Twickenham Stadium

Wed July 22

Chloe checked out of London and headed for Northampton with my luggage, where I’ll join her the following day.

Today was all about heading to Twickenham and to the home of English rugby, Twickenham Stadium and the World Rugby Museum.

I had heard much about the museum from my colleague Jed Smith, who was heavily involved in its development for many years.

I arrived for my midday stadium tour with MCC mascot Freddie the Teddy in my possession, having secured him from Scott Butler at the Lord’s dinner the previous evening. He was to play a starring role in many photos throughout the day.

Twickenham Stadium is the largest rugby union stadium in the UK and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000. This makes it the second largest stadium in the UK (after Wembley) and the fifth largest in Europe. The stadium is the home of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), and as such is primarily a venue for rugby union. It is considered an icon of English rugby.

Interestingly, before the stadium was developed in the early-1900s, it was used to grow cabbages, and so Twickenham Stadium is affectionately known as the 'Cabbage Patch'. I wonder what the MCG nickname would be then?

When Twickenham Stadium was redeveloped recently, the Marriot Hotel – including a gym and conference centre - was constructed adjacent to the stadium, which makes for an interesting façade.

Also, the scoreboard screens are only temporary and are moved around to other stadiums for use in order to reduce operating costs and make better use of the screens. Imagine if we tried that at the ‘G! Like us, they use the arena grow lights and the birds of prey to frighten away the pigeons, so good to know some problems are universal…

The corporate suites are a little different to the MCG, with most of them having the dining area facing away from the stadium, so you eat in one room and then cross the corridor to sit outside and watch the match, rather than watch from behind glass. There are 150 suites, ranging in size from 10-50 people and cost £3000 per person per game for a minimum three-year lease.

The tour starts in the rugby store and finishes in the World Rugby Museum, which is a wonderful product. Plenty of interactives, audio and broken into more than a dozen separate exhibitions, which means the whole thing is not so daunting when you walk in. Really enjoyed it – Freddie enjoyed it even more than I did!

Afterwards, I met with RFU communications personnel in their offices which are, strangely, situated outside the stadium and over the road. Lots of information gleaned, particularly about the extent they have gone to in the last decade to create a relationship with the local community, after a fairly tumultuous period.

After Twickenham, it was home briefly to Erin and James’ house (my wonderful hosts in London now that Chloe has moved on) before dinner with one of my PVMS colleagues (Amy Grant) and her sister at a local watering hole – very British.

After a very busy three days, I’m keen on a long sleep and a couple of days R&R in Northampton, scene of Australia’s tour game.

Head back to London on Saturday and will report again after Sunday’s day in a corporate box at the Wembley Cup!