The chairman of the organising committee for the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games says The Bowl in Douglas could still be redeveloped in time for the event.

Geoff Karran was speaking after it was announced earlier this week that the ?2.5 million project was unlikely to go ahead before 2011, because of the economic downturn.

Mr Karran says it's been the plan for some time for the rugby sevens event to take place at the venue under floodlights, and he has been lobbying politicians and others in the hope that can still happen.

He told Manx Radio:

"There would be time if decisions could be made within the next few months.

"As the minister has said, we haven't seen the scheme that the corporation have drawn up, but basically the ground itself needs to be done.

"Not an awful lot of money has been spent on The Bowl over the years, (and) it does need to be upgraded at some point.

"We've been lobbying the corporation and the government to try and get this support, (and) we appreciate the corporation are now saying 'we would like the government's help, in relation to this'.

"We believe this is still being considered, which is why the minister says it's premature, and so I think if there was a concerted effort by government and the corporation, this could be achieved."

(Picture: Computer generated image of some of the 4,500 fold-up seats which are included in Douglas Corporation's plans for the ?2.5 million redevelopment of The Bowl).