How long does a club have to compete with standards? A standard that what was agreed. A standard that has lapsed.

Isn’t it time to start calling the cards now.

Franchise system has gone....

Promotion and relegation is the current ...

If Cas and Wakey don't follow through with new plans then they may be in bother soon if RFL get on top of stadiums again but until then there is nothing to worry about.

I see it didn't take you after the fev defeat, can't do it on the field find another way of getting into super league

It's hard to tell what "Standards" you meant Atomic, but taking the stadium in which we play as one of them, I think there are two types of fans where pointing out the failures in other people's ground is questionable. The first are fans who's own club play in a dump (which is why as a Bradford fan I am absolutely never commenting negatively on other people's stadiums), and the second are fans who have the good fortune to have been built a new stadium.

The Championship is HUGELY variable. Ranging from a lovely stadium built for them at Leigh, all the way down to the farcical dump of Odsal which is actually worse than most people will remember it. A muddy mess where the stock cars race, mud on the seats, run off turning the pitch into a bog. Its a travesty. I think the landlords need to spend millions on it, and I'm sure you'd all agree. If we are talking about Feath then yes the pitch was unfortunate but it's had a lot of traffic on it over the last few months. In terms of the overall ground, what that club and their supporters have achieved in putting together a tidy little ground is really impressive to me.

Give me and old stadium/ground that is steeped in history and character over a new style sterile, cold stadium.
Featherstones ground is a prime example of this. A proper community involved thing.

We should share a list of defunct or on the brink Football clubs. See if we can take down any other stands and rebuild them on our own patch like Feath did (huge admiration for somehow managing that). I'll keep an eye on Derby County and see if we can pop any of it on the back of a truck for use at Odsal.

millmoor rotherham

It's always good when our sport make the national's and i notice today that HKR's ground purchase has gone through along with the option to purchase fifteen acres of surrounding land for both internal and external usage. The short to medium plans certainly seem very impressive.

Since KR went with the "beer festival" thing at the open end of the ground, it certainly feels like a complete stadium (pity the away fans arent allowed in) and the new stand at the other end is excellent.
As for the op, Leigh have been very fortunate and have a fantastic stadium, they just need to make it into the top flight and more importantly, find a way of staying there.
Finally at Trinity, work is close to starting on the demolition of the main stand and it will be fantastic to have some modern facilities. They have been a (very) long time coming.

Quote: wrencat1873 "Since KR went with the "beer festival" thing at the open end of the ground, it certainly feels like a complete stadium (pity the away fans arent allowed in) and the new stand at the other end is excellent. https://hullkr.co.uk/membership/away-fan-hub/

Quote: wrencat1873 "Since KR went with the "beer festival" thing at the open end of the ground, it certainly feels like a complete stadium (pity the away fans arent allowed in) and the new stand at the other end is excellent. https://hullkr.co.uk/membership/away-fan-hub/

I 'almost' completely agree here.

Fev as a club & community have achieved a lot & they should rightfully be proud. Fev own their own ground & surrounding patch and so also keep their concessionary bar sales etc which puts them on a good sound footing (as now do K.R), something which Leigh do not have.

The one negative is the pitch which on the opening fixture wasn't even fit for Championship R.L. Now, Leigh have the enviable position of having one of (if not the best) playing surfaces in the entire of R.L including Super League ( I actually believe it is the best) & we have the quality of ground staff to keep it so.

The argument that Fev's pitch has "seen a lot of traffic" doesn't hold water (unlike their pitch) for me, as the LSV pitch has Leigh Centurions, Manchester United Reserves, Manchester United Ladies Premier + R.L International's & on the odd occasion big concerts held upon it. Yes it is relaid every season & yes Wigan Council pay for this but they also reap the financial rewards.

So what is my point ? Well, I applaud Fev's invigorated rise both in stadium standards & on field recruitment & professionalism as well as their commitment to reaching Super League. I do however feel that a good proportion of their new £2M Council windfall should be reinvested in both the playing surface & the recruitment of the calibre of ground staff to maintain it.

Fev look here to stay & challenge for Super League & that can only drive up the standards & competition in the Championship.

Bradford need a dose of good fortune & unfortunately for them multi million pound investment if Odsal is not going to fall down completely around their ears. I really do feel that Odsal is all but lost & it is time for Bradford as a City & a community (this is aimed at your Counci & investors really) should be fighting together tooth & claw to invest in a new multi purpose built arena of a size & standard that can attract the events the LSV currently caters for. No longer do Bradford require a 23,000 + capacity stadium, they require a circa 15,000 - 16,000 capacity stadium, seated on 3 sides with great hospitality & the ability to attract R.L Internationals & concerts & shared tenants to pay the bills. Hopefully one day this can become a reality rather than a pipe dream.

Most clubs on the west side of Yorkshire need to get their act together always seem to be more talk than action and have been dragging their heels for years. Its gone on far too long and is a bad image for our sport.. I include Leeds in this, terrible pitch and no bad weather consideration for away fans.

Wigan, Warrington, St Helens, Salford, Hull, Hull KR, Leigh and Widnes all modern stadia for the 21st century whilst some Yorkshire stadiums are still 19th century.

Fev have an amateur football team playing there called Wakefield (even though they aren't in Wakefield) who play in the Sheffield and Hallamshire.

But yeah I can't comment on their ground because Odsal is a disgrace. The pitch is no longer championship level - there are grass verges in Bradford with traveller horses on them that in better nick - the corners are beyond a joke. The dirt track round the outside for the stock cars is horrible to look at - the players tramping over pallets to get onto the pitch and terrace is covered in it. It's the worst it's ever been now.

Personally where we are now and the size of crowds we get I'd prefer us playing at the Horsfall stadium until something more akin to a championship RL team can be sorted.

Apart from Wigan, who went bust and rent from a soccer team, all of those clubs were reliant on either direct local authority funding or in the case of Warrington and St Helens local councils who were fully behind them on inquiries and allowing enabling developments etc.

Where that hasn't been the case, particularly Wakefield MBC, the ability for clubs alone to raise the finances for significant ground redevelopment and pushing through the planning process makes it very, very difficult indeed to find a viable route to success.

So it really is silly and mindlessly partisan to suggest it's some sort of East vs West thing. This is very much a club-by-club issue, each of them seeking to progress what is possible. The active disdain of Wakefield council for years and years in helping Cas or Wakefield get new grounds or redevelop their existing ones is finally changing and we are beginning to see the sort of results clubs with more favourable local authorities have seen some time ago.

No club, even those few who effectively funded their stadium redevelopments themselves, can do much without a co-operative local council. If your council or a local soccer club has built you a ground then that's great - but it's pretty weak to use that to gloat over those who haven't been so fortunate.