Worcester City to play home games at Sixways

Sixways first opened for business in 1998 before being updated in 2008

Sixways, the home of fallen rugby club Worcester Warriors, is to become host to non-league football side Worcester City next season.

Warriors, who went into administration in 2022, are also scheduled to return to their old home in 2025-26, having applied to compete in English rugby union's revamped second tier.

But they will have different footballing tenants, as City, who currently play at Claines Lane on the outskirts of Worcester, will take over on a five-year lease from fellow local non-league outfit Worcester Raiders.

City owner Simon Lancaster told BBC Hereford & Worcester: "We've signed with effect from next summer.

"We recognise that this is quite a big and controversial move for some fans. But we're halfway though a 10-year clause at Claines which has a break clause that had to be activated now if we wanted to move.

"The main piece in the jigsaw has always been about finding our own home and we're still working hard on that. But we have to simultaneously look after the short term too. The board weighed up both options and concluded that this was by far the best move."

Warriors commercial director Laura Napper said: "They've got huge plans for promotion and growth themselves, and moving to a site with our infrastructure will give them that opportunity.

"We've obviously got a larger stadium, purpose built for sport of all types so it should really suit."

Worcester City, who were founder members of the first national non-league when the Alliance Premier began in 1979, have slumped to the eighth tier in the English football pyramid - although they are currently third in the Northern Premier League Midlands Division.

The club have had a troubled, nomadic existence since leaving their old long-time home at St George's Lane in 2013 because of financial woes and it had to be sold for housing redevelopment.

When the sale of the ground did not raise sufficient money to fund a proposed new base at Nunnery Way on the south side of the city, they were forced to groundshare, first at Aggborough, home of Kidderminster Harriers, then at the Victoria Ground, Bromsgrove.

City currently play close to the site of a proposed new permanent home, the Worcestershire Community Sports Park at Fernhill Heath, which they announced in November 2023.

Ninth-tier neighbours Worcester Raiders have played on the artificial Sixways surface since 2020.

Raiders, who play in the Hellenic League Premier, issued a statement saying: "It has become inevitable that we will need to find a permanent home for all of our teams. With this in mind we will not be renewing our lease at Sixways after being tenants for five years."

Worcester City owner Simon Lancaster and Warriors commercial director Laura Napper were speaking to BBC Hereford & Worcester sports editor Trevor Owens.