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I’m going to preface this article by saying that I am a complete and utter rugby ignoramus. I don’t know the rules. It looks like a 1910 version of American football played without helmets. Is it the game with the referees who do the pointing thing with the funny hats, or is that Aussie Rules footy? I don’t know! But apparently there are two London-based English Premiership rugby clubs that will be playing against each other at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium starting next season, and that makes it newsworthy for a Spurs blog, don’t you think?
The two clubs, Saracens and Harlequins (which I totally had to look up), are both London clubs and are fierce rivals. They’ve been playing their derbies at West Ham’s London Stadium lately and have also played at Wembley in years past, but would’ve played this weekend’s game at Spurs’ stadium if it had been ready in time.
It is not, so back to West Ham they go. But next year, the rugger is coming to north London. Saracens Director of Rugby Mark McCall had this to say according to the Telegraph:
“We are looking forward to Tottenham’s ground being completed and that becoming our home for this game for the years to come. The Olympic Stadium is a bit of a neutral venue. This weekend’s game should have been at Tottenham’s ground if the stadium had been ready. My understanding now is that [White Hart Lane] is going to be where we are going to be for this fixture. It is very exciting and it is more our area [in terms of support base].”
That sounds, presumably, cool! More fans coming to Tottenham for reasons other than watching Spurs play is exactly what Daniel Levy had in mind when he made it a multi-use stadium. More events means more paying attendees, which means more gate revenue, which by extension means more money for future Tottenham transf... sorry.
The other thing I learned is that Saracens is apparently just up the road from Tottenham. But then again, so is Arsenal. Harlequins, on the other hand, has cool looking jerseys. I’m a Harlequins fan now. Is that a good reason? I don’t care. Don’t @ me.