" Riley even goes on to say the club would feel guilty if 2 teams got kicked out of SL. WTF? We should have been shouting from the roof tops how good our bid is and how good it is compared to some SL team bids and on probably less than a quarter of the income that they have."

First of all, can we have the good manners to refer to him as Mike or Mr Riley.

The amount of work he and his fellow workers put in entitles him to a bit of courtesy

Secondly the club have not given up as the silly title implies.

Mike has said that the best we can hope for NOW is that either Harlequins or Castleford, who he THINKS will be given one year to put their acts in order will fail and we will go up in 2013.

I am quite sure the board on many occassions have explained to the RFL what a good set up we have and what SL means to our club. Indeed our initial application was outstanding and it is no ones fault (except the RFL) that their promises will not be honoured.

What promises were made ?. I havnt seen anything regarding promises from rfl.

Perhaps promises was the wrong word. personally I feel too 2d off to argue.

We fulfill the criteria, some SL clubs do not.

Heard about this extra year thing somewhere and that is a bit of a kick in the teeth for Fax surely?
"You jumped through all our hoops but we'd much prefer these teams in SL than you, but if we really don't have an option after we've given them extra time then I suppose we'll have to give you 2 years"

There has been a lot of over realism here about this announcement. People not wanting to invest too much hope that we will get in. probably a flaw of fax fans are we are too modest and humble, and perhaps we should be more brazen about our own chances. What chance have we got of those tyrants believing in us if we ourselves do not believe in us with our self-effacing rhetoric?

But our own director coming out and saying this is a real kick in the gnashers. Gutting...and indicative of what fubar this is. Im utterly disillusioned with rugby league

Yep - seen it. Very interesting. The RFL will at some point openly declare it's "investment" in the Crusaders experiment and will bang on about the need to expand the game (at the express instructions from BskyB).

As attendances in SL are growing (although not necessarily match day income given the discounts being offered up by some clubs) this will be THE overriding reason for the RFL to continue on its chosen path. What's a few two-bit clubs down in The Championship really going to bring to the table? They don't care.

I think there is still a cloud of crusaders. yes they owe the RFL 700k but that was on the back of pretty much saying if we can't pay you back you can have half of the racecourse ground as collateral. There is/was a big issue with it from the footy fans when it happened. IF the RFL had any integrity they would demote crusaders along with Wakey on the basis of them both going into administration. I feel Wakey will be the fall guys though in the scenario.

Rest is standard. Keep looking for that needle in a haystack though.



The club should have been banging their drums and shouting from the highest roof tops to get us noticed to make it look like the RFL actually have a decision to make. Instead the reality is that we have heard virtually zero in the weeks leading up to this. Almost like we have to just roll over and die.

I just thought I'd stick my two penneth in prior to the bitterness once again kicking in just before lunchtime tomorrow over what I expect to be our rejection SL bid.

I believe that the box ticking process for 2015 will be the last time it occurs, beyond then there will be no P & R whatsoever, drawbridge firmly slammed shut.

I really don't understand why 'Fax fans believe that our club tick all the current boxes, surely we don't have the required average crowds, or junior set up in place.

How do supporters expect our club to operate financially & budget accordingly to compete at SL level in the current climate ? Yesterday's attendance was in my eyes nothing more than pitiful, holiday period accepted, but we really are at a hardcore of just under 2,000 nowadays.

I understand that while ever there's a 14 team SL comp, the clubs agreed to a 3 club from development areas inclusion, thus leaving 11 traditional or heartlands clubs to make up the total.

I do believe that the current B.O.D. have worked seriously hard to achieve their targets since the last round of licences, personally, having worked closely with Mr. Steele & Mr. Riley in particular in my former role of scholarship co-ordinator. I know how much energy, passion, time and care they have for our club and I appreciate their efforts & dearly wish they could be rewarded with the ultimate goal, they are fine men and importantly in their positions, they are genuine rugby league men, that really counts for a lot. I felt humbled & honoured to represent our club in my role & it was a pleasure beyond explanation to have my foot in the workings of the club, but the lack of juniors is a massive issue & I know how we tried & tried to get the districts talent to join our club, but the lack of SL status is a hurdle too high sometimes in this part of recruitment.

Finally, supporters' dreams of a sugar daddy floating our club I.M.O. goes against what franchising stands for, franchising was brought in to make professional RL clubs look at how they account for their finances and to be self-sufficient in business-like manner. I'm no longer jealous of other clubs with sugar daddies because in the lifespan of franchising, those very clubs have found ways around this, the thing that does bother me though is that whenever an individual decides to withdraw his financial backing with the salaries that not just the playing staff earn, there's all the full time admin salaries etc etc, a club will be in ruin. If our club remains cometetive at the level we're at now and for the most recent two seasons I see no reason to be dis-appointed. I just wonder how our club's officials will find the motivation or will to continue while ever the goal posts are shifted again & again & again.

Yep - amongst all the shoddy underhand maneovers of the RFL there is our own onvious weakness - Calderdale does not give a fig about Halifax RLFC. Had we been averaging 4,000 this would have been a different day today, but we aren't. Grand Finalists on the bounce, once winners and a recent NRC final appearance still can't elevate us even to 3,000, not to mention the sheer exciting brand of rugby that is played. Who's to say that if we get in SL that the hardcore of 2,000 will get any bigger?

Somehow this has got to be the next focus of Halifax RLFC. Bums on seats. Good luck with that.

Rich , you can only tell them so many times , no disrespect , but Fax are not currently strong enough to move up to SL

And no club can build from the bottom of a league taking heavy beatings on a regular basis , you only have to look a few miles down the road for evidence of that , The Giants are only now getting some sustained on field success , but still they cannot bring in the fans

It can be done , but not by making the same mistakes that all clubs continue to make , it needs some different thinking on all levels to work

Jeez anyone would think the announcement had been already made going by the finger pointing and hand wringing. Why dont you just wait and see first before starting the post mortem.

Chill out for Gods sake and stop b!itching about the club and the BOD.

I think you'll find myself and Rich are more along the lines of

Why the hell would you want to go into SL ?

my thoughts entirely - some people seem to have a grudge against the club

www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/sport/h ... _1_3614871

www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/sport/h ... _1_3614871

That article reads... Cas are doing too well right now to kick them out, see how they go on in 18 months. If they are struggling and nowhere with stadium then we bring in Halifax to fulfill the other 18 months. Sounds a bit far fetched to me that one.

It seems more people are infact peeved with the RFL, infact my OP was more a dig at the RFL and why the club, who find out a decision that could be up there in the clubs history, dont feel there is any point marketing it. Obviously the question about MC is legit and probably what most people want to know.

I certainly don't have anything against our B.O.D. !!!
It's the RFL who are at fault and playing an equal role are the greedy SL clubs who are snaffling up the lions share of funding and raping districts such as ours of their richest junior talents.

Love the dig by Michael Steele here:-



And we thought every club was going to be judgeg by the same rules.

Great if we are put on stand by. Oh Halifax yes, they meet all the criteria but we thought that it would be better to give teams like Cas, whos ground isnt up to scratch even after the promises they made last time, Crusaders, who get by on RFL handouts, and Quinns, who get crowds that would be the envy of NL2, should all be given more time rather than put a team in who could actually add something to SL given the opportunity.

Im not sure he ment you, everyone can see your brown tongue from here.

Really ? Why doesn't he accept what everyone else already knows, or does he walk around with his eyes & ears shut ?

Do Nestle still make 'Breakaways'?!

Given his location its probably a bit of the latter.

And he can access the internet ?????