The academy situation will have no massive influence in the next round of Franchises for teams outside SL

What will be the most relevant is attendances

With Salford and Celtic not posting good crowds figures and Quins not getting anywhere I cannot see the RFL wanting any more poorly supported clubs in

They know Toulouse will be able to pull crowds quite simply because of the size of the place

That is why I feel Widnes will have the ace up the sleeve , as long as their crowds dont drop because they are crap

........and indeed, as long as they win an NRC trophy or appear in a GF. At the moment, they can't win a WI raffle. Next year they'll have to pull out all the stops otherwise i can see panic buttons being pressed and that just adds more pressure and makes things even harder. If you had to put a gun to my head i would say Widnes are the favourites to get a place but it isn't written in stone. They've got to get a golden ticket before entering the franchise factory and at the moment they are nowhere near passing that first hurdle.

They're getting 2,000 to 3,000 at the moment. That's it. The size of London's massive but no-one's watching RL there are they? Toulouse have to actually show they can pull in the crowds too - like Widnes can.

I also think such teams as Bradford ,Leeds etc will have something to say next time round .There is quite a bit of grumbling already as every other week they have a "no show crowd" Quins ,Celts, Salford, Cats don`t fetch many at all. I know it`s up to clubs to make their own crowd but even so it makes a differance in atmosphere and everything when it is all one sided.
Regarding the kids turning up in Bulls shirts etc.Well last week I took my grandchildren along to the excelent "Learn how to do the Haka" afternoon at the Leisure Centre run by Frank Watene and it was a very enjoyable event.
There was the inevitable family of "Bulls " there resplendant in all the shirts. They took a bit of good humoured ribbing and thoroughly enjoyed the day.
But despite the parents insistance to the contrary Mike insisted the young lad took his free season ticket like all the other Fax fans present.
Nice one .

Same problem for us but we will win the NRC this year to get ours

They would get massive help from the local council if they get a place , just to bring in travelling fans , having 2 clubs from France is a long term aim of the RFL , it will happen

They like the idea of ' derby ' games as long as it doesn't include the likes of us and you

I went down some years ago and made a point of asking numereous people where they were from they were all Kiwi/Aussie bar/bank workers and northerners who had moved down there .I never spoke to a person from London there were obviously some there ( I hope) but I never found them.
Some time ago when I had the pub we had a couple of regulars who were committed Fax fans that relocated to London through work. They started to watch the Quins and when we were in Super League they would come back up when we played them here.
However when they relocated again to Morecombe they carried on watching the Quins because they could get to all the away matches up here and we had dropped out of Super League. I was most disapointed in them really.

Gary hetherington is a big fan of expeansion

As regards the need for away fans to create atmosphere , that is an argument I have had many times with many people , it isone of the lower leagues biggest problems

Aren't you playing Halifax at the weekend? I've heard that they're a county mile ahead of anyone else

Yes only county mile though , and with that being a Yorkshire county mile it's as tight as a Yorkshiremans wallet so not very big



Leigh by one



Bonus point for Fax

No it darned well is`nt right but they have never played fair havn`t the big clubs , I do not think we have the rescourses to match them either really.Our club does a super job but they cannot be everywhere I was furious when our local village school were all handed special invites to a Giants match when we were at home.

I think it will be closer than most people think this match, Rowley will have them all fired up .If there`s a match he will want to win it`s this one. Let`s all hope we don`t get caught out watching Rowley spit the dummy again is always good.
Oh by the way don`t forget it`s a "cup match" you won`t get a bonus point.

Spot on I agree - yes use the existing fanbase its where you are likely to get the most success but to 'kick on' we have to hit some of the rest of the population of Calderdale which is 200,000.There must be at least another 500 people who would support the club one way or another, we have to get to them.
We the fans must keep trying, I have got 2 people coming on Suday who are not fans, but may become fans in time if i keep at them AND the club and players deliver.

Too low , 5,000 should be the minimum target

In fact the minimum target is the capacity of the Shay

Total change of attitude required

Start with a blank piece of paper

You are a brand new club playing a brand new sport

None of those 200,000 people have ever seen a game of RL

How do you get people to come and ' taste ' what you have to offer ?

It might sound a bit radical but how about having the players go around the streets of Halifax playing tag rugby on the actual streets!

The kids would come out to play with the players and get involved and it's something I don't think any club has ever done before.

And then get injured in the process and unable to play for their employers.

The players are valuable commodities... wouldnt like them being left alone on some of the streets round Halifax!

If they stood still, someone would have there trainers off them!

Tough game tag

I like your thinking but when would you have them do this? Most of the players have jobs outside of rugby so probably wouldn't have time for this unless it meant missing training sessions which isn't a good idea. Could possibly send the players from the community department.

It's them speed humps that are rough on the ankles !

It wouldn't need the entire squad. Just a couple of players and send some fliers round the streets the day before.

Also, the summer holidays are coming up. The kids will be off school.

Could also e-mail local schools and get them to tell the kids when it is, doesn't cost anything.

if fax needed a well drilled tag opposition on a saturday afternoon we could teach them a lesson

Good news folks - we don't need good attenances to get into SL. We're safe. We're already matching Harlequins. Today's attendance at the Stoop - 2,245.

Phew!

Thats higher

than Celtics last home attendance against Wakey I think and they allegedly took about half the crowd