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Islington Tribune - by RÓISÍN GADELRAB
Published: 07 November 2008

Arsenal’s Ken Friar outside the town hall

Arsenal KO world title boxing bouts

Emirates Stadium ‘unlikely’ to stage contests

CLAIMS that world championship boxing contests are lined up for the Emirates Stadium were dismissed this week.
Arsenal won permission to host three concerts a year, at a licensing hearing at Islington Town Hall on Wednesday.
Managing director Ken Friar said that although the club has always had a licence to host boxing matches, the prospect of staging them was impractical and unlikely.
He said: “We don’t know why it’s come up now. We’ve never mentioned boxing to anybody.
“The last time we had a boxing match was in 1966 when Mohammad Ali – Cassius Clay at the time – fought Henry Cooper but we’ve had nothing in the 42 years since. It’s not something we’re contemplating and we’ve had no offers but we can’t say never.”
He added: “Boxing is peculiar because the success relies on TV and the big market is American TV and that would probably rely on it going out at 2am or the early hours. That’s something we don’t have a licence for.”
He said the club had not yet decided who would headline at the concerts next year.
“We’ve nothing specific on offer and we’re not talking to any promoters,” he added. “One thing you have to do in this business is provide what the public want. It would have to be someone that could command a crowd that would fit the stadium. Bruce Springsteen fitted perfectly.”
The meeting heard complaints from five objectors who feared that noise and the disruption involved in setting up concerts would affect their quality of life.
Nigel Woodford, who lives near the stadium, asked the panel to consider limiting concerts to school holidays so children were not affected.
He said: “I don’t fundamentally object to Arsenal having concerts but as a local parent and member of the residents’ association I’ve spoken to many parents and we would like to have the concerts restricted to out-of-term time and only on Friday and Saturday nights.
“People gather from 3pm or 4pm, then the cleansing team comes out at 4am and this disrupts my sleep and that of my children and that does affect their schooling.”
Resident Karen Mitchell warned: “This is three concerts at the moment but this is a slippery slope.”
Mr Friar assured residents: “We live here, we’re part of the borough and therefore it’s important that we do everything possible to ensure the least difficulty to people.
“We want to cause the very least disruption we can.”

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