Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars, which play in Japan Rugby Top League, the country’s top flight rugby union competition, is urging fans and residents of Sagamihara to sign a petition to build a new multi-functional stadium complex.
The Rugby Republic news website has reported that the Dynaboars are working with Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara (Plenus Nadeshiko League 1 women’s football club), SC Sagamihara (J3 League men’s football team), and Nojima Sagamihara Rise (X League American football club) to collect 100,000 signatures for the stadium development and promotion of sports culture in the region. The petition will be handed to Kentaro Motomura, Mayor of Sagamihara, at the end of March.
The stadium complex is proposed to be developed on the site that was part of the U.S. Army Sagami General Depot land, which was returned to Japan in 2014. The site sits adjacent to the northern side of the Sagamihara railway station.
Kanagawa city currently boasts the Sagamihara Gion Stadium in its South Ward, but it is an athletics stadium and as the four aforementioned teams use it as their home stadium, many amateur teams and players, regardless of their code, are forced to play matches and participate in competitions outside the city.
The Sagamihara Gion Stadium has a seating capacity of only 6,300, which is way below the required capacity of 10,000 (for J. League Division 2) and 15,000 (for J. League Division 1) for SC Sagamihara.
Image: Rugby Republic
Article provided by The Stadium Hub
