So are you happy that Councillor Baines came out with a statement that 'no money will be spent on the Shay pitch and certainly not for under soil heating??? Who mentioned undersoil heating, nobody we all just want the drainage sorted out.
Not interested in politics and who you like or not please keep to the subject and that is the sad state of the pitch, its terrible I saw it on Monday and it was bad its not draining properly and needs sorting out, especially for Town games as rugby can live with a muddy pitch (it spoils the game though) but not football.
Regards rent a lot of landlords allow some slack for their tenants to pay plus this is not a normal tenancy situation as who else will play at the Shay other than Fax and Town?
7 days and you can't use the pitch and one month behind and you are locked out is daft come on any business can have a cash flow problem you saying you have never been behind with some bill payment or other in your life? Most people have when things are tight and you need a bit of slack sometimes, you seem to forget the rugby were locked out last season although I agree there should be a deadline say 3 months and legal action is taken, 6 months and a lock out.
The bottom line is the pitch needs digging up and new drains and relaying, I suggest if that is around £250K that both clubs are asked to contribute £50K each with the Council being strapped for cash, that way the general public and Councillors will be more likely to agree to public money being spent on the pitch.
The other thing is the Council cannot walk away from its responsibilities of having the facilities at the Shay 'fit for purpose' as the landlord, its like renting a house and the roof leaks and you say sorry I cannot fix it I can't afford right now just put a few buckets in the bedroom to catch the water!

Are you delluded? Fax haven't been a few weeks in arrears. They have been months. In fact over a year. You should have been booted out though Im glad you were given some slack.

How you can expect the council to invest in the pitch when one of the tenants isn't paying their way just shows your level of intelligence.

If the RFL stuck to the "Summer Rugby" title and started the season a few weeks later it might help, I havn't looked too much at the calendar but anything from 4 to 6 weeks should see the worst of anything winter mainly out of the way at both ends of the season for everybody not just Fax.

I certainly wouldn't pay for a sub-standard service. Neither would I stand by whilst the scrote in the upstairs flat was paying much less for the same sub-standard services. Thankfully Halifax RLFC are above all the nonsense and have decided to fulfil it's part of the unbalanced tenancy for the greater good. Thank God one of the clubs has a bit of class.

I ask this not in mischief but a genuine enquiry, do the FA, or whoever makes the rules dictate that the grass has to be cut to a certain height?
Do the RFL have a similar rule?

Here he is, the wolf in sheep's clothing.

We all agree the pitch is not fit for purpose the tenants and the landlord need to find a satisfactory solution to this situation, the majority of sports fans must not allow a small group of mainly football fans to derail this process.

The answer could be astro turf or is it now 4g?
However the FA would not allow it so that's out, and I don't think we Faxfans would want it, so I suppose there was no point in me mentioning it.

As I understand it, the arrear was due to the club being unhappy with the terms of the rent, ie paying more for less usage (terms which were agreed when AFCHT found itself playing in the Park Lane High Monday Night 6-a-side league, when they could only overcharge their faithful following by so much, and so there was an obvious need to cut their cloth in all areas). That was certainly the way it was portrayed by Fax, or perhaps that was a ruse to ward away rumours of financial struggles.

Either way, the partnership is imbalanced. 17 years on, and I as a Fax fan feel no more welcome at The New Shay today as I did in 1998. We are still there as the Football club's invite...or sufferance. I can't see this changing. Not whilst the Football club is followed by the degenerates that follow it, partisan as they are. Bubba, you can pretend to be the intelligent facade of that following all you want, and you accuse others as being deluded and unintelligent. Well your parochial undercurrent is obviously clouding your own rational thought...you can't see the muddy pitch for the trees. Flo's Boots has you nailed, Shaun the Wolf!

Yes indeed, as Charlie would probably say, Shaddupa ya face.

Is it right that the conference allows artificial pitches but the football league does not? In that case why don't we just go down the 4g route as its not like they will ever get out of the conference when the club is more interested in cashing in on their best players rather than progressing on the pitch.

If the conference allow it then that would be a perfect solution.
It would however limit the scope of FC Halifax.

In its report of Towns game today by the Courier it states that the ground is mostly mud with little grass.
Should be tight tomorrow.

Here we go yet again Gavin pull out a tiny bit of my quote to try points score so predictable yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.
Lets move onto the here and now shall we Fax are up to date with their rent now so what about how can the Council charge BOTH clubs for the use of that pitch?

I havn`t a clue how this works out so I`ll have to ask, if someone is actually leasing the field from the council then would they be the ones responsible for the upkeep and maintinance of it then . Plus who would be responsible for say health & safety and does that mean you could actually save a few quid by useing volunteers for doing some of the work on the pitch .Plus how is the rent worked out if one team plays on it more than twice as much as the other.
Is this another likely failed plan B again or is it workable solution to the pitch problem.

