It used to be a cabbage patch, but Twickenham will soon boast facilities fit for a king if the Rugby Football Union's proposed South Stand redevelopment is given planning permission.
Approval is being sought to transform the present 75,000-seat horseshoe-shape stadium into an 82,000-capacity bowl, incorporating a four-star hotel for 200 guests, a leisure complex, offices, a performing arts centre and an underground car park, to be fully completed by October 2004 at an estimated cost of £70-80m to the RFU.
The plans also involve the demolition of 14 houses along neighbouring Whitton Road, 12 of them already owned by the RFU, in order to transform a stadium charitably described by the architect as a "robust aesthetic" into something more up to date and less severe.
Aside from the inevitable conjecture surrounding the first occupants of the six proposed VIP bedroom suites overlooking the pitch - "No doubt there'll be a great demand... for the right reasons, of course," the stadium director Richard Knight suggested coyly - the RFU's chief executive Francis Baron believes the project "will, at last, give English rugby the national stadium it deserves".
Mindful of the planning officers of the borough of Richmond, whose former council leader David Williams claimed yesterday that "everyone within a half-mile of the stadium will be against it", Baron stressed that there were "no plans" to host football matches and estimated that the refurbished stadium would boost the economy of south-west London by about £40m a year.
The possibility of a Millennium Stadium-style retractable roof was also swiftly ruled out on cost grounds, but Baron is adamant that the union, which expects to clear the £30m debt on the redeveloped West Stand by next August, is investing wisely.
"Rugby is becoming too dependent on TV revenue and we need to diversify our revenue stream," he said, acknowledging that an increase in the number of major rugby occasions involving England at Twickenham was not realistic given the need to reduce the already intense demands on the leading players.
Another snag, assuming work begins on schedule in June next year, is that the capacity for England's home Six Nations games in 2004 will be reduced to about 70,000. Building may never start, however, if any of Richmond's planning committee possess sharp-eyed French relatives who spot the distant scoreboard on the computer-generated plans bearing the words "England 72 France 0". The RFU must now pray that such wishful thinking does not apply to its proposals as a whole.
Elsewhere, the fate of the England lock Danny Grewcock after his red card last weekend will be decided next Tuesday. The RFU has convened a three-man disciplinary hearing, chaired by Richard Moon and also featuring the former England prop Jeff Probyn.
The outstanding English women's forward Gill Burns has confirmed her retirement at the age of 38. In addition to Burns, who has accepted the post of RFUW president, England have also said farewell to the scrum-half Emma Mitchell, lock Karen Henderson and prop Theresa O'Reilly.
The International Rugby Board's inaugural conference on player welfare ended in Dublin yesterday with the recommendation that all professional players should have a minimum off-season of 12 weeks. Detailed medical findings will be further discussed by the IRB Council in November.
