Never had you down as the petty sort .

I think,well i hope that was tongue in cheek.

Just went into nutjob forum mode but i'm back now.


Jeez i'm only playing.

Pink elephant since the day it was built and has always been unsustainable.
Surprised its lasted so long tbh.

Got to agree with you on this,But surely someone could salvage bits of the place and relocate it.

what's the difference between a pink elephant and a white elephant

So much for the Olympic legacy...

Paper talk, could save it and scrap the Red Arrows.

Nothing to do with the Olympic legacy and all to do with the practicalities of real life im afraid.
Athletics (and athletes) in the Uk is wholly reliant on funding as was the running of facilities such as this.
Another example of Sheffield City Council having a brain fart with the Don Valley, and now with less funding in general its an obvious choice for the chop.
Taking away the emotion of the Olympics and gold medal olympic champions such as Jess Ennis the whole DV idea was a bad one and has been a locally huge tax payer burdon since its conception.

A man after my own heart. Taxpayers money wasted on essentially a flying motorcycle display team, in the name of PR for the armed forces.

Back to the Don Valley subject, an awful stadium from the very start. However I'm sad in some ways to see it go because The Eagles need a secure home and not the odd game at Sheffield United.

I beg to differ.

The so-called legacy should have been an opportunity to join up the way that sports facilities, from grassroots right up to elite level, are provided; DV is just one example of a series of failures that will see this country plunged deeper into a health crisis that will cripple the NHS and put an extra burden on social care services - both areas of swingeing idealogical cuts that the ConDems are ramming through the legislature, disguised as austerity measures.

Sports facilities crumble into disuse, Michael Gove abolishes School Sports Partnerships and playing fields are sold off for housing development. Meanwhile, Jess Ennis and Mo Farah make millions of quid endorsing sports drinks, shampoo and bank accounts.

The world's gone mad.

In a perfect world yes, but the millions that keeps uk athletics and athletes afloat is inpracticle especially when serious cuts are being made elsewhere in society as they are.
Whatever your political beliefs are, the figures dont stack up and had it not been for people such as Andy Norman twenty years ago athletics would still be an amature pass time in the Uk.
Im not saying thats a bad thing by the way - just not sustainable and even less so when we have a debt crisis.

Don't let the Tories persuade you that cuts to sports & leisure funding is necessary to pay for health and social care services; those very cuts place an extra burden on H&S Care services, so it's a false economy.

I don't imagine that the playing fields at Eton are likely to be sold off anytime soon - this is about attacking the poor and working classes, who have no access to private sports facilities, health clubs or pro coaches.

The closure of DV is symbolic because of its role in introducing Jess Ennis to athletics, but it's symbolic of a wider problem; as I said in the pre-Olmpic chat about legacy - it's stuff and nonsense, there isn't one.