Halifax RLFC have announced that the club will not be running a reserve team next season. After all the noise over being part of the new reserve league this is highly disappointing. The reasons given are understandable but the real villains here are the rulers of the game. RL as we've all known it is gone and the elite have a lot to answer for. The reserve fiasco, dual registration, foreign teams playing in the English league, Aussies playing for England, the list goes on. You can't really blame the Fax board for their decision but I await the next announcement with trepidation.

Other teams apart from us and Newcastle are getting funding, reputed to be £100K, to fund their Reserves. We are all disappointed but can appreciate the BOD 's decision reading their statement.

It stinks, it really does! I feel not only for the players but also the people who have volunteered their time and money supporting the reserves over the last few seasons while SL clubs didn't want to know. Well done to all of you and let's hope you find a way to keep your support going.

Not what we really want but a sensible pragmatic decision by the BOD I am sure our volunteer fundraisers will rally round and continue to support the club.

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This one will not, haveing put upwards of nearly £400. a year for the last 4-5 and more. I think I have done my share towards fund raiseing. I thought helping young players get a foot on the pro. ladder be it our or another club was the best way to go. As for the club surely it is their responsibilty to budget for the season, the fund raiseing for the junior squad was a bonus as I see it?

Well put, we wanted a BoD who acted responsibly and they are doing as much as a disappointment this is for everyone involved with the club.

Clubs with Category 1 Academies get matched funding up to a maximum of £100k. That's been the case for quite a while and no secret.

I'm not suggesting it is a secret just not a totally level playing field.

I'm not bothered about a level playing field, the club knew this when they asked us to back them in their application, and then threw us a curve ball .Who found out (and when) that their carefully worked out application was found not to be feasable?

Exactly. The RFL found the application to be feasible so who is mugging who off?

With no way to develop young Calderdale players there is now a disconnect with the youth of the area - they have nothing to aim for with regards to Halifax RLFC - and our crowd gets ever older in its average age and the first team fills up with journeymen with little connection to the club.

Besides, every sporting club should have development programmes in place.

The money should have been ring fenced. A real slap in the face for the trust this. Strap yourselves in folks, it’s gonna be even more of a hell of a ride!

I can understand the reasons in theory but didn't most of the money the trust raised go towards the reserves? It was easy for them to raise money as people had an idea where the money was going so if you wanted to help the reserves the trust would be where you put your money. Now they are left as just another supporters group and despite all their hard work they may now stuggle to raise as much money as they have done now competing against Fax1 so if the BOD have budgeted to use the amounts riased over the past few years they could easily get a shock.

I'm with you. I completely understand why the board have made the decision, but why not say this earlier rather than get a team in the comp and then fold it. I've put a lot in over the years on the belief that I was bringing young players into the game and into the team. I was told that the funding for the reserves was being kept separate from the first team. Feel let down and won't be putting any more into the club.

Completely agree with all the postings after reading the Boards Statement a reality check on the mess the Game is in.
The Priority is the safeguard of the Club otherwise we could end up in the same financial
Morass that our near neighbours are

Best reserve products, Rawsthorne and Butler, gone.
Woodburn-Hall will be gone once his studies are over.
The Welsh lads won't set the world on fire and improve the first team IMO.

Follow Fevs lead and take advantage of DR as I'm sick of watching bang average RL without value for money

I get what you are saying but we would not have signed Braber, Morris, Moore, Rawsthorne, or Butler if we did not have a reserves team not to mention the fringe first team players who have just signed new contracts.

From looking at the statement from the new BoD, with emphasis on the new.
They have come in and looked at the club from top to bottom or root to branch as they stated.
The aim would be keeping the club afloat in the sort term and sustainable in the longer term.
This would mean a huge amount of work and TIME that would involve an order of importance.
Initially they would not really know what could stay and what had to go or what could be sustained and what could not.
As time has gone by they are now in a more “informed” position to make the appropriate decisions.
This would apply to the reserves that were part of what they inherited and likely looked a good thing and consequently they applied to be part of the new set up, which by the way if they hadn’t done so they would have been heavily criticised.
Now with a deeper knowledge of how the club stands and with the bigger interests in mind they have made the decision (very reluctantly I bet) to cut the reserves.

I actually wholeheartedly agree with the decision that the BOD have taken. Let's be honest, the reserves is a lovely option to have if the competition was valued by the whole of the RFL. The trust has say raised in excess of £250k to fund the team over the last 5+ years. What players has the reserves actually produced from the scholarship, through the reserves and into the first team that are good enough and in the team week in week out.... None!! Rawsthorne was on trial, RM wouldn't sign him and we lost him to Hull, Butler was picked up after losing faith in the game after rejection from several SL clubs, Moore was signed from Cas, JWH was a product of London as he was rekeased to pursue his Education at Leeds Uni... The reserves has never produced a Maguire, Edwards, Murrell for that matter since the club had a proper scouting function in SL when we unearthed and developed the likes of Chris Chester, Danny Tickle etc... The club still has the pathway from Calderdale College and if your good enough, your old enough, just look at Siddal product Morgan Smithies. In all honesty anybody with any promise will be scouted by SL in their early teens....

I think the club needs to get it right both on and off the field but the 1st team must now take priority. I'd rather people come together for a truly fans sponsored player recruitment programme, similar to squad builder in Fax1. If you were to theoretically blend the Trust and Fax1 together you have the perfect Supporters Club as both attract different fans to them.... I know this ad a founder and former Chairman of The Trust. Both do a great job but both can still contribute greatly to the club if communicated with properly.

Well done Fax for taking a tough decision but it's absolutely the right one for the club right now as I think the money spent on the reserves in hindsight couldve been spent better elsewhere.

Apart from the funding to be able to run the reserves of course you need the players.
As the BoD pointed out as the weeks have gone by since they took over it’s become clear that Fax didn’t have access to enough players of the right age and ability to be able to compete against their SL counterparts in the new comp.
What would be the point of getting hammered both results wise and physically every week?

Sustainability goes beyond finance but I’m sure the fund raisers will be trying their best to keep that aspect of the income streams alive and we can all decide wether to buy into it or not.

There are a number of issues here, firstly the club needs to keep going financially otherwise even if we had a reserve team that would fold along with the club.
In terms of getting the players in who are good enough, all the top level quality youngsters get cherry picked off by SL clubs, just look around SL now and there are plenty of Fax lads playing, there are at least 3 in the England Knights team today. None of these lads have been near the Fax setup unfortunately and that is why we won’t have the quality of players to compete with the SL reserves.
If we were in a league with Championship reserve teams it might be a different matter.

Hopefully we can revisit the reserve setup in the future.

Agree 100%.

It's fair to say its a massive slap in the face for coaching staff, players and volunteers.
The vast majority of players gave their time for gratis. The most upsetting aspect regarding the squad is that some players for certain have turned down options to move onto these other SL reserve grade set ups, with an option of better financial options because they believed more in the Halifax ethos. Some of these lads may now be left with proverbial pee making its way into their tents.

I wish all the lads who have given their all the very best of luck in finding a new home. It's a very fickle sport RL and not one you should plan your life around unless you have the very very luckiest of breaks and you there right time, right place.

I agree 100% with Chris! Which is a first.

It is a level playing field though. If Bradford run a Reserves they will get no central funding to help. There's a difference between Reserves and Academy....

But the Bulls did run an academy [urlhttps://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/match/league_table[/url (change the drop-down to "academy"icon_wink.gif which is why they get funding for a reserve team. Or am I reading it all wrong?