Crystal Palace’s start to the season has not been particularly convincing, with just one win from four games, although away from the pitch the Croydon club continues to grow. After last season’s Conference League triumph, the ambition is to expand and become one of those sides capable of regularly challenging for European places. To do that, though, investment is needed, starting with a new, major training complex. The problem is that the plans already under way have not found favour with everyone, to the point that a long-established cricket club could be forced to leave its training ground.
Crystal Palace wants to add the pitches at the HSBC Group Sports Club to its existing training centre on Copers Cope Road, a site currently home to New Beckenham Cricket Club (NBCC), one of London’s historic cricket clubs, which even survived the German bombing raids of 1944. The contracts for the sale of the land have already been signed, in a deal worth several million euros, and it is another sign of the changing face of this part of the capital, where Croydon, Lewisham and Bromley meet: green spaces are disappearing, replaced by state-of-the-art training grounds for sporting elites.
Alpen Patel, NBCC’s youth chairman, told iNews: “If the sale goes through and the ground is no longer available to us, we could find ourselves without a place for six different teams to train and play their youth matches. And it doesn’t stop there: the ECB All Stars and Dynamos programmes, as well as winter training and community cricket activities, would also disappear. This affects hundreds of players of all ages and raises serious concerns about the future of the club, player development and access to cricket in the area. Among both seniors and juniors, the reaction has been one of real concern and uncertainty.” Crystal Palace has confirmed that it is “in the process of acquiring Beckenham Sports Ground”, adding that the sale is expected to be completed by the middle of 2027, while HSBC has said that it “continually reviews its property portfolio”.
NBCC fears that, even if the club manages to find a new home, it would be almost impossible to locate a site on the same scale as the one it has now, which has previously hosted matches at the Women’s World Cup. Players have described it as “disheartening” and “shocking” to learn that such an important decision was being made without any opportunity to have a say. That is particularly striking in a part of the game where cricket clubs are often criticised for failing to engage with different communities. New Beckenham is a valuable exception: membership fees are accessible, there is a strong focus on women’s cricket, and players of every level are welcomed, from the senior sides to the youth teams.
HSBC is reportedly willing to work with the club to find a new home, and it would not be the first time the banking group has sold a cricket ground: in 2024, it sold Limb Lane in Yorkshire to Sheffield United, allowing the Championship club to turn the site into a new training centre for its men’s first team. Crystal Palace’s training complex, opened in 2021 after a €25 million investment, was upgraded again over the summer, with the players’ gym expanded across two floors, the media facilities modernised and the grounds staff given new spaces for their equipment. But now, evidently, it is no longer enough.