Courier post. FCTown fans launch petition. FC Halifax Town fans launch petition urging council not to sell The Shay in potential blow for Huddersfield Giants CALLUM WALKER 04/02/2025 FANS of FC Halifax Town have launched a petition urging Calderdale Council not to sell The Shay Stadium in what could be a potential blow for Huddersfield Giants. The future of the ground will go before a council cabinet meeting in March with two proposals on the table. One of those proposals – which has been put forward by FC Halifax Town fans – would see The Shay being run by an independent, not-for-profit trust whilst the other has been put forward by Giants owner Ken Davy, with Davy keen on purchasing the venue. That would see the Giants move to The Shay whilst Davy and the club build their own stadium as opposed to playing out of the John Smith’s Stadium. Davy has also said he will offer the ground back to both clubs for them to purchase once the Giants move out and into their own stadium. One fan who has been at the heart of the petition told the Halifax Courier: “”Hopefully, we will gather the 2,000 signatures required to get a slot at the council cabinet meeting on March 17. “We are not, in principal, against the Huddersfield Giants moving to the Shay on a temporary basis, but this has to be done so as not to endanger the future of either FC Halifax Town or the Halifax Panthers. “The current Ken Davy proposal to loan money to the two clubs to do the pitch remediation, which they will then subsequently pay back to Mr Davy, would put the burden for funding this ultimately on the local clubs and not the Giants. “More importantly, if and when the Giants move back to their new home in Kirklees, the offer to sell the ground back to the two clubs is unlikely to happen as neither club has the financial capacity to undertake such a significant investment. “This raises the worrying concern that once the freehold has been sold to a private company, and the Giants no longer require any use of the Shay, it could well be sold on the open market, potentially leading to the loss of the Shay as a community asset and the end of the the two sporting clubs. “The petition is open to anyone, rugby fans included, who have the same concerns over the future of the Shay, as we would like the council to consider a hybrid approach using the other options for managing the ground on an ongoing basis alongside the Ken Davy proposal, without selling the ‘family silver’. End.

Didn't the petition only have around 100 names on it recently? I think that minority on the Town forum are underestimating how many Town fans are not against the Davy proposal. I'm not sure what the alternative is really, the pitch after last night is a wreck and any adverse weather in the next 2 or 3 weeks could end up with Town having to play more home games away from the Shay and with the SST 2.0 not having the money to do anything about it we are just rinsing and repeating this year after year. Yes the Davy option is a big risk but both clubs are going slowly backwards anyway.

As a major fan of both clubs, I do agree..If nothing else the Davy bid buys time that we may not have otherwise..

The Davy option is the only option as far as I'm concerned, at least the Shay will get the necessary development plus more. The Town consortium doesn't appear to have any clout, and they behave like a bunch of childish school kids on that forum, not the type of folk I'd trust in taking the Shay forward.

Neither of the 2 clubs or the Council can continue with as things are, everybody is skint. I was with ListenUp at the weekend and he was messaged from a source that they were hearing the club was on its booty again. When gently prompted for a bit more info it was all a bit cryptic but with our history I wouldn’t be surprised. Just makes you wonder where the rumoured consortium are though?