Wasps could play at Charlton Athletic’s ground next season as part of a plan to revive one of rugby union’s best-known clubs, it has been reported.
The club could groundshare at The Valley if it is granted admission to the RFU Championship, the second tier of English rugby, according to The Times.
Wasps went bust in 2022 with debts of £95 million. The club’s traditional home was west London, including a spell playing at Queen Park Rangers’ Loftus Road, but it moved to Coventry in 2014 before going under eight years later.
Last year Wasps announced plans to build a stadium at Pedham Place, near Swanley, with Kent seen as an area of untapped support for the game.
Starting off at Charlton would be a “stepping stone” to a move to Kent, The Times reported.
The Valley is just a mile away from the historic home of Blackheath FC, although the third-tier side moved out of the Rectory Field in 2016 to Well Hall in Eltham. A lower-league side, Askeans, play there now.
As well as the Charlton men’s team, the club’s women’s team now also use The Valley as their home, with their first match of the season, against Portsmouth, taking place this Sunday.
If Wasps did move into The Valley as a Championship side, it would mean at least an extra 13 matches being played in a season running from October to May.
The Valley now has a new hybrid pitch which enables more matches to be played on it; the funding for the pitch came because the women’s team was moving in.
It would not be the first time The Valley has hosted another club – the rugby league side London Broncos played at Charlton for the 1996-7 Super League season.
Both Charlton and Wasps have been contacted for comment.
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