The pitch problem is actually a cash problem, is the solution to see how much it would cost to finally get the drainage sorted out and have a fund raising effort by all those involved purely for that purpose?

Is there a company out there that could be brought on board that could have some free advertising around the ground or even on the shirts of the clubs for a season or two to keep the costs down or some other way like this?

Putting all the history aside and who uses the pitch more a joint effort might not only help solve the drainage but also some of the other issues as well.


I would chip in as much as I could when I could over a period of time if necessary if it could be arranged.

Just a thought.

Excellent questions Linda, I suspect it will be very difficult for us to get the answers.
I have been to a game today semi amateur, well below the level of both Halifax clubs.
The pitch a few years ago was a swamp, the stadium neat and tidy.
The club decided to improve the pitch, today it was excellent despite the fields around being waterlogged. The stadium hasn't altered.
In other words the club decided it's main priority was the pitch.
At the Shay, all that money spent on stands that will never be filled, stands that are half finished.
On hindsight wouldn't it have been better to improve the main part of a sporting facility the pitch, and build stands that were fit for purpose, so that games could be played, sun or rain?
I suppose it's too late now, we have a stand that will never be filled, half finished works and we are told there is no money left.
We have a very short sighted Council.
Leigh Village, I believe hosts Premier clubs second teams, Championship second teams, Elton John, yes Charlie's best mate Elton John. ( I also understand that the Worlds Greatest Rugby League team play there)
A forward thinking council who have ensured that the pitch can attract teams, and the facilities can attract big events.
Put those together and it means revenue for the council.
It seems no one on our council can see potential.

A very good thought, I bet improving the pitch would cost less than repairing a stand that is already showing signs of wear.

Yes and tying it in with your "priorities" thought it has to be up there with the biggest shared by BOTH clubs which is very rare.

Lets say the amount was xxxxxxx, divided by 2 and all the monies contributed were collected from the supporters by the respective clubs and put into a "Pitch Fund" and only to be used for that.

The amounts would be the same and there could be regular updates as to how it was progressing.

It would not really matter how long it took and there might even be a bit of healthy competion that would keep up the momentum and get the funds in quickly.

It all depends on the amount in question, it may be doable and even if not at least it will be out in the open that everyone thought about it and tried.

I wonder if there is any one out there who could tell us what the cost of making the pitch playable would be?
Not half measures that have taken place in the past, which probably add up to the same as a proper job.

Im sure as part of the offer it means only one team playing on the pitch..........

This could be seen as a deliberated pre meditated discriminatory action against one of the current tenants concerning a community asset.

If the Rugby club had suggested such a thing there's no need to go over the response from Town supporters and us for that matter.

Even the suggestion shows the intent, I wonder if the proposer will be subjected to any short of backlash as members of the Rugby club have been?

I'm not sure that would solve the problem in any case, the pitch was in a mess before Fax set foot on it.

Fax have played just 2 home games and if the water had been drained away properly shouldn't have made that much difference.

Of course it's a seasonal and drainage problem as much as a usage problem.

As soon as the dryer weather comes along there is no problem, the pitch is fine when Fax have finished playing on it but not when they start playing on it and that is not down to them.

Back to the cash problem, can the funds be raised from JOINT sponsorship and voluntary contributions or is it too much because the Council will not be paying for it so if not it will stay as it is.

The problem with the New Shay is that the council will not spend a lot of cash simply to keep the 3000 or so people that go there on a regular basis happy. Hell they cant even run the place at a profit which in itself is simply amazing given the potential that is there. It either needs the right person to come in and do it for them or for the council to get their act together, neither which looks likely in the near future.

As an ex Chairman of a local rugby club my main priority was always to look after the main asset of the club which was the pitch! This was the reason for being there and with no games there was no revenue for the club from playing subs, the bar, use of the clubhouse etc. Annual spend always had pitch maintenance top of the list and that was usually around £10k p.a. ironically my hardest decision, from a personal point of view, was turning Fax down from training on the pitches whilst this work was going on etc. My successor carried on with this philosophy and now Fax do train on there-so it can be done with the right amount of money, dedicated groundstaff, and planned approach. In my eyes the council will not prioritise an asset that draws in only 3k spectators out of a population of 150kpeople? The onus to me is to set up a joint scheme between the two town teams to get the pitch sorted to the standard required for BOTH clubs.(You can see the proof of the pudding next time you drive past Heath RUFC pitches at West Vale.)If the club(s) or council wanted any help to get this off the ground I would be more than happy to volunteer to get this initiative up and running.