Jnr rugby curtain raisers.

each child will bring along at least 1 parent, friend, grand parent etc...

plus gets the kids talking in school and things snowball from there.

May not sound much but putting smarter game advertising boards around the outside perimeter of the ground. Make them big and snazzy and enticing. They're expensive though. It would send a message that there is something exciting and professional occurring during match days.

Instead of giving the free meal to the season ticket holders I would offer them a free junior season ticket to try to encourage more youngsters down. How many of us were first taken by a grandad /dad and are still attending today.
I would get some Fax volunteers with a couple of players out on the precint on Sat afternoons handing out leaflets especially before a big match.I know the Club have done it once or twice but these sorts of things need to be done on a regular basis to make any real differance.
I would try to get Damian Ball to help organise a pre- match with two sides from Brooksbank and push it in the school. I would think with relatives and all their pals from school they should muster a few there.
Plus the lads have to keep playing entertaining rugby as the crowd is never going to alter overnight it will creep steadily up I am sure.
One of the biggest mistakes our Board at the time made when we moved from Thrum Hall was not runing buses to and from Thrum Hall (didn`t need to be free) as we lost a good number from our crowd moving to the Shay but then that`s another story.

I don't want to sound too pessimistic about the idea, cos I happen to think it's always been a great idea myself but curtain raisers, I just can't see the grumpy groundsmen or the cantakerous council allowing it.
I'm really at a loss how to get more support to home games, I feel the sporting people of Calderdale just don't fancy the gig, we're down to the loyal hardcore now & have been for a number of years.

Bring back promotion and relegation!

This is whats happenening at Hudds tonight www.giantsrl.com/matchday/celebr ... e_this_fri I'm going cause a lad in my care is taking part in the haka, Robbie Paul has spent the last few weeks going round schools in Hudds teaching the kids, maybe they'll hit the 3000 mark this week

This is whats happenening at Hudds tonight www.giantsrl.com/matchday/celebr ... e_this_fri I'm going cause a lad in my care is taking part in the haka, Robbie Paul has spent the last few weeks going round schools in Hudds teaching the kids, maybe they'll hit the 3000 mark this week

We can't create this ourselves, but how true. 3,500 for FC Halifax Town against Gainsborough - says it all.

Quote ="Leon Ashton"This is whats happenening at Hudds tonight www.giantsrl.com/matchday/celebr ... e_this_fri I'm going cause a lad in my care is taking part in the haka, Robbie Paul has spent the last few weeks going round schools in Hudds teaching the kids, maybe they'll hit the 3000 mark this week '" The Hakka one is a good idea and Frank knows how to do the Hakka.

Quote ="Leon Ashton"This is whats happenening at Hudds tonight www.giantsrl.com/matchday/celebr ... e_this_fri I'm going cause a lad in my care is taking part in the haka, Robbie Paul has spent the last few weeks going round schools in Hudds teaching the kids, maybe they'll hit the 3000 mark this week '" The Hakka one is a good idea and Frank knows how to do the Hakka.

Massive increase in community work and marketing ( starting with the 1 st 15 grand of your 2013 budget set aside in a seperate bank acc ) , Skircoat stand to be dedicated community family stand filled with freebies , but strictly controlled, find reasons for kids wanting to come via schools

Next seasons junior 6-10 ST to be 10 quid and include 1 free adult ticket to 1 st match of season, all tickets to be on sale by 1 st November, contact other clubs to discuss ways of encouraging as much away support as possible both home and away

Give a fan 100 tickets to invite his street to a game, all sat together in 1 block

Finally look to build links with other Championship Clubs to look at ways of working together to find new and increase existing income streams ( all except Leigh because they are too stupid to see the obvious when it is in front of them )

Fairly simple really, you just have to start thinking like a non fan, rather than a fan

JFFC as far as I know Damian Ball has been appointed Head Coach at the Old Rishworthians RUFC so would he be in a position to commit to other things ?

I am a Fax fan, i havent been this season, i went to pretty much all the home games last season. This is mainly down to now having to work Sunday's.

The whole point of Sport is you are playing for something, there is nothing to play for in Rugby League anymore, you cant go anywhere no matter what you do during the season. potential new fans just are not going to pay £10+ every other week to watch a pointless game of Rugby League no matter how entertaining the performances are!

Its tough especially not being in the league that gets all the publicity = Super League but you have to try.
The target is to get NEW fans not keep targetting existing fans, something I think the club have been guilty of.

I would suggest get into businesses like Huddersfield did when they played at The Shay they had a stand at the Lloyds Banking Group (Halifax) entrance at Trinity Road, give £10 ticket offers away for some games making it appear that people are getting a 'bargain', also try the College, what they got to lose?

