Great for the Chiefs, great for the citizens of Exeter

Following the announcement last week that the Rugby World Cup is set to come to Exeter's very own Sandy Park in 2015, combined with a thrilling end to the Season which saw the Chiefs notching up their 12th league win of the campaign to ensure them of a crucial top six finish, Exeter Rugby Club are on an all-time high. In 2015, when over 4.5 million viewers from across the globe will be watching the relative minnows in the list of Rugby World Cup venues, exactly what does this mean for the Chiefs and for the city? The Exeter Daily spoke to the key people that made it happen.

Tony Rowe OBE, Chairman and Chief Executive of Exeter Rugby Club told The Exeter Daily: "We are immensely pleased to have been announced as one of the host cities for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. We worked very hard over the last few months – both the rugby club and the City Council - to try and secure this."

When asked how far Exeter Rugby Club has come in the last eight years, he says "In 2005, we were just waiting to move into Sandy Park and we weren’t too sure then how Sandy Park would be accepted, but as everybody’s seen, we’ve had a fantastic time over the last eight years and as a club we’ve gone from the old championship into the Premiership and Rob has steered the club on the field over the last four seasons. I’m so pleased to be part of Exeter’s success. It’s a big team effort, Rob talks about his team on the pitch, but there’s a bigger team here at Exeter, we all work together, and on this submission I’ve had some of my directors working late hours to get information together for the bid. It’s great for the club, great for the city and great for Rob to be a part of it."

"Having the Rugby World Cup coming to Exeter in 2015 shows the players - both those currently playing for us and those we hope to attract - that we are a forward-thinking club, that we are progressive and want to move forward, to host bigger and better games, to develop the ground... that’s what you want the players to see, that they’re part of something that’s going very well at the moment but in the future can progress to bigger and better things."

"We’re developing as a team and if we can secure ourselves where we are, always keep ourselves in the top six, the top end of the table, it will encourage the better players that want to come to us."

So what's the secret to the Chief’s success? Tony says, "The right people doing the right jobs. We’ve got a great head coach with Rob Baxter and a great team around him, I’ve got a great team of people around me off the pitch too, everybody knows where we’re going and pulls together to make it happen.

Having moved to Exeter over 40 years ago, Tony has seen many changes in the city over the years: "I arrived in Exeter in 1970 in the Royal Marines and it’s changed dramatically since then. The city itself has a can-do attitude that I find very refreshing. To develop the club as we have done over the last 10 years,  we started in 2002, we couldn’t have done it without the assistance of Exeter City Council and Devon County Council. It’s interesting when I talk to other stadium owners in Rugby Union how they’ve struggled with local authorities.

"That’s why commercially if you look at Exeter today and where we are and the rest of the country’s still struggling, but around Exeter things are very vibrant, there’s a lot of building going on all over the place,  our unemployment is one of the lowest and people are smiling.

"Having the Rugby World Cup 2015 coming to Exeter will be fantastic for the city. We’ve taken Exeter into Europe, but this is taking it to the world. Exeter is a fantastic city and it’ll be nice to share it with a lot of people around the world."

When you look at the size of the other stadiums that have been chosen, Sandy Park will be the smallest capacity at 12,300 (which will grow from the current capacity of 11,000 in time for 2015) compared to the London giants of Wembley Stadium (90,256) and Twickenham (81,605), and even before Christmas it looked as though the opportunity would pass Exeter by. However, something made the organisers take a second look at Sandy Park as a potential Rugby World Cup venue. When asked what he thought had attracted the Rugby World Cup organizers to the city of Exeter, City Council Leader Pete Edwards says: "It is a small city, but you look at the Chiefs' ground and you look at the way they do things… it’s so professional, it’s a fantastic experience here. That has gone a long way to help. Exeter is a lovely city. We’ve shown that we can put on big events like the Olympic Torch, we’ve got the best museum in Great Britain, the best University and FE College - we’re a buzzing city.

"This is the real icing on the cake, this will put Exeter not just in the context of Britain but in the world. People will see it on their TVs all over the world, 4.5 billion people will be watching this and will be able to see Exeter. I’m very proud to be associated with it and I’m sure it’s going to be fantastic, not just for the Chiefs, but for the citizens of Exeter."

When asked if he thought it would encourage more of Exeter's citizens to become rugby fans, Cllr Edwards says: "It’s a great opportunity for youngsters -  there’s always kids' teams that the chiefs encourage up here at Sandy Park. We’re looking at running a mini world cup for youth next year. I would love to think that the kids watching this World Cup could be playing in one the next time it comes.

But does Exeter have the infrastructure to cope with putting on such an event? Pete told The Exeter Daily: "That still needs to be worked on. It’ll be a great event for Exeter. It’ll be a fantastic occasion, but we'll need a lot of help to put it on, so we are hoping to recruit volunteers in much the same way as the Olympics Gamesmakers made the London 2012 games so successful."

The Exeter Daily asked Exeter Chiefs Prop and Welsh Rugby International Craig Mitchell what the news means to the players: "It shows progression of the club and where it wants to go. Obviously hosting the 2015 World Cup there’ll be some big sides coming along. It shows the fans and the players and coaching staff that we’re progressing as a club and it’s really positive.

"I’ve been here for two years. The last five years has been tough for the Chiefs, they’ve worked really hard and I’ve been fortunate to be part of the last two years. It’s a great club to play for.

"There's a good connection with the fans, getting out to community events to encourage as many people to the ground as possible. Our last game of the season against Gloucester was a sell-out, so we must be doing something right. 

So is Craig hoping to be playing in the 2015 Rugby World Cup? Craig says, "Yes I hope so. It’s another two years, so I’ll still be playing then – there’s another year of my contact at Exeter but I’d love to be part of the Exeter Chiefs for a number of years. We’ll have to wait and see."

The Rugby World Cup 2015 kicks on 18 September, with the matches to be played at Sandy Park on 29 September (Tonga v Africa 1) on 7 October (Africa 1 v Europe 1)  and on 11 October (Italy v Europe 2).

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