Badminton: Wembley woes: All England venue row

THE All England Championships, the pre-eminent annual tournament and the oldest and most traditional event on the circuit, is to take an unexpected gamble with its future and image by leaving London for the first time in a history going back to the last century.

The 95-year-old tournament will move this season to the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, and leave Wembley Arena after 37 years during which, to some, event and venue had become synonymous.

'It's the saddest decision they could have made,' Gill Clark, the chairperson of the Badminton Players' Federation, claimed. 'You build tradition up over many years and can destroy it overnight.' However, the Badminton Association of England sees the move as a way of keeping the Mecca of the game up with the times in a new Olympic sport.

'The opportunity to put the world's best tournament in the world's best arena could not be resisted,' the Association's chief executive, Geoffrey Snowdon, said. All the leading countries have given us their unqualified support.'

If so, the All England's entry at the top level may remain as strong as ever. But Clark fears a dropping off at the middle and lower levels and long-term damage to the tournament. 'Players come not just to compete in the All England but at Wembley,' she said. 'Now the All England risks turning into just another grand prix event.'

We may know better at the end of the four-year commitment at the NIA. By then it will also have come to the end of its current contract with its sponsor, Yonex.

The World Championships at the NIA in May and June made a loss estimated at pounds 150,000 to pounds 200,000. This, plus the high costs of Wembley Arena - about pounds 20,000 a day - are the unacknowledged factors in the decision. A deal may also have been struck with the NIA to offset the debts from the world championships.