Your new fans are currently attending infant and junior schools in Halifax, they dont care or even understand the ' lack of something to play for ' issue , get them down in large numbers no matter how you do it

You have to use psychology when looking at this problem, do people attend singularily, or in small groups? , the answer, small groups, so the target is getting groups of people, as I said give 1 loyal fan 100 tickets to invite his whole street, that way some of those coming will already know each other and are more likely to continue ( providing you make the experiene a pleasurable one, ie their kids enjoy it )

As I said, think like a non fan, not like a fan

I have followed Fax since 1977, probably untill the end of last season only missing a handfull of games. After the debacle of super league lecences last year i have lost the desire to attend. I did not renew my season ticket and have struggled to get the desire to go. I have attended one game so far and i have a family match ticket in my cupboard at home that i won and still that hasnt encouraged me to get up and go. I think the only thing that will really work is sort out the people that are driving everyone away and that is the RFL board. Until that changes i think crowds will get lower not bigger. Don't know when i will be back myself but i do intend to force myself to go eventually

Totally agree ifcnige. I've followed fax for 25 years but I just don't feel the same about the game any more and last years debacle was the straw that broke the camels back. I know a fair few people who did go but since p & r was abolished don't go any more. At the moment there is no point to our league they say and I agree with them. Fans as well as teams need something to aim for - at the minute there is nothing. Yes the league is competitive and enjoyable to watch but that alone is not enough.

Ultimatly you cannot control the competition you are in, last year your application fell down quite simply because you could not provide guaranteed figures for income, there are only 2 ways you can change that, a single major backer or much larger fan base in the competition you are already in, funnily enough, if you get the second, the first will be much more likely to be attracted to the club, would Steve O Connor have considered Widnes if they had been pulling in a 1800/2000 average?

3500/4000 averages in the Championship would guarantee SL entry, it really is that simple, there is no ' logical ' reason that Championship attendances seem to top out at just over 2,000 , if you or your club just accept that ( which seems to be a common trait ) then you have no future outside the lower tier

I don't get this "nothing to play for" garbage. OK - yes - we'd all prefer the P&R option but anyone who was not moved by that 2010 finale is perhaps better off doing something else on Sunday anyway.

The game - the skills - the big hits and well worked tries - the nailbiting frustration that follows Fax everywhere. It's all still there for me. I will NEVER stop watching. But's that's my own personal feeling - everyone's different aren't they?

We are all agreed though - the RFL are slowly killing this great game that exists below the elitist greedy Super (is that the right word?) League. Shame on them.

Nothing to play for? How about the Northern Rail Final? How about top spot and the Championship Final? How about going as far as we can in the Challenge Cup?
Against Featherstone, Dewsbury and Sheffield we played superb Rugby far better (in my hunble opinion) than the St Helens Wigan game last week. This League is very competative and confident as I am that we will win it, it will not be by many points.
As someone earlier said, keep winning and the crowds will increase.

Well they were wrong

I agree - takes more than just a winning team to bring people through the gate. Does help though.

Until the likes of Wood and Rimmer go and many changes are made about how the game is run then many will stay away and a number will slowly lose interest and join them. I dont really know what more a club like Fev, Leigh or Fax can do when we are constantly being held back and treated like dirt compared to French and expansion sides. The club has made many mistakes in the past and it has over the past couple of years tried to sort them out. Anything is worth trying in my book but I feel strongly that the way to bring the crowds back is out of the control of the club sadly.

By gum, wish I was as clever as you.

I have watched Fax since 1967-man and boy- and just cannot see where the game is going to end up down the line under this current RFL governance and elitist regime. They are supposed to be responsible for the whole game, its development, and crowd development at all levels but whilst the super duper league farce brings in the crowds the teams below are paying for that with dwindling crowds into the hundreds for heartland and founder member clubs. Until supporters have the excitement of promotion and relegation then there is no point spending hard earned money to watch a nothing game(s). How can we expect the cumbrian clubs to survive travelling all the way to Northampton to play in front of a handfull of people? No amount of creative marketing will increase crowds with a template like that.Work all season to be at the top/win grand final/ end up with no reward in ahighr league-restraint of trade for a player wanting to better his career!Denial of supporters old and new following a successful team!

Was it you that said it john?





You are correct, a winning team will increase crowds, problem is win too easy too often and people get bored, then when you lose, you lose the rest of the ones that starting coming because you were winning, it is your ' core ' support you need to increase, you do that by getting as many people as possible into the Shay as often as you can

What % of the population of Halifax have been in the Shay to watch you? , whatever it is , increase it

This is what the club should do.

Put all its players and admin staff up for candidacy at local elections. Get a majority on the council. Offer 50% discount on Council Tax in exchange for attendance to at least 90% of home matches. Get these people hooked on Fax like the good old eighties. Then run up a massive council debt (well if it's good enough for Gordon Brown at National Level, where's the foul?) and then lose all the seats at the next election and hey ho, back to square one but with a feverishly hooked 30,000 core home support.