KEN VISITS SHAY PITCH DEVELOPMENT

Ken Davy OBE and Ralph Rimmer OBE visited The Shay Stadium to check out the work that has now been completed on the new state of the art pitch.

Also in attendance, and by invitation from Ken Davy, were members of the Halifax Town Supporters Association who had lengthy conversations about the positive steps that Ken is taking at their beloved football club’s home ground. 

Speaking to Ralph Rimmer OBE, in charge now of Stadia and Strategy at the Giants, he spoke highly of the work that has been done, and praised Ken for the building blocks to the future already being in motion. 

“It’s a brilliant stadium. I’ve been coming to the Shay a long, long time and the new pitch looks stunning. It’s far and away a massive improvement on the previous pitch, It’s brilliant.” 

“I think it’s typical of Ken to put the building blocks in place for the benefit of both FC Halifax Town and the Halifax Panthers as well delivering a fantastic facility which could offer some great opportunities for the Giants in the future. It’s a major part of the stadium strategy that we are working on at this moment in time.” 

Mr Davy, the driving force behind the plans to temporarily relocate the Huddersfield Giants to Halifax is impressed by the new pitch, but also wanted to highlight the vital importance of the new drainage system.

“I believe these exciting times for The Shay and for FC Halifax Town and Halifax Panthers. The pitch is looking brilliant, the grass is growing and the weather conditions are perfect. What we don’t see is that 90% of the work has been changing the drainage system. That has all had to be revisited and dramatically improved. The days of both seeing matches cancelled due to the pitch are hopefully, gone forever. That will be of great benefit to both the clubs, their supporters and to Calderdale as a whole.” 

Ken also reinforces his plans to bring The Shay up to Super League standards and believes that this in just the beginning in what will be a fantastic journey, and an opportunity for the wider community of Calderdale to benefit from the Shay as a central facility for many activities.

“We anticipate that when all the work is completed, The Shay is going to be a temporary home for the Giants, so putting these facilities in place now with much more to come to meet the requirements of Super League is key. There will be much more happening in the months to come.” 

As previously mentioned, members of the Halifax Town Supporters Association took up Ken’s invitation for a chat down at The Shay. They spoke about their concerns, but also of their hopefulness that Mr Davy would bring a new lease of life to their home ground.  

Chairman of the HTSA Kit Walton was particularly pleased that the pitch and drainage system has been significantly improved, as it has been a sore subject for them over the years. 

“The pitch looks just the job. We’re pleased that the drainage has been improved because that has been a real problem for us over the years.” 

Kit also went on to share how hopeful he was for the improvements and the sale of the Shay to go through and that they would help in any way possible to make it happen. 

“It does feel like he’s got a lot of plans for The Shay and a lot still to be decided. Time will tell as to what happens. It’s early days yet, but without doubt the signs are promising.” 

“We will do our utmost to make sure everything does fall into place for Ken. Our side is the football club, but there are three teams involved here, so we’d like to make sure all clubs are catered for.” 

Simon Denton, Treasurer & Secretary of the HTSA was pleased to meet with the Huddersfield Giants Owner and Chairman and has every reason to be positive about the conversations. 

“It’s nice to meet the man behind the plans and taken at face value, Ken comes across very nicely. I have no reason to doubt anything that he is saying to us and explaining to us about his plans.”