A new world-class training centre for the Cardiff Blues and Cardiff City football club has been officially launched today (Mon 15th December 2008) at the Vale Resort, Hensol nr Cardiff.
The new training home for the two clubs is part of a £10million investment into sport facilities at the hotel resort to support the development of elite sport. It is part of a 40-acre sporting site at the Vale which includes six international standard training pitches for soccer and rugby including a 3G artificial pitch built to FIFA and IRB specifications.
The Blues and Cardiff Citys training headquarters will be based at the new 1800 sq m (18,000 sq ft) three-storey Vale Pavilion which houses state-of-the-art facilities including fitness zones and conditioning areas, medical and physio rooms, office and boardroom facilities, players lounges, meeting rooms, refectories and changing areas.
The Cardiff Blues will have a dedicated training pitch and skills zone; Cardiff City will have the use of two football pitches plus two training zones that also serve the FAW.
Stephen Leeke, Managing Director of the Vale Resort said: The ambition at the Vale has been to create a centre of sporting excellence with some of the best leisure and sporting facilities available in Europe.
We have been working closely over the past three years with the Blues and Cardiff City to design an environment which suits the needs of modern sports professionals and coaching staff and that will assist them with their very focused year-round training schedules.
We are delighted to working in close partnership with two of Wales most successful sports clubs in the pursuit of their ambitions to perform at the very top of their game. We wish them all the very best in the new Vale Pavilion.
Robert Norster, Cardiff Blues Chief Executive: The opening of this new facility provides another very important step forward for the Cardiff Blues. The new training centre is world-class facility suitable for any team playing at the highest level of professional sport. We have already seen the team make significant progress over the past few seasons and I have no doubt that this centre will prove to be a vital component in the ongoing development of David Young, his coaching staff and the wider team.
The move sees us advance from a good training facility to a great one and our thanks must go to Gerald and Stephen Leeke and the Vale Hotel for their continued support and commitment to our cause and indeed that of our national sport.
Peter Ridsdale, Chairman of Cardiff City Football Club said: We are delighted that Cardiff City Football Club has been able to work with the Vale Resort and the Leeke family in securing state of the art training facilities which are second to none. Our new training base combined with our new stadium due to open in August 2009, means that we now have facilities in keeping with our ambition to become a Premier League Football Club.