As we stand our club is moving in a positive direction with youth agenda, including a keen and sucessful Women's team. Overall the RL club is a benefit to the town.
The sponsorship from local businesses is a great move forward. Allied to a full WVIPs it could put the club in a very good position for the next step.
If the 2026 changes go as we suspect we will need to be ready to maintain our squad when others, sadly, may not be.
Some new marketing of the WVIPS maybe a way forward.
@sandgroper Like you, I am fortunate enough to have seen Widnes in their peak years in the 70's, 80's and early 90's, but supported them for many years before and since those glorious years; but still enjoy watching a good open game, played with strength, speed and ability, as well as hard fought games with strong defensive play and hard tackles.
The game has changed completely over the years and is now more about tactics - with the boring five drives and a kick being the norm - with little room for talented individuals to shine. You would go to games to watch and support your team, but also to watch the skills and speed of the players from other teams, like Van Vollenhoven, Murphy, Ashton, Boston, Fox and many others at the time. There are still some talented individuals in the game - Lewis, French, Field and maybe O'Connor and others - but the game is now more structured around the basic five drives and a kick to gain ground or put the defending team under pressure on their line.
The game has been mismanaged for years in an attempt to favour the "bigger" clubs, with the ridiculous proposals from Maurice Lindsay to merge neighbouring teams, which in truth was an attempt to cull teams like Widnes from the game; the ongoing attempts to grow the game in London - I seem to remember talk of a London v New York fixture in the game; the proposal to develop a "big city" game to the exclusion of teams from the RL heartlands on the M62 Corridor; the Toronto failure; the advent of the so called "Super" League, which aim always seemed be to create a separate sport to the game of rugby league; the French experiment with Catalan and Toulouse now being questioned; and ultimately selling the soul of the game to Sky and being totally reliant on the Sky funding.
You can also add the questionable appointment of a major shareholder from Bradford being brought back into RFL. Does anyone actually believe that bringing back Nigel Wood was for the good of the game, or is his review a sham to meet the demands of the SL club owners for increased funding at the expense of the rest of the game and, in exchange, maybe a favourable decision on SL entry? If Bradford are to get into SL, I hope it is on merit by way of their IMG rating or winning the Championship play-off and not by way a committee decision, based on a yet unannounced criteria.
It is clear to many that those bankrolling the SL Clubs by writing off annual debts of up to £2m want change, which actually means they want all of the Sky money and let the rest of the game rot. The RFL needs to announce its plans for the long-term future of the game as a whole and that includes the game below SL. As you say, Clubs like Widnes must demand a say in any decision on the future of SL; the future funding at all levels of the game; and the development and retention at the grass root level of the game in the UK.
Perhaps renaming the league structure with two leagues, namely RL Premiership and RL Championship, with promotion and relegation, would be a start. Maybe Beaumont (who seems to have many positive ides to grow the game), McManus etc could contribute to the game by not demanding additional central funding for their Clubs, but using their wealth to support rugby league as a whole. And maybe we will see pigs flying over Odsal Stadium.
@sandgroper maybe a way of marketing wvips with season tickets maybe a discount if vip member £10 or so knowing that person is paying £60 minimum into VIPs might help swell numbers?
or if VIPs could create a lottery of some sort people are getting something back than just their donations?
Funnily enough I won £25.00 on the Widnes Vikings Lottery in May!!!
I had forgotten about that but carried on contributing!!!
Well good to see one league, but fixture arrangements not announced until after SL make up is confirmed - the geography of the remaining teams may have some effect on the fixture format ?
I have been paying for a lottery ticket for several years now and was wondering if my numbers actually got into the draw, but hope springs eternal.Funnily enough I won £25.00 on the Widnes Vikings Lottery in May!!!
I had forgotten about that but carried on contributing!!!
The only way that we can boost crowds is by playing attractive rugby, which is difficult with referees like today.
Another team like Donny, playing 'hard ball' rather than using the talent in their side.
I didn't go to Hunslet but did they play like that at home? If they did it could have influenced AC's team choices.