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£1.2 million Cupar sports hub an ‘opportunity for change’

A vision of how Duffus Park could look after being extended and refurbished.
A vision of how Duffus Park could look after being extended and refurbished.

The development of a £1.2 million community sports hub at Duffus Park in Cupar has the potential to increase participation in a wide range of sports by people of all ages and abilities.

That is the view of the president of the Howe of Fife Rugby Club, Bill Robertson, who said the proposed improvements will allow “barriers to sporting opportunities at all levels to be removed”, while also providing “fit for purpose” facilities for all park users.

In a presentation to Cupar Community Council, Mr Robertson said the aim was for the new facility, which was recently granted full planning permission, to be open by 2015. He said youth rugby was his main interest and the new facility, which would replace the current Howe of Fife Rugby Club building in Provost Wynd, would cater for the increased demand for youth rugby from around 300 children.

However, he said that a variety of users including football and hockey players would benefit and a “big advantage” of the proposed facility was that it would provide somewhere for parents to go and enjoy a cup of coffee while their children are playing sport. Currently, he said, many parents had little option but to sit in their cars.

He said it was the club’s aspiration to extend and refurbish the current facilities at Duffus Park to provide eight self-contained changing rooms with showers, compliant with Child Protection legislation; provide dedicated accommodation for officials; provide fit-for-purpose medical/physiotherapy facilities; provide disabled access and facilities; a community cafe; community recreational and meeting space and hospitality space.

The potential benefits would be greatly improved provision of sporting opportunity for all, to enable a much more comprehensive and inclusive programme to be rolled out and to offer a wider variety of sporting opportunity for all to train, participate and progress.

It would also create a “fit-for-purpose” community facility to address “complex and diverse needs in a central and accessible location”, enhance sporting provision in a rural area and enable full participation and access to all users, currently denied as a result of available facilities.

He said there was also the potential to host high-calibre sporting fixtures, potentially including ladies’ international fixtures and under-20s international fixtures. This could bring associated economic benefits to Fife.

Mr Robertson, who was joined by Howe of Fife Rugby Club vice-president Russell Ferguson and former Fife councillor and athlete Andrew Arbuckle, said funding applications were in progress for sportscotland and the lottery.

He said the rugby club building at Provost Wynd had been valued at £175,000 and it is intended that proceeds from its sale go toward funding the inside of the new facility.

He stressed that the venue would be open to members of the public, emphasising that this was “not going to be a parochial rugby club” facility.

He said: “It’s to be something that everyone can share.”

Mr Arbuckle said that while he was not a member of the Howe of Fife Rugby Club, he was a supporter of the club.

His main interest was in improving sports facilities in Cupar and north-east Fife and he said this “very ambitious project” had the potential to create “21st century sports facilities” in the town.

Cupar Community Council chairman Canon Pat McInally said the community council was “100% behind” the proposals and looked forward to the facility coming to fruition.

Other supporters include the East Fife Sports Council, Scottish Rugby Union, elected representatives, Bell Baxter High School, SRUC Elmwood College and Fife Council’s sports development team.