Most English football supporters will know that England is bidding to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018. What fewer will know is that England’s chances depend in part on how keen the team’s followers are to host the event.
Please help with England’s World Cup bid
With the Lionel Road team keen to get Brentford involved in 2018, Bees United is asking all of its members – as well as Bees fans in general – to register their support for the bid before the imminent 27th November deadline.
“A key part of the process is for each bidding nation to demonstrate strong support for their bid,” comments Bees United secretary Chris Gammon. “You can help England’s – and Brentford’s – bid by registering your support at www.england2018bid.com.”
When on the website click on ‘Our Supporters/Add your support’ and then on the next screen click on ‘Show your support’ (http://www.england2018bid.com/support/register.aspx). “When you register don’t forget to select Brentford as your team and London as your host city,” he adds. “Alternatively you can text ‘London’ to 62018.”
Brian Burgess, director of Brentford FC (Lionel Road), explains that he and his colleagues have been asked by the team co-ordinating the London part of the bid to submit details of how the planned Brentford Community Stadium at Lionel Road could be a ‘showcase’ training facility for competing teams.
For the World Cup matches up to 19 stadia could in theory be selected for inclusion in England’s final bid for the 2018 tournament, but 16 cities are bidding to be involved. London is putting forward Arsenal’s Emirates stadium, Tottenham’s planned new stadium, the 2012 Olympic Stadium, while Wembley will host the opening match and final and possibly other matches.
Each of the competing teams will need training camps and suitable venues to hold public training sessions. The general public, he adds, will have access to Lionel Road training sessions.
Griffin Park will also be put forward as a back-up for obvious reasons. However, an important part of the Lionel Road team’s submission will be Brentford’s impressive record of working with the local community, as shown by being named as Football League Two Community Club of the Year for 2009.
Once the London bid has been put together, it will be submitted to the Football Association, which has the job of selecting the cities, stadia and training facilities that will form part of England’s 2018 World Cup bid.
“We are obviously excited to be participating in the preparation of England’s 2018 bid,” says Brian Burgess. “If England’s bid is successful, we think our close proximity to Wembley, Heathrow and central London would make us an ideal venue to host public training sessions for the world’s top teams. It would also give us the chance to show off Brentford’s fantastic community spirit.”
Timeline
- 27th November 2009: Deadline for registering support for London
- December 2009: Announcement of cities to be included in England’s final bid
- 14th May 2010: England submits its Technical bid to FIFA
- December 2010: FIFA announces host nation of 2018 and 2022 World Cups