Welcome to the new Liberty Stadium

Oct 19 2005
Paul Rowland, Western Mail

BEING called Liberty has never caused a certain New York statue too many problems, but supporters groups yesterday gave the new title of Swansea's flagship stadium a decidedly lukewarm welcome.

The ground will be known as The Liberty Stadium after locally- based property developers Liberty Properties yesterday signed a five-year deal worth £500,000 to sponsor the shared home of Swansea City and the Ospreys.

But fans of Swansea City, who have been based at the ground since leaving the Vetch Field at the end of last season, were yesterday unimpressed with the new moniker.

Phil Sumbler, of the Swansea City Supporters Trust, claimed the new name "could have been a lot better", and said fans would have preferred council chiefs to stick with the working title of White Rock Stadium.

Mr Sumbler also revealed he was disappointed with the financial terms of the deal, with the tie-up bringing in little more than £100,000 a season.

"It's very disappointing that it's taken this long to come up with a name, and to be honest, it's a pretty low amount of money for the naming of a stadium," he said.

"Having said that, it could have been a lot worse - we could have ended up with some farcical name. To a lot of supporters the stadium will still retain the name White Rock anyway - people are still referring to it as that. It's hard to say how things will work out, but in my view White Rock is far more powerful.

"But at least Liberty won't create a laughing stock immediately and there are other plus points with Liberty being a local company which is run by local people who have an interest in the club.

"It could have been worse, but it could have been a lot better. What we've got is a five-year deal, but if Liberty want to be involved after five years, we have to rethink it again.

"If there was a title in there, something like the Liberty White Rock Stadium, the sponsor could have been renewed and the name could have been kept, but that's not what's happened."
Ron Knuszka, the trust's chairman, said financial considerations had forced the selection of a corporate name, but urged stadium bosses to incorporate the heritage of the area, and the club, into the stadium in other ways.

"There are compromise possibilities," he added.

"If they can't introduce White Rock into the title, I would have thought they could give some consideration to using the name for some part of the ground, be it a street, a stand or a bar.
"There are options available for introducing some history into the stadium. The history of a football club is extremely important. We have got to go forward, but a name is extremely important for fans to use and be proud of."

But Scott Gibbs, the former Wales and Ospreys star, who now works as Liberty's development manager, said it was time thestadium had a fitting name.

"There have been so many working titles attributed to the stadium, it's good that that's been finally put aside and the stadium has a name that can take it forward," he said.

"It's a fairly distinctive brand name, and also a strong corporate title, so we're hoping that will be reflected on the field - more so with the Ospreys than the Swans, because they're already up the top of the league!"