Halifax RLFC

Halifax RLFC submitted an application with insufficient detail in their marketing, media or commercial plans. The club business plan was inadequate, figures presented by the club as the budget and performance forecasts for the 2012-14 Licence period were speculative and the club did not provide sufficient information for KPMG to complete their assessment procedures. Whilst the club has an excellent community program, a good facility and has recently strengthened its Board and player performance system, the club fell below the standards expected of a Super League club. Grade C.

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats’ application confirmed that new ownership has injected enthusiasm, capital and business acumen into the club. The business plan provided achievable targets for growing the business, and a realistic strategy to reach these targets. Wakefield’s performance on the field and player supply across the current Licence period has been acceptable and their community programme is excellent. However commercial, financial and governance performance in this Licence period has been poor, with the club entering administration in February of 2011. The club continues to face a number of challenges. The stadium position is uncertain, and the significant challenge for the club will be to deliver the commercial and supporter growth required to allow the club to trade in a sustainable manner whilst improving competitiveness on the pitch. Grade C.

WOW, Didn't expect to see insufficient Marketing, Media and commercial plans as we took on a Marketing & Media Director. We didn't provide enough information for them to make a assesment. At least we delivered it by helicopter though.

Anyway, thats that, Come on the Might Fax Players tonight is your night to Shine.

Its nothing to do with SL tonight....the players need to turn up, perform and show us why we pay our petrol money to follow the Blue and White away from home. This year has been indifferent, but with a few good performances this group can turn it around!

when watching playoff series in the past i have always supported the team finishing 6th, as they have never actually got to the final. if there was one team i thought could do it it would be us!

up the FAX!!!!!!!

"Figures presented by the club as the budget and performance forecasts for the 2012-14 Licence period were speculative."

What else could they be?

We have to be positive, make the admin side beyond question and win, win, win on the field to keep the presssure on.

That was a dig at our BOD, and before anyone starts i aint interested in running a rugby club, I pay my money and go to the games buy merchandise etc so i have my right to moan now when they have been harping on that everything is gearing up towards being in SL, when clearly its not when they hand in a application that is inadequate and cannnot even be considered along side any of the others then we were on a hiding to nothing from the start.

dont worry peoples, we will be more than competitive next year!

a new era at Fax, excited much!!!!!!!

we got the same grade as Wakey, london, salford and widnes! we cant have done that bad.

the 1st three teams having waaaaaaaaay more funds than us!

all we can do now is improve off the pitch (like widnes) andhopefully win some trophies on the way.

forget about SL for now....the focus should be on tonight!

Come on FAX!!!!!!!!!!

Erm...how about based on a detailed business plan?

You got a "C" because there isn't a "D" grade.

I will keep checking my inbox for an apology from certain Fax fans. I won't hold my breath though.

The Fax application wasn't worth the paper it [iwasn't[/i written on!

Wait a minute, it also says Wakefield was poor in Commercial, Governance and Finance and of course we can only speculate what our gates would be in Superleague, we are not there....

Rather than appologise its worth pointing out that Wakefield is extremely lucky to just get a licence ahead if us. What tickled me was the statement that on field performances were acceptable.

What baffled me was why we were told in Marchthat our bid was acceptable, but come July its not. Typical RFL. Didn't KPMG see the bids in March?

Why didn't we withdraw our bid if it was as bad as the feed back suggests? I hope the club will stop stating about readying ourselves for SL in their blogs announcements from now on. As we won't be anywhere near ready. This was our big chance with Wakey and Crusaders being awfull and that chance was blown.

Maybe not But the paper it was written had actually been paid for

I totally agree with you their, If they are not able to fill the application in properly then perhaps employing a specialist to get this right in the first instance would have been what was needed. I know the board work hard and that but sometimes its worth getting someone in who knows how. It such a let down to read that basically we didn't have a chance anyway as KPMG couldn't do their assessment due to lack of information, and now the part that really gets me is the " Would we have been in if the bid was up to scratch in the first place", we will never know. ces la vie

The state of any other clubs bid is not an issue. The point is the Fax was appallingly bad and lacking in detail - there is nothing to compare to other clubs.

This is something I posted at the time of the decision and the idiotic ramblings of the Fax chairman.

I was derided by certain Fax fans (not you), and it is they I await the apology from - not as a Wakefield fan, but as someone who posted the truth and was abused for doing so.

Did KPMG study Celtic Crusaders bid the last time round? Did they study Wakefields? Both went bust during the license period. Their bids may have been presented nicely but they were obviously flawed because they we both financially knackered.

