BY JOHN DAVIDSON
The Salford RLFC Supporters’ Trust has contacted politicians asking for help to save the embattled Super League club.
Shirley Bradshaw, the chairman of the Salford RLFC Supporters Trust, has written to Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House, Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State of Sport, Media & Culture, and to local MPs and councillors, appealing for support.
The email reads:
“I am contacting you as the Chair of Salford RLFC Supporters Trust to ask for you to intervene to help save our club. As fans we are at loss as to what we can do but we can no longer sit back and watch as part of our great city’s heritage is destroyed in front of our eyes.
We come to you as we know, from how you responded to the Morecombe FC situation, that you understand sports clubs are not just sports clubs but are the beating hearts of many of our communities.
Our club, Salford Red Devils Rugby League Club, has been at the centre of our community for over 150 years. Rugby League is in our DNA and is an important part of our city’s history and culture, born out of our industrial heritage and working-class roots. This is in danger of being lost because of what appears to be, to us fans, a total dereliction of duty from the owners and our governing body the Rugby Football League (RFL).
The club ran into financial difficulties and at the start of this season the new owners promised investment in the club that has never arrived.
At the same time, the RFL imposed a sustainability cap, with restrictions on who we could play and the conditions that we sold players to stay within the cap. As fans we questioned this, especially as it seemed to be more of a punishment rather than a realistic way to support the club through this difficult period. The way that this has been imposed has caused us serious concerns about the health and wellbeing of all those involved and especially the players and staff.
The club and the RFL are not talking to us the fans and we are reaching out to you to help us save all we have achieved, as it is on the verge of being lost.
Our club has been rebuilt since 2019 and this has been one of the most successful periods on and off the pitch of our club’s long history. We’ve been in the two major finals of our sport, two of our players have been awarded Man of Steel (the top player of the year) and we had regular top four and top six finishers.
The club has not only built success through the men’s first team during this period but has worked tirelessly to build a community club in its truest sense so we now have a successful women’s team, a wheelchair team, a physical disabilities team and a learning disabilities team.
The fans played a huge part in all this by raising over £350,000 in 2023 through a community share offer.
As a supporters’ trust, we are incredibly proud to fund raise to support the Player Development Pathway that includes the Scholarship and the Academy, that through sport and education helps develop our young people’s talent and give them the chance to realise their dream of one day playing for their beloved club.
This is all building on the work of the club’s charitable arm, The Salford Red Devils Foundation, that over the decades has provided its wide range of education and health initiatives and projects, highlights the social value that the club brings.
The club was also poised to work closely with the city council to implement the city-wide rugby strategy to build participation in sport through our schools and colleges and so realise the great benefits that getting active has on the physical and mental health of our young people. This, alongside the network of community rugby league clubs in Salford, Manchester and neighbouring boroughs can achieve so much
As you can see, the impact of the loss of our club would be felt right across our great city and beyond but you can hopefully also see the number of people that are involved and that can make a huge difference if given a chance.”