FC Town should be riding on the crest of success over the past two seasons, although may well be back to crowds of 2000 next season (how many of them will be the mindless scroates that have given the Shaymen a bad rep?) We know people will travel to watch a winning team, and unfortunate the catchment area Halifax are in gives lots of options for easy travel, that also applies to the Rugby team, plus almost 20 quid a game entrance fee, people like Bentleyman are a rare creatures and should be applauded for their commitment.
’Fax were better at community programmes, cannot comment on how much they are doing now though, not even giving ‘free entrance’ for accompanied school age fans, surely charging adult ½ price would swell the coffers and the atmosphere , although season ticket holders may object as they have paid more per game, can’t win with that one.
Again seemingly correct about Red Hall, it is about time the whole of Rugby League railed against the ‘board’ and each club had a fair shout, but would S/L teams vote for that, I doubt it, they will want to look after their own, and the gap is getting wider to compete .
As for the T A saga, being 6000 miles away I can only read what has been published, although it did seem a sorry mess.

Both teams could do with a sugar daddy/mommy to inject a few million, hopefully have a business brain too to help the boards of both clubs who seemingly to do a good with what they have, there will always be detractors and moaners and 'ner do wells' to sour the cream.

All in Bubba without being sarcastic, I would like to say one of your better posts.

I really hope you do, but you are relying on the away support. Recent games have shown that the crowds dont come for the big games in RL, either to support Fax or the opposition. When Fax played Bradford in the Challenge Cup a few years ago, there was just over 5,000 there. When Town played Bradford City in the 1st round of the FA Cup a couple or so years ago it was just short of a sell out.

Out of interest what level of crowd would you expect against Warrington and Widnes?



To some extent I agree, FCHT should be riding on the crest of a wave. Though as many on here like to proclaim, they have been playing in a 'pub league'. You would hope for an increase on this seasons average especially given the bigger teams in the division which will bring larger away support. Though obviously there is an increase in matchday admission which will have a bearing.

Something which seems amiss in RL is the lack of any supporter representation organisation like the Football Supporters Federation. There is of course Supporters Direct but this focuses on ownership issues rather than how the game is actually run. There is no concentrated or focused lobbying organisation which represents the supporters as a collective. The supporters dont have anyone representing their views when Red Hall come up with the latest ridiculous idea.

I do wish both clubs could find a way of working together closer on some sort of community scheme. OK, there is possibly a degree of paranoia with each club worrying about the other one gaining more 'new' supporters. But I think a positive combined message from both clubs could make a great difference.

Finally, I disagree about a sugar daddy. OK, for some short term success it could potentially be enjoyable though not guaranteed. However, what both clubs need is to be self sufficient without the need for someone pumping false money into the club. And the vicious circle brings it back around to what happens on the pitch is ultimately what brings money into the clubs.

Wont be more than 2k Widnes possibly 3k Wire if they turn up with 1200 plus.....

Bubba, Sugar daddy maybe wrong term, should probably read Long term investor with a genuine love of the game and the sporting teams of Halifax in particular.
Personally I would like to see both teams playing under the universal name of Halifax, supporting each other and put aside all the petty squabbling that has gone on previously, driving both games forward.(a pipe dream I know).

I would say that Football will be a bigger draw than Rugby League in most towns / cities where both are played at the levels being talked about and there are very likely more sleeping soccer supporters in Halifax than sleeping rugby supporters.

faxcar I am not sure that is the case, sleeping supporters are at best fickle, case in point, FC HX Town 10,000 to Wembley. 6000 to the Shay this May, 'Fax have not had much to shout about in the last 30 years, a couple of Northern Rail Finals and a Championship that did not get them the recognition they deserved, so who knows how many sleeping fans there are out there?
We might attract some non committed Giants and Dulls with their records so far this year, if we were pulling up trees and storming the League.
My humble opinion, until Red Hall sort out marketing the game and a proper promotion /relegation system,[ if you win the league you should go up, then let play offs promote the winners of that (a la football style), likewise if you finish bottom 2 of the pile you go down] although this has been debated on here previously, Red Hall don't read or react to forum debates and the clubs in S/L would not vote for it.
Rugby League is generally going nowhere, so until sometime in the future if things change, it may never be called upon to be proved, unfortunately.

You have had what you can class as biggish games in RL. As I pointed our previously, there was the Challenge Cup game against Bradford which should have whet the appetite of anyone in Halifax with an interest in RL. There was a play off semi-final match at home a few years ago on a Thursday night where, from memory, there was less than 2,000.

I agree with your long-term investor though it does depending on the terms of their investment. Will they want it back one day? If they leave, can the club survive with the sudden loss of the investment. Thats why I would much prefer the owner of FCHT to invest in the infrastructure, which brings longer-term stability rather than just an on-field investment, in players, etc.

What would be great for both clubs would be that if someone invested in a joint training facility for the two clubs and this asset was somehow protected to ensure no individual could profit from it in the future.

Bubba, Faxcar, thank you for debating this issue, imo that is what this forum has been missing.
If only more people would join in without thinking they might be castigated for their opinion.

Varies from place to place.Despite having recently had premiership teams i would class Hull and Wigan as rugby towns.On the flip Huddersfield is massively football despite the rugby success.Halifax has long been a rugby town but for now the football is in ascendancy.

I totally agree about the football and rugby clubs finding ways to combine resources and save/share costs. Commercial activity such as marketing and merchandising seems an obvious one to me. Playing at the same ground and in the same colours would surely make this reasonably easy to do.

It would but Dave Bosomworth would want control and that would be the problem.

I've been saying this for years. Unfortunately it would seem to be too obvious and too simple for 'half hearted Halifax.

Soccer and rugby sharing certain things sounds a good idea but I'm not aware of any partnership between any clubs and there are plenty of towns / cities where they aren't doing that apart from using the same stadium as independent entities so unless they are all half hearted it might not be as simple as it sounds. To qualify the sleeping supporter I meant those who may turn out for the odd bigger game that comes along and recent history shows it in favour of football. It would take a winning side in SL for a sustained period of time to get back to 1987 proportions and the post period from then for Fax and even then it may not happen.

Why can't Halifax be the first to try a new partnership? They could start by having a sports shop at the ground selling both teams merchandise, a fully stocked shop being open to the general public and being manned more than on match days.
Or are their too many egos that would need massaging first, never mind the council letting both clubs use a facility within the Shay to make profit.

Old ground, Town, much as I love em, are in the right league now, any higher and they cannot compete as they don't have the finances. For them to ever entertain competing at the top level we need a lunatic with a tonne of cash.

Once they start getting spanked in mid winter and get into relegation battles, the fans decide to watch Premier League.

Fax however, also need a lunatic with a tonne of cash, but not quite as much, and it is attainable given a fair wind and bit of luck.

I'm fairly comfy with where both clubs are at, Town in the National League, they'll get some decent away support in the North Stand now, probably a better atmosphere than the Fax games, and Fax in with a shout of playing against SL's worst. Next mission for both clubs for me is to try get to 2500-3000 for home games.

Dare to dream, and all, but enjoy a nice cup of freshly ground coffee also.