Max Portman on West Ham and the Olympic Stadium

Sport in History Podcast

This episode is a recording of the paper given by Max Portman at the Institute of Historical Research on 14th Nov 2022. If one is to talk about the importance of sport within East London, West Ham United is always a part of the conversation. As the premier football team within the area, West Ham United are ingrained in the popular culture psyche of East London as much as pie & mash or Eastenders is and therefore deserves our focus as historians, regardless of our scope on the area. But the most important sporting event to dominate East London in our recent history is the 2012 Olympic games, held in Stratford. Whilst the games themselves were a roaring success, there were many questions regarding the legacy of the Olympic stadium, the centrepiece of the games and its future. Desperate to avoid the disasters that had befallen previous Olympic venues such as the now derelict 2004 Olympics venues in Athens, the government launched a bidding process that would decide and protect the legacy of the 2012 games. In 2013, West Ham would agree to a deal that would see them move into the stadium in 2016 and protect this legacy. However, the road to becoming the tenants of the Olympic Stadium was often contentious and controversial, with the first bidding process collapsing, the club’s rental agreement for the stadium coming under heavy public scrutiny and a 2017 review highlighting the failures of the entire process. This episode highlights a 7-year journey from 2010 to 2017 of a lengthy, complicated process that saw interpersonal relationships, alleged government incompetence and multiple legal challenges become key aspects of one club’s bid to take over a new stadium. It also examines the key parties involved, such as who benefitted the most from the stadium and who were the subsequent losers in this process too. Finally, it examines the legacy of the Olympic stadium both as the new home of West Ham United and as a political football for opposing sides to kick about in blaming one another for the stadium’s failures. Max Portman is a final-year PhD student at the University of Chichester, with a focus on West Ham United as a nexus of communities in East London since 1981 As a West Ham fan and a budding academic, Max saw the opportunity with his thesis to utilise his passion for the club, as well as carry on the great academic work, focused on West Ham that began with Charles Korr. Today's paper will be focusing on the club's, albeit controversial journey, to becoming tenants of the Olympic Stadium.