HALIFAX PANTHERS are set to play on a new £800,000 hybrid pitch at The Shay later this season.
Work on a replacement for a previously-problematic waterlogging-prone surface at the 104-year-old, 10,400-capacity venue, which is also used by football club FC Halifax Town and could at some stage also host Huddersfield Giants, has begun.
A £400,000 grant from the Football Foundation has underpinned to project, with the rest of the cost shared by Calderdale Council and the current two tenant clubs.
Giants owner-chairman Ken Davy hopes to take control of The Shay from the council and move his club there from the John Smith’s Stadium – which Huddersfield Town Football Club want to take control of – until they can build their own ground back in Huddersfield.
But he has revealed he won’t do that until planning permission for the new ground, which he would ideally like to be on the site of an old gasworks not far from the existing stadium, has been secured.
Davy believes 24,500-capacity John Smith’s, of which the Giants control 20 percent, is too big for the Super League side’s needs. He wants the Giants to eventually have their own home holding around 8,000 with the potential for expansion.
But he told Huddersfield Hub: “I don’t want my legacy to be that I took the club out of Huddersfield – where the game was born – and could not get it back.
“We can’t take the risk of leaving and not having an approved site for a new stadium.”
If and when his club move out – and it’s believed the new Huddersfield stadium project could take six years – Davy will offer The Shay to either or both Halifax clubs.
If they can’t afford to take it on, he will continue to run it with the pair as tenants.
However Davy’s Shay purchase is currently on hold after Calderdale Council received another expression of interest.
Because the stadium is designated as an Asset of Community Value, community groups had a six-week window in which to indicate their interest in buying it.
The Shay Community Stadium Ltd have now done that, and have until October 3 to submit a bid, which would then be considered.
Although the council are under no obligation to sell to the group, it means the sale to Davy has had to be frozen.
The hybrid pitch, 95 percent grass and five percent synthetic structure. will sit on a new drainage system.
Panthers chief executive Damian Clayton said: “This (the new pitch) is great news, a solution that helps to safeguard the ongoing playing of football and Rugby League into the future.
“The pitch will help contribute to increased entertainment with a quality surface to play on.”