London Borough of Croydon - Sport and Leisure

Sport and Leisure

The borough has been criticized in the past for not having enough leisure facilities, maintaining the position of Croydon as a three star borough. At the moment only three leisure centres are open for public use and two of these are expected to be closed down in the near future, with plans for only one of them to be re-built. Thornton Heath's ageing sports centre was recently demolished and replaced by a newer more modern leisure centre. South Norwood Leisure Centre was closed down in early 2006 so that it could be demolished and re-designed from scratch like Thornton Heath, at an estimated cost of around £10 million.

In May 2006 the Conservative Party took control of Croydon Council and decided a refurbishment would be more economical than rebuilding, this decision caused soem controversy.

Purley Pool is to close soon, but a new "super-pool" is planned in Coulsdon. The ageing New Addington Leisure Centre is also set to close but is to be re-built. A new leisure centre is also going to be built on the A23, southern end of Purley Way in Waddon.

Sport Croydon, is the commercial arm for leisure in the borough. Fusion currently provides leisure services for the council, a contract previously held by Parkwood Leisure.

Football teams include Crystal Palace F.C., which plays at Selhurst Park, in the Championship. Coulsdon United F.C. (formerly Coulsdon Town F.C. before the merge with Salfords F.C.) are a team that currently play in the Combined Counties League Division One. Croydon Athletic F.C., whose local nickname is The Rams, is a football club based in Thornton Heath's Keith Tuckey Stadium and play in the Isthmian League Division One South, with Croydon F.C. who play at Croydon Sports Arena and Holmesdale, who were founded in South Norwood but currently playing on Oakley Road in Bromley, currently in the Kent League. Non-football teams that play in Croydon are Streatham-Croydon RFC, a historic rugby union club in Thornton Heath who play at Frant Road, as well as South London Storm Rugby League Club, based at Streatham's ground, who compete in the Rugby League Conference. Another rugby union club that play in Croydon is Croydon RFC, who play at Addington Road. The London Olympians are an American Football team that play in Division 1 South in the British American Football League. The Croydon Pirates are one of the most successful teams in the British Baseball Federation, though their ground is actually just located outside the borough in Sutton.

Croydon has over 120 parks and open spaces, ranging from the 200-acre (0.81 km2) Selsdon Wood Nature Reserve to many recreation grounds and sports fields scattered throughout the Borough.