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The Future of Hunslet Hawks


Moose

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The club have allowed James Duckworth to join Featherstone on loan until the end of the season to see if he can secure a deal with them for the following season. The club say that with the financial constraints under which they work it would make it impossible to retain him for next year.

Are we therefore destined to spend our entire future playing in the basement division. If we are unable to retain and secure more players of James standard then I'm afraid the future of our club is very bleak.

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Self inflicted in my opinion,poor coaching last season,all we had to do was win two more games,and we would have stayed up,Donny away says it all really{pathetic} we could have consolidated our position in the championship,with a little ambition,instead we went down,our rfl money went down,,,people are not happy paying 15 quid to watch poor teams. I have followed the huns for 40+ years,but have dropped off this season,somebody needs to grab the whole thing by the scruff of the neck,give it a good slap,and say ,right lets sort this club out, to get off its backside,and back on its feet,who that will be ,I don't know,but we need them sharpish.

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Well maybe it's for the best letting James go to Fev , lets be honest we ain't going up this year , and our club cannot afford to keep him next year , better holding onto Jimmy Watson , and we get 2 players from Fev in exchange , one being Kyran Johnsson a 22 year old back with electrifying pace who played last week at Leigh. The other Jack Coventry a prop of which we are in need of. Plus we have signed a front row forward Jose Kenga following a trial so all in all not that bad.

 

 And yes poor coaching last season from Eaton and team selection , I do think the assistant coach should have gone as well , actually years ago, been with us too long, any other club would have done this.

 

Anyway we got what we wanted in no involvement with duel reg Leeds players , ( OK we wouldn't have had any player better than ours off Leeds this year what with their injuries , with them playing the likes of Luke Briscoe, who  I wouldn't want anyway , our Jake Normanton at center  is a far better player ) 

 

And we can't sort this club out , as always money rules the day , and we don't have any , as usual.

 

Just happy and that's not good to get 8th spot and maybe get a trip to Toulouse.

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What's so worrying is the club admitting that they are unable to afford him next season. If that's the case how can we hope to sign the quality of players needed to gain promotion

Let's face it this year's squad is sadly lacking in ideas, size and pace. If by any chance we happen to unearth any new talent other clubs will be sniffing round knowing our financial plight and try to prise him away.

As for the coaching, it's no better than last year, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

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It's the chicken and egg conundrum KOL, play with passion and skill and the spectators will return, only a few at first but when lapsed supporters see the results and read and hear from their mates how well we're playing more will turn up.

Keep on serving up the slow, unimaginative dross we play at the present and a crowd of 350 will be a distant memory.

The days when players were happy to play alongside their mates all their career at the same club are long gone, the promise of a few extra quid and they're off to pastures new, and who can blame them?

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sorry moose I disagree with you, even in the championship last year we got no more than 500 home fans, the season before when we got promoted about 400.People in this City just don't want to watch sport, they would sooner go to The White Rose Shopping or Asda on a sunday afternoon.The only way you,d get them down there is if you offered free beer ,  then they,d want a topless barmaid to serve em and a free taxi ride home. If we played North Queensland Cowboys in a World Club Challenge we wouldn't get over 1,000 from South Leeds, weve got 300 diehards who are the best fans around going home and away but im afraid that's it.

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,,,people are not happy paying 15 quid to watch poor teams..

 

They charge £15 per game for 3rd Division?!?@?#??$??!

 

My local 3rd div club Wests Magpies charges £15 for a season ticket or £25 for a 2-season ticket. Most of those games include the 4th Div game as a curtain-raiser. A 2-year ticket for pensioners is only £5

 

http://www.westsmagpies.com.au/home/001/php/membership.php

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sorry moose I disagree with you, even in the championship last year we got no more than 500 home fans, the season before when we got promoted about 400.People in this City just don't want to watch sport, they would sooner go to The White Rose Shopping or Asda on a sunday afternoon.The only way you,d get them down there is if you offered free beer , then they,d want a topless barmaid to serve em and a free taxi ride home. If we played North Queensland Cowboys in a World Club Challenge we wouldn't get over 1,000 from South Leeds, weve got 300 diehards who are the best fans around going home and away but im afraid that's it.

Why did we only get 500 fans? Because we played unattractive rugby and lost most games, it ain't rocket science. Play good rugby, win games equals more fans.

They won't all come rushing through turnstiles the next week but gates will increase.

To say the city won't support sport on a Sunday afternoon is silly Headingley will have a few thousand there tomorrow to watch the Yorks v Derbyshire 20/20 game. Do you know how much a pint of Tetleys is? £4:20 and the staff keep their shirts on.

The Rhinos, bottom team in Super League still get 12,000 plus crowds. The spectators are there, they just want a decent product to watch.

