A sadly demoralising but honest post Durham Giant. Some of your suggestions seem particularly good, I too have been surprised by the inability to market the club well, look at the record of average merchandising. I wish you well for the future and hope the players and staff at the club can show as much commitment as you have over the years.

Sorry to hear you're not renewing Durham you are obviously someone the fan club needs,I urge you to think again.
Jools, I feel that I must disagree with you when you state the club has become more inaccessible.I recently spent quite a spell on the telephone with Richard Thewlis who answered every question I asked him.The only things he wasn't prepared to answer were the questions that could have legal implications.All any fan has to do is e-mail,telephone or call in, you will have your questions answered.I am relatively new to forums but I do think that quite a lot of postings are in all honesty a load of cow cookies(I really mean bull****)with very little truth in them,the Danny Brough to Hull rumour is a prime example.Why so called fans start these tales baffles me,I am aware that other clubs spectators are in some part responsible but for our fans to then carry it on is crazy and can only do harm to the club.In my opinion the two things most super league clubs have in short supply are spectators and money,unfortunately without either one a club cannot hope to survive.Any true supporter of the Giants should in my opinion renew his\her season ticket and help Ken and his staff any way we can.Just to end this I have been a spectator since my father took me to the old Fartown ground at the age of 8years back in 1949 I played until I was forty,coached at club,town and county level and sat as an independant on the district league committee,in short a lot of my life has revolved around Rugby League and I would not change one bit of it and that includes paying for a season ticket for next season..End of rant.Ps nice one Murphy

And the supporters association has had many club officials as guests answering questions. Plus it is possible to speak to officials at home and away games.

It should not be a surprise that a small organisation cannot implement the uncosted ideas of hundreds of passionate fans. Getting behind the club is key.

Sorry to see you take such a drastic step, Durham.

As far as worksheets for schools are concerned, the Heritage Project are putting in place of mountain of material for use in schools directly related to the club and Rugby League. Have a browse at rlthe proposalsrl.

shame to see your not renewing durham due to circumstances... had many a good trip away days with you!

sure i will see you next season at some point..hopefully when the giants are surprising you!

Durham, its understandable, when one put a great deal of time, and effort into something and often it falls on deaf ears, and is not apprieciated, as you say you are a true giants fan and will carry on supporting but in a more moderate way, l hope you are wrong about the future, l think we are all concerned about the post Ken Davy era..
Jooles, Ivor and his commitee do a great job regarding meeting people in the game, they have had Ken, Nathan a host of players, referees, among numerous guest speekers The HGSA meet at the Turnbridge Club as you well know, l don,t know if you have been or not, but Ivor as with Durham must be very frustrated at the lack of support from the fans, the attendances at these meetings are frankly pathetic.
l live in Portugal so there is not a great deal l can do in organization, but l buy my ST each year, travel
20-25,000 miles and support as many ventures as l can, l jion organized trips eg. Catalan, MM, etc. and always spread the word, l know its not easy, following the Giants never is, just keep the faith guys, and good luck and happiness to you all

I know the hgsa do good things. I've been to a few events organised by them but I can't attend meetings midweek due to other commitments.
It's great that they organise stuff and its a shame more dont attend but as much with the club nowadays it's all formal/organised- not just popping into the pub after the game and having an informal chat like in the old days. You have to oay for the privilege of going into the bar.
What we really need is a proper clubhouse that IS the club that we can belong to.
Anyone got a spare portacabin we can stick in the carpark????

l agree Jooles, having been to some Ozzie leagues clubs, they are fantastic and generate a lot of income for the clubs, l have often thought something similar in town, but it takes money, a lot of money, eg the YM building is empty, it would make a fantastic sports and social club, and would possibly be an investment for the Giants. It would need lots of members to succeed no matter where it was.
Then again its easy to spend someone else,s money, and Sir Ken has already filled his boots.

I thought they may have gone for one of the two pubs by Willow Lane traffic lights
Grahams were / had closed down and it may have been possible to get a bit of their site for possible expansion later if it took off
There was also Bradley Mills club which also had the basic facilities in place --and profits (hopefully ) from the existing facilities would have allowed it to grow in line with demand

However --even if considered --nothing happened

The demise of the clubhouse at Fartown was down to its location (distance from new stadium) , vandalism , and political decisions

But when the club played there and it looked out onto the field --it was often full
The fact that the youngsters could meet and greet the players and that the average spectator got the chance to chat with the team created a good atmosphere ---but for whatever reasons as Jools says --it now seems (like the whole structure of the game) more formalised

Good idea Jools regarding a club house. It is the councils intention to develop land all about the stadium with several bars etc why not talk to the council about the possible siting of a clubhouse on part of the same location.They will discuss it if it's approached in the right way.Just a thought but you never can tell.

the leagues clubs are great , went to one the other week in penrith whilst over for the grand final but a lot of the profits will come from the pokies/gambling which huddersfield would not be able to get a licence for( i presume).. these places are open 7 days a week and keep a lot of the nrl clubs runnung.Huddersfield do need a club house though even if its just for match days

We [HGSA] are having a meeting with the Directors in November. We shall raise the matter [i]again[/]!

Good luck lvor. l really do think a clubhouse needs to be more central, opening a club by the stadium just on matchdays, l doubt will cover running costs, thats why Bradley School Club closed, the old clubhouse was in the heart of a community and struggled. lf its going to come about, l think it should be a proper job, but as l said before it will cost money, and there,s the rub.

What about re-development at Fartown, with a new clubhouse/changing rooms, renew floodlights and use as a training centre/venue for amateur & junior cups/admin centre/meetings etc. 3 pitches and good parking. Yes it's a bit of a walk to the stadium but there would be other users contributing (...and it would help St Joes out )

id be happy with a prefab in the carpark tbh!!!!!
already suggested this idea to RHP.
If we could get all parties to agree we could fill in one of the corners at the galpharm to use as a clubhouse on matchdays and during the week it could be used to hire out for training/conferences etc