We met the same criteria as you, Richard Lewis said so, and we did it without spending three million pounds of somebody else's money. And we exceeded your performance on the field every year (past three years since last round of licensing). Where is our reward?

Funny how certain clubs owe the game money or have serious money problems and are lucky if they get more than 3500 through the gate yet people never mention them and think they belong to the Elite clubs in our game yet Championship clubs who are in a far better condition people like to mockk and say should do more or find a sugar daddy. Shows how rubbish our sport is when there are more discussions about what happens off the field than on it!

Having a rich backer at least means we don't have the mess that Wakey and Crusaders are in.

Could you possibly provide links to where he has said he is "happy"? Or perhaps he's just dealing with the facts as they exist within franchising, instead of pretending that, like them or lump them, those facts do not exist?



Which makes your use of it here even more risable than ever, comparing yourself, in effect, to South Africans under apartheid.

A Gavin and Stacey box set?

Throw them out then , right now

God no, hours of James Cordon is exactly what I consider hell!

I did think about that, but some of the lyrics are appropriate, barriers, rules and all that. I dont wish to compare anything, only a sport after all, or is it?

You have been promoted because you have a millionaire backer, and he had the intelligence to ask the RFL where he should be spending his money. He knew the system, played it, and congratulations to Widnes for that.

Halifax have done what they can off the field, within the financial constraints that any club in the Championship will face without a leg up from a sugar daddy. They have done this whilst reaching 2 successive grand finals and winning one of them. I think Fax fans have every right to be disappointed.

At least it wasn't the Taliban, pesky kites!

Addressing fans of any club that has posted silly comments on this thread.

Halifax met the minimum criteria to be considered for an application which specifically is:
- Reached either a Championship Final or won the Northern Rail Cup in 2009 or 2010
- A stadium with an operational capacity of 10,000
- Turnover of at least £1m in financial year ending 2009 or 2010 (the turnover of the club’s charitable foundation can be included in this figure)
- An average attendance of at least 2,500 in 2009 or 2010.

Having met this minimum standartd they were then considered against Widnes and it was determined that Widnes better fulfilled the wider criteria which license applications are assessed against (areas include on-field performance, stadium, youth, expansion etc). Without seeing the applications, this certainly doesn't seem like an unfair decision given that in the area of youth structure and finances Widnes seem to have a better application, with Halifax probably only being better in the on-field performance section which is given less prominance given the RFL are aware that the team would look completely different if it had to step up to super league.

I fully expect Halifax's bid to be competitive against the likes of Wakefield, Castleford, Crusaders and Hull KR come July when these license applications are considered as they appear to have a strong case. Good luck

Competitive in what way?
Lower attendances
Less turnover
No youth teams
Stadium that needs major work for it to be safe

To get in in July, Halifax will surely have to meet the same criteria as the rest of the teams applying and not use the Championship criteria as that would be unfair, and head to head against Super League teams, they come nowhere close.

Apart from winning the league, Widnes are stronger in every department and THEY will be better for the image of the game.

You met the criteria. That does not mean your bid was better. Let's take youth structure for example. How many youth teams have you got and how long have they been winning against super league youth teams for?

So our chairman has money, that just smacks of envy to me. He's invested in a sustainable way that aims to make us self sufficient. We have to start somewhere. Judge us in 3 years.

Or how about our crowds? We're consistently the best supported club in the CC without having to bump our figures on a single game to meet the criteria.

We've got youth and community and business initiatives that many other sports clubs don't have. There is far more going on at Widnes than a man with big pockets and it is these things amongst others that we've been judged on. Stop trying to over simplify the whole process.

Well, we haven't gone into administration so yes - we're poles apart from EVERY Super League club aren't we?

There's disappointment and then there's the bitterness shown on here.

seriously? must we go over this tired crap again? its been done to death for three years now and the decision is made. Nathanwood7 has nailed it. anyone who is still too dense or belligerent to accept his points needs to have a word with themselves.
yes, i know its upsetting for fax fans, weve been screwed over more then once ourselves. the difference being you have not been screwed over. you were simply not succesful. it does happen.

its finally out of the way, cant we all just be friends?

Amen to that.

If only Fax had a few more disapointed fans, attending games, putting ticket money into the club. Perhaps that would have put them in a better financial position, and given them a stronger bid. If only the people of Halifax would show an interest....

Do you actually read what you write?

"He's invested in a sustainable way that aims to make us self sufficient" - What? the license has not been awarded on the basis of that happening. It has been awarded on your current situation. Which is having to spend three million pounds to meet the criteria.

Halifax met the same criteria without any investment. Can you imagine what our application would have been like with three million to spend on it? You could pluck a team out of the Conference and give them a world class youth team with three million pounds.

Considering Widnes,s attendances have been dropping like a stone , it's a good job they got up this time , their ave dropped around 700 last season

.................. and that has to be our next challenge. It's a tough ask down in this league to do that but the club must continue to increase its attendances (which it has steadily done over the last three years and you're right, it's not enough) and to plug the gap in other areas of the criteria to make it harder for the RFL to turn down a future bid.

Like Widnes were simply not successful in 2008. Didn't stop a lot of Widnes fans screaming blue murder at the time.

Credit must go to Steve O'Connor though for how he reacted in 2008 and made this round of franchises a formality. It's up to people like Denis Betts, Terry O'Connor and Paul Cullen to make sure that his money and off field work can lead to a good SL team.