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Volunteers Lose Fulton Bottoms January 05, 2012 (Knoxville, TN) In October of 2011, the University of Tennessee released Fulton Bottoms Rugby Field to KUB and the City of Knoxville so that utility improvements could be completed to service the new Cherokee Farm campus on Alcoa Highway. KUB is upgrading its gas distribution system with a high-pressure main that includes a bore under Fort Loudon Lake from the University of Tennessee's Cherokee Farm to Fulton Bottoms Rugby Field, which will be used as a staging area for equipment. As a condition of the release of Fulton Bottoms, UT asked that the City of Knoxville provide field space for displaced teams - mainly men's and women's rugby. The city subsequently offered limited use of Duff Field in South Knoxville. Duff Field is also the practice field of the Knoxville Rugby Club. In an attempt to preserve field conditions and to give the teams a chance to discuss how to make the best of the circumstances, UT Men's Rugby practiced at the Tennessee Rugby Park for most of the fall. Beginning with the start of the spring semester, UT Rugby will practice from 5 PM to 7 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Duff Field. Knoxville Rugby and UT Rugby will hold sessions together when possible for the benefit of both teams as each prepares for the spring conference schedule and playoffs. UT demolished the married student housing on Sutherland Avenue this fall and is set to break ground on a $14M intramural complex this spring. This 8 field complex is scheduled to come on line in the fall of 2012 and is planned to include two synthetic turf fields. UT Rugby is hopeful that the team will have access to this complex and the Volunteer Rugby Foundation has offered to financially support and become a partner in the project. (see architectural rendering below) Separately, it was announced this week that the Fulton Bellows manufacturing site (the area across the creek from Fulton Bottoms Rugby Field) will be transformed into a multi-storied shopping complex with a Publix and WalMart. The 12-acre Fulton Bellows site formerly was home to a 450,000-square-foot manufacturing plant whose buildings (prior to demolish ion in 2006) towered over the home field of the Volunteers. (see architectural rendering below) News related to the utility improvements can be found here - Information related to the construction of a Publix and Walmart on the old Fulton Bellows site can be found here - News on the construction progress of the Sutherland Avenue athletic complex can be found here -
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