secure the future of facilities at the stadium that remove the ongoing subsidy.

“The council has been actively engaged with national sports bodies and interested parties to establish alternative management arrangements. We hope these will come to fruition however, if they do not then the property will close in accordance with the previous decision.”

On the possible move away from the Falkirk Stadium, Shire supremo Cromar says that the club’s ambitious nature and community-first outlook would be well-served by a move to Grangemouth if a package could be agreed, and that they remain open to compromising with the likes of Scottish Athletics in order to make the move happen.

He added: “Falkirk FC are so supportive in everything we do and Jamie Swinney has been brilliant with any request we have had. The Shire’s relationship with Falkirk is fantastic – but to have our own home, our own ‘Firs Park’ again, has to be the goal for us because it would open up so many opportunities for us as club. Walking football, women’s football, youth teams – we would be able to complement what we are off the park.

“We want to be able to listen to the community and be able to provide what it needs, not what we think it might need. At the moment, we play football on a Saturday and train two times a week, in order to develop as a football club we need to be able to do more than just that.”