The threat of Verwood Rugby Club’s current pitch at Potterne Park being lost to Verwood Football Club has been simmering in the background for some while as negotiations between the clubs through the Verwood Community Association continued.

The football club wants to take over the rugby pitch almost immediately and offered their current soccer pitch to the rugby club in a ‘pitch swap’. Rugby Club Chairman Ken Banks is most unhappy due to the condition of the soccer ground’s playing surface, its position and the fact that moving the posts and store will prove costly. Said Ken, “We are disappointed as to the manner in which our club has been treated and the way in which we have been steamrollered into all of this.”