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The sporting elite celebrated at K2 Crawley

“Crawley’s Sporting Excellence” have been honoured by Crawley Borough Council and Everyone Active on a wall at K2 Crawley.

Published

7 months ago

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(From left to right) Steve Arneil, Mick Jones, Mick Leigh, Nick Buckfield and Clive Southgate.

At the leisure centre’s opening day event on Saturday (16 March), Deputy Mayor of Crawley, Councillor Tahira Rana, and Cabinet member for Wellbeing, Councillor Chris Mullins unveiled the feature wall to invited VIPs.

  • Steve Arneil, karate
  • Nick Buckfield, pole vault
  • Paulo Da Silva, Muay Thai
  • Sharron Davies MBE, swimming
  • Katie-George Dunlevy, cycling
  • Sally Gunnell OBE, hurdles
  • Mick Jones, hammer throw
  • Jade Lally, discuss
  • Mick Leigh, judo
  • Alan Minter, boxing
  • Gareth Southgate OBE, football
  • Daley Thompson CBE, decathlon
  • Zara Williams, swimming

 Each sporting hero is presented on the wall with a graphical portrait and information plaque, outlining their career highlights.

They have all been held up against a set criteria: outstanding contribution to their sport, namely coaches achieving great success at elite level or sportspeople creating iconic moments.

Cllr Chris Mullins opening the wall with (from left to right) Deputy Mayor of Crawley, Councillor Tahira Rana; Steve Arneil; Mick Jones; Nick Buckfield; Mick Leigh and Clive Southgate.

Councillor Chris Mullins said:

“Crawley has a rich sporting history and our feature is a great way of highlighting the achievements of our sportspeople. We hope the “wall of fame” at K2 Crawley will inspire the next generation to give sport a try and inform people of the successes that have come out of Crawley.

We understand that we may not have represented everyone in this initial stage but we plan to keep adding to the wall, so if you have any sporting suggestions – let us know!”

Gareth Southgate OBE, manager of the England national football team, said:

“Crawley has a proud sporting tradition and produces a great number of sportsmen and women who compete nationally and internationally. 

“Underpinning these achievements, many Crawley residents are actively engaged as coaches, volunteers, participants, administrators and spectators. I am proud to have grown up in Crawley where sport plays such an important role in the local community. “

Katie-George Dunlevy, Paralympic cyclist, said:

“Sport not only gave me a life beyond my wildest dreams but it has also saved it. I was diagnosed visually impaired at aged 11 with a progressive degenerative eye condition and faced with a potentially bleak future. However, when I found sport, I found a passion and a drive to be the best I could possibly be.

“Living and training in and around Crawley all my life, I work extremely hard and K2 Crawley is where I do a lot of my work towards becoming the current Paralympic and World Champion that I am. I now travel the world doing what I do. I am immensely proud, as are my family and the sporting community in Crawley.”

If you want to make suggestions for the next phase of selection, email communications@crawley.gov.uk

Every nomination will be considered against the criteria.

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Ronnie O’Sullivan critical ‘again’ of K2 Crawley

Last year he described it as a ‘hellhole’ and this year he is still not impressed.

Published

3 days ago

on

15th October 2019

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Speaking to reporters the snooker player who only just managed to get through the first round was highly critical of the towns sports venue.

O’Sullivan reportedly said:

“It hasn’t changed as far as I’m concerned.’

‘You’d have to do a lot to change this place, wouldn’t you? You’d have to do an overall refurb on this place, but I’m not surprised, it is what I expected it to be.

I’ve just gone from the match table to a squash court to a toilet, where the player’s office is, to outside the building, in the rain, to get round here to do interviews, so I’ll probably end up with a bit of pneumonia on top of the cold which I’ve already got.”

He even joked that:

“Every day in Crawley is a day lost in my life.”

But the player has received backlash from the towns leaders and residents with Crawley MP Henry Smith saying:

“I believe it is the second year he has done this, he would be better concentrating on his snooker than mouthing off cheap lines.”

One local resident from Tilgate summed up their feelings of the snooker player saying:

“Who is he?”

A spokesperson from the English Open said:

“After last year’s English Open in Crawley we gathered feedback from the players, fans and officials and the overall feedback was that it is an excellent venue.

Based on this feedback we have made some changes to the layout this time in order to improve the experience for the players, including a new quiet lounge for the players and an improved practice facility. We are happy to be working with the K2 venue building the English Open into a great event.

The atmosphere in the arena on the opening day on Monday was excellent and we look forward to more support from the people of Crawley throughout the week.”

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