Huddersfield hope cut-price season-card offer will boost gates

HUDDERSFIELD have slashed season-card prices to less than £100 as they aim to build a claret-and-gold army of fans to back their bid for glory under new coach Ian Watson.

And owner Ken Davy has stressed the importance of growing the Giants’ support base as Rugby League emerges from the pandemic.

Anyone under 30 will pay just £50, and for those over 30, it’s still only £99, comfortably the lowest cost in the competition.

Season-ticket holders will have priority access to matches at the John Smith’s Stadium once fans are allowed back into grounds, hopefully from mid-May onwards.

And in the meantime, they will be able to watch both the Giants’ home and away games via the OurLeague system, with the clash against Hull at Headingley first up on Sunday, March 28.

Watson, who won widespread acclaim for guiding Salford the Grand Final in 2019 and Challenge Cup final last year, was appointed in November.

He has made a raft of signings, including forwards Luke Yates and Josh Jones, who both played under him at Salford.

Other new arrivals are former Toronto duo James Cunningham and Ricky Leutele, Joe Greenwood from Wigan, Jack Ashworth from St Helens and George Roby from Warrington.

And Aussie halfback Jack Cogger has joined from Canterbury Bulldogs to provide competition for Dream Team member Aidan Sezer and Lee Gaskell.

Huddersfield are aiming to better their achievements of between 2010 and 2015, when they three time came within one match of making the Grand Final, winning the League Leaders’ Shield in 2013.

But they haven’t made the play-offs in the last five years, and long-standing owner Ken Davy is desperate to see the club challenging for honours once again – and get the Huddersfield public on board.

“We are incredibly excited about our opportunities to bring silverware back to the Giants, he said.

“We have delayed the sale of the season cards until now, because, as well as being excited, we wanted to be confident about the start of the new season.

“Ian Watson has experienced both Wembley and Old Trafford and chose Huddersfield Giants as his opportunity to not only get to these great events again, but to win them.

“To this end, he has built on our existing strengths, adding new players with international quality and winning mentalities to our established squad, which includes our exciting younger players who are now a year older, stronger and more experienced.

“In short, I believe Ian Watson has built a strong and exciting squad of which supporters can be justly proud, and one that we all look forward to seeing in action.”

In a stark warning, Davy added: “Support for this year’s season cards is absolutely critical to our aspirations and survival.

“We should all be in no doubt that the finances of the Giants continue to be very difficult and in making our season cards available for just £99 per adult and £50 for under 30s, we sincerely hope that our supporter numbers increase significantly.”