We struggle to attract people to watch now. Moving to an out of town location wont help that where getting to the ground becomes more difficult for both home and away fans. And for a lot of fans those who make an afternoon of it, a shortage of local ale houses.

A winning side with a chance to get into Super League and lower admission prices are among the things needed to get people through the turnstiles wherever you play and since neither of them are likely to happen it looks like the best we can hope for in the short to medium term is to be a competitive side who plays an exciting brand of rugby and to stabilise the finances.

If we had the money to build a new stadium then we wouldn't be in this position in the first place. Its absolutely ludicrous to suggest anything along those lines.
Even if we did have the money Ovenden Park is a horrendous location, couldn't even support an amateur RU team , limited road access, no parking, nowhere near train station.

Does being near the train station make any difference? How many fans catch the train to the Shay? They're always on bloody strike anyway and if they aren't then the trains are either late or cancelled!

Is it possible to knock down Asda and rebuild Thrum Hall?

Plenty of parking at Ovenden Park if the land where moorside school used to be could be utilised along with the top training field which does not see too much use.

Makes a difference to me Tony !! As a Travelling Supporter Ovenden is a NO NO doubt if we could afford to pay for Asda to be knocked down

Well (as I'm still living in the past!) Thrum Hall was awkward being 2 miles away up the hill but it attracted more fans.

We'll all continue to be divided re the Shay. I see where the Shaysters are coming from, but it's just too big and even if we ever get to SL (not in my life time!) we'll average 6 to 8k at the very best still leaving it 2 thirds empty. And nowadays having just 1.5k fans in 2 sides of the ground doesn't make much of an atmos, only when the "loyal" barmy army bother to turn up!

I think even that 6-8k is likely optimistic. I remember in 98 with our best team for years the playoff semi final V Saints I think there was just over 5k there and the average for the year was only like 4-5k. Maybe that band that did War Chant can make a follow up and get people interested again....

Shows how unpopular the Shay has been I suppose. At Thrummers we averaged 8k in 1988/89 in ironically our relegation season and then subsequently round about 4 to 5k in the 2nd division. Even our reserves had crowds of 2k. Outskirts stadiums seem to attract better support, Headingley and the KC Stadium being good examples.

Personally I love the Shay, at least you can sit in comfort with a good view for every game.
Take for example some of the poky little grounds that Sheffield have played at where you could barely move.
Where were they at for a night game with some sort of make do stand made out of scaffolding when Rob scored a few against us?
Grounds like that and Thrum Hall are precisely one of the reasons IMG uses to justify why their needed to sort things out.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if fans were allowed movement around the ground. I think the view from the South Stand is quite poor when we're playing towards the North Stand.

The Skircoat should be made all terracing and linked to both the North and South Stands for free movement, although Calderdale Council may not allow it because they seem obsessed that a Hillsborough type crush will happen if fans walk about (Cas and Batley seem to manage OK).

Think it’s a stewarding cost/issue , noticed loads of kids running around at the bottom of the east stand on Saturday , only takes one of them to trip n bang their chins and the club will be under fire . I can see the shay man forum headline now ‘ squatters stewards trip kids innocently playing egg chasing game ‘

I've always found the view from the North Stand to be better, It's steeper than the south and never feels as dark either. Used to enjoy watching the game from there when I did the scoreboard a few years back.

With the size of crowds we get now, I don't think it'll be long before we're only opening the East anyway. Would surely offer a cost saving

That would strengthen the case for downsizing. You don't buy a 5 bedroom house if you live on your own!

But we don't own the house and there are no other houses in the area.