Cricket success can help Bristol's World Cup football bid

If cricket can draw crowds into Bristol from across the South West, just imagine what World Cup football could bring, says Gloucestershire County Cricket Club chief executive Tom Richardson.

Thousands thronged to the County Ground in May when Bristol staged a one-day cricket match between England and the West Indies and Richardson is champing at the bit for more international action, be it cricket or football.

Research by the University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC) on the economic impact of the Ashes heading to Cardiff estimated a revenue windfall up to as much as £80 million from the event and tourism over the five-year period 2008-2012 if every marketing opportunity is maximised.

And Richardson sees World Cup football having an even bigger impact, this time for Bristol.

He said: "It would be brilliant for the football World Cup to come to Bristol and we are very keen to get involved and back the bid."

"In terms of the economic impact of something like the World Cup, it would be huge. Whichever teams came here would attract a significant amount of support. All the major sides have huge support now.

"We're looking to develop at the moment and so the County Ground could be well placed to play a role as a training ground. It is early days but we are all for the Bristol bid."

Richardson has fond recollections of the euphoria of 1966 when, as a starry-eyed 15-year-old, he watched the nation celebrate England lifting the World Cup on home soil.

"I have very good memories of back then," he said. "And wouldn't it be wonderful if we could create some new ones in Bristol.

"Bristol has huge advantages. The international match at Gloucestershire was the only international match played in Bristol for a while and I think the city is well capable of hosting a lot more."

Extra stands were installed to accommodate 14,000 people for the visit of the England cricket team in May. And many more drifted in simply to soak up the atmosphere.

"People came from all over the region," said Richardson. "It attracted loads of people onto Gloucester Road and in the bars and shops around the ground and there was a wonderful atmosphere.

"Some of the international football teams get thousands of people coming to see them train and we are happy at this early stage to be considered as one of the city's training venues for the 2018 World Cup bid."

Richardson is hoping the England 2018 World Cup bid team follow the same tactics as their counterparts masterminding the success of the nation's cricket team, by spreading the national side's matches around the country.

"One of the key points from the England and Wales cricket board is to get the show on the road", he said. "The same should apply to the football.

"People will come to Bristol from Plymouth and Exeter as there is no international sport in the region. Even if it is just to see teams train."

The 2007 UWIC report, prepared by Professor Brian Morgan, states the Ashes in Cardiff will act as a catalyst in building a series of high profile global sporting events from the 2010 Ryder Cup in Newport, international cricket and rugby matches to the Olympics in 2012.

In turn, selection as a host city for the 2018 World Cup would enable Bristol to better market itself as a destination for spectators from all of the above events and expose itself to what the UWIC report describes as "a new generation of tourists".