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Moose, the Rhinos might get 12-14 thousand but that's in a City of over 600k , Wigan get 10k in a small town and both Hull Clubs get over 20k combined in a City half the size of Leeds, pro rata the Leeds sporting public just dosent want to know. Even Leeds Utd only get 20 k compare that to both Sheffield clubs who get double that in a similar size City and both Wednesday and Blades are both as bad as Utd. Places like Nottingham and Bristol both have 2 teams that combined get more than Leeds Utd and then theres Manc and Liverpool clubs who get 6 times what  Leeds Utd get.....sorry but that's the truth.

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I thought the same when I saw the news about Duckworth ... that we've basically given up on promotion this year and have recoiled once again into 'survival mode', which seems to be a part of the natural cycle of things at Hunslet. It's like starting all over again (again).

 

And I do find myself wondering how many times we can keep going round that loop. Hunslet RLFC in the 21st century seems to exist as a curious anachronism, playing to a community that effectively disintegrated nearly half a century ago. Back in Victorian times, the club was founded and quickly grew on the basis that it served a community that was quite distinct from the rest of Leeds; it was the industrial heartbeat of the city, with a hard-working and large local population; people were born, grew up, worked, played and died in the area, and were proud to do so; there was a endless supply of local players.

 

So it's fair to say that the club's strengths 133 years ago have definitely become its weakness. Today the only entity of any note with 'Hunslet' in it is Hunslet Hawks RLFC! And I'm sure very few people - certainly no-one under 40 - would consider themselves 'Hunslet rather than Leeds' - in a non-RL sense of course :biggrin:

 

And therein lies the unique and impossible dilemma for our club. Other clubs struggle and go through tough times; York, Oldham, Doncaster, Rochdale all quite recently, for example. But they all carry monikers that mean something to over 100,000 people living locally who can identify with the name. Where it all ends up is anyone's guess ... but eventually, the Laws of Natural Selection have a horrible way of kicking in!

 

It's only being so cheerful keeps me going ...  :rolleyes:

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An idea that could help Boost attendance ..... Play home games on a Saturday evening , to marry up , with when Leeds Utd Are at Home . Put a Free bus on . Ask a tenner entry for , Bus , Match and throw a pint in ....... Lets face it , United supporters from Sweden , I think , watch the football , then take Rugby in ... Worth A Try ? ? ? ...

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not a chance in hell

 

 

hunslet till i die

we will never go to watch the #### over the river ever

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Please Explain , Why . . Nothing else seems to be bringing the crowds in . The season started with a new CEO , he had some.Great ideas . We Have to Try New things . .

Cost of hiring a bus,subsidising admission and beer.All costs that need to be covered.If you don't get enough takers you are instantly running a loss,something the club can ill afford.

Thank you for your valuable contribution.

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Very Negative . The club will be buying its beer in at Less than £ 1:20 a pint .... So , when the Guest has their 2nd drink . THE Club.. is In Profit . We Also have a Mini bus , so ,Surely that can be used .... I d Be Happy to Drive .... So . . . Why not give it a try .We have a team of 100% Hunslet players and A coach doing a Brilliant job . Be POSITIVE .....

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Very Negative . The club will be buying its beer in at Less than £ 1:20 a pint .... So , when the Guest has their 2nd drink . THE Club.. is In Profit . We Also have a Mini bus , so ,Surely that can be used .... I d Be Happy to Drive .... So . . . Why not give it a try .We have a team of 100% Hunslet players and A coach doing a Brilliant job . Be POSITIVE .....

Not negative,pointing out realities of a project.Positivity would be something bigger than a minibus,but from little acorns,give it a go.I applaud your effort.

Thank you for your valuable contribution.

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Clubs like London Skolars , Hemel, Oxford, Coventry, south Wales all get crowds about 150 and survive , we got 446 for Coventry at home , so why can't we survive if they can.

and if that means letting James Duckworth go , so be it, as I said we did get 3 new players in , and who knows one of them might turn out to be better than him.

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Clubs like London Skolars , Hemel, Oxford, Coventry, south Wales all get crowds about 150 and survive , we got 446 for Coventry at home , so why can't we survive if they can.

and if that means letting James Duckworth go , so be it, as I said we did get 3 new players in , and who knows one of them might turn out to be better than him.

But two of them are not ours, they're on loan from Fev, if they prove to be any good do you think they'll be with us next season? I don't.
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Forgot about the duel reg thing with Fev seeing as we have not used it up to now , and one i don't want with them. i would have taken a scrum half off them though or anyone on loan for that matter,

as ours must be the worst in our league. It should be Thomas in that position for us , another bad coaching mistake.

 

Back to the James Duckworth going to Fev saga , we simply cannot afford to retain him next season simple as that, better to let him go and survive as a club.

I can see us being in this league for quite a few seasons , until we get a decent backer here we stay. Better this than no club i say.

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