Rugby Football League to build training hub near new Manchester home

The learning and training hub is to include a 900-seat spectator stand

A training facility with a 900-seat stand is to be built near the new home of rugby league's governing body.

The Rugby Football League (RFL) is due to relocate to Manchester's Etihad Campus in July, a move it said would be "transformational" for the game.

The hub on nearby Grey Mare Lane will offer training and education for both professional and community players.

The RFL said the site would become a "key facility" for the men's, women's and wheelchair squads.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said a pitch, changing rooms, floodlights and classrooms will be built on land opposite East Manchester Leisure Centre.

The RFL said education and employability courses will be offered on site.

An RFL spokesman said the governing body wanted "to make an impact in east Manchester"

Manchester Council approved permission for the plans, which will see local shops in Beswick demolished.

The local authority invested £250,000 to build a rugby pitch next to nearby East Manchester Academy as part of its 2012 Eastlands Regeneration Framework and has agreed to lease the land needed for the hub to the RFL for 125 years.

An RFL spokesman said the sport had "a massive social impact and we want to make an impact in east Manchester, so we are pleased to be able to move on to the next stage of this development".

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