The club should hopefully be in possession of a more detailed feedback from the RFL so that they can put in a "proper" bid next time or decide that it's unable to put in such a bid and withdraw from the process.

"You want the truth, You can't Handle the truth"

I'm confused as to why the RFL kept publishing intitial SL bid was between Widnes, Halifax and Barrow when it seems they didn't even look at the Raiders!

There is a fair point there. We are told that our plans are speculative. Well Wakefields and Crusaders previous bids must have also been speculative as both were completely mis-managed as they went bust. I would suggest that Wakefields current bid must also be speculative as the board are guessing what the future will be, which cannot be based on previous achievement?

Wakefield were Crusaders' replacement, in effect. Had Crusaders not capitulated Wakefield would be gone. They could at least put up a "money man" at the time the RFL had to sift through the remaining weak applications left after Crusaders demise. We couldn't

Spirit of 1895 Now seems a waste, Those T-Shirts with RFL fail on them probably need to be cut up and used to polish cars with, I'm sure the Car washers down by the 3 pigs will take em off ya.

No wonder the Board Urged people not to make a stance on the game against widnes. Would have looked a little silly when it was our bid that had short comings, not the RFLs process.

Well the saving grace that is, At least we are not in Barrows unfortunate circumstances at the minute.

I said at the time we should have got an independant specialist company in to do the application for us. Im guessing we didnt, if we did then why was the application so bad? Did the club not provide the information or did the company that did it not do a good job. If the board did it themselves then enough said really. This is a rather smart move by the RFL just comfiriming a lot of the rumours that were flying about and taking the onus off them and placing it back at the feet of HXRLFC.

The bit about some things been speculative, i mean wtf? How could they be anything other?

I guess this just leaves even more questions than answers, will the board respond this time?

Quote ="Greg Florimos Boots"I said at the time we should have got an independant specialist company in to do the application for us. Im guessing we didnt, if we did then why was the application so bad? Did the club not provide the information or did the company that did it not do a good job. If the board did it themselves then enough said really. This is a rather smart move by the RFL just comfiriming a lot of the rumours that were flying about and taking the onus off them and placing it back at the feet of HXRLFC. The bit about some things been speculative, i mean wtf? How could they be anything other? I guess this just leaves even more questions than answers, will the board respond this time?'" Hey all publicity is good for the club, Isn't it ?. We made the BBC. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 584106.stm

Quote ="Greg Florimos Boots"I said at the time we should have got an independant specialist company in to do the application for us. Im guessing we didnt, if we did then why was the application so bad? Did the club not provide the information or did the company that did it not do a good job. If the board did it themselves then enough said really. This is a rather smart move by the RFL just comfiriming a lot of the rumours that were flying about and taking the onus off them and placing it back at the feet of HXRLFC. The bit about some things been speculative, i mean wtf? How could they be anything other? I guess this just leaves even more questions than answers, will the board respond this time?'" Hey all publicity is good for the club, Isn't it ?. We made the BBC. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 584106.stm

The Spirit of `95 had very litte to do with not geting into Super League as our being denied was only the catalyst that started it moving.
The group was more concerned with the governance of the RFL on issues such as presiding over the Crusaders debacle that were given the nod for Super League over Widnes.During that time they employed illegal players , did not pay players , moved from the area which was the reason for being in Super League , went bust.All this under the watchful eye of the RFL , they were then allowed to withdraw instead of being told they were not good enough.
`95 were also questioning how much did all this cost in the name of expansion when the Championship clubs could have used that money.They talk about Catalan but forget Paris Gateshead , Sheffield , Crusaders all costing money.
Other things they were queerying were differant rules for every division it`s farcical .Some have relegation ,some have bonus points , some have promotion and then if all else fails they move the goalposts to fit the team.
Whichever way anyone wants to look at it does everyone think the RFL are governed proffessionally ?

Some soul searching needed by the board. As you know GFB, i'm not one to criticise the board but your point about getting an independant specialist company in is a good one. Lessons to be learned for next time (if indeed we are in a position to do so next time).

That said, as i've pointed out before, the RFL's own process aint that great considering what happened to Crusaders and Wakey.

When Graham Clay left it was in the press that it wouldn't affect our bid preparation as Michael Steele was doing it.

I get the impression that our board thought our stadium would get us in to SL as the feed back we received last time commented on that being the key issue.

we should have just lied about future income, Wakey and Cru's obviously did last time round.