No plans for new stadium, say Neath after Gnoll study confusion

Neath Rugby Club have clarified that they will not be building a new stadium despite plans to replace their 149-year-old home ground, the Gnoll, still featuring on an architect's website.

Garnett Netherwood Architects published a "feasibility study", external to turn the Gnoll into a new 10,000-capacity stadium.

The document, still on the firm's site, also proposed a redevelopment of the adjacent Neath Cricket Club.

But Garnett Netherwood later said these were plans from the 2010-11 season.

Neath chief executive Matt Church said: "Whilst we have an investment programme in place at the Gnoll including the planned artificial pitch and other recent facilities upgrades, this relates back to previous club ownership."

Neath, one of Wales' oldest and most successful clubs, have played at the Gnoll since they were founded in 1871.

Regional side Ospreys have also played there in recent seasons, while Neath Cricket Club's adjacent ground dates back to the 1840s.

According to Garnett Netherwood Architects, they were "commissioned by Neath RFC Limited to produce a feasibility study for a new 10,000 capacity stadium and the redevelopment of the existing Neath cricket ground to accommodate a new rugby centre of excellence and training facilities".

However, both Neath RFC and the architects say these plans no longer apply to the rugby or cricket grounds.

Neath have struggled financially of late, surviving a winding-up order in February last year after being declared insolvent.

That came after the club's future was thrown into doubt following the collapse of then-owner Mike Cuddy's construction business, the Cuddy Group, in July 2018.

Neath were leading lights in Welsh club rugby in the late 1980s, giving close matches to New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.

They were winners of the Welsh Premier Division in the first full season of professional rugby in 1996.

The club were co-founders of the Neath-Swansea Ospreys regional side in 2003 and also won five Welsh semi-pro titles in six years before financial problems and a dispute with the Ospreys saw them relegated to the Championship.

Neath were fifth in the table when the season came to an early end because of coronavirus, and hosted two Pro14 games in 2019-20 after repairing their links with the Ospreys.