Council lands knockout blow to fight night at famous stadium

Headingley Stadium has been refused a licence to host a boxing match with the Josh Warrington, which has been described as a “blow” for the venue.

The decision by Leeds City Council to refuse the application from Leeds Rhinos who alongside Yorkshire County Cricket Club invested £46m in the redevelopment of the stadium recently looks to have ended the hopes of view of attracting more events to the famous ground that plays host to both cricket and rugby matches.

If approved the plan was for the venue to host crowds of up to 25,000 for boxing and wrestling events.

The Warrington fight which had been announced by promoter Eddie Hearn and was scheduled to take place 4 September as a homecoming fight for the former IBF featherweight champion, could now take place in a different city.

Speaking about the decision Councillor John Illingworth noted that 25,000 fans was “a lot of people” and that there were fears they would “take over”.

Adding that the timing of a boxing match and its late finish would be a problem due to stadium being in a residential area and public transport not running.

“The late night finish certainly is a problem. If they finished the same time as a rugby match, I don’t think there’d be the same issues,” he said.

“We are all keen to see Rhinos doing well. It is a problem for them if they’ve got expensive facilities standing idle.”

Gary Hetherington, chief executive at Leeds Rhinos who described the decision as a shock and a disappointment added: “I don’t know the numbers but, when Yorkshire County Cricket Club and ourselves entered into a £46million redevelopment of Emerald Headingley, clearly a big part of the business plan was attracting other key events.

“So much work has gone on behind the scenes, so the decision to reject it has come as a huge shock and disappointment.

“Bringing Josh back to Leeds was a significant event not only for Emerald Headingley and Josh Warrington but for the entire city.

“We didn’t expect Emerald Headingley to be rejected because it is a sports venue and we are used to handling crowds of 20,000 at both the rugby and the cricket.”

He noted that as a result of the redevelopment the site was looking beyond just sport and cricket and that the stadium had “been set up to attract other major events – music, sporting and different types of conferencing events”.

“The business plan is based on that, so to be knocked back on a major event like this, at the first time of asking, is a shock and a blow not only to Leeds Rhinos but everyone involved at Emerald Headingley.”