BY ROSS HEPPENSTALL
EYEBROWS WERE raised when Coventry Bears recently rebranded as Midlands Hurricanes, but the driving force behind the move believes it will lead to major growth for rugby league in the West Midlands.
Huddersfield Giants fan Mike Lomas, managing director of Huddersfield-based Big Red Industries Group, recently became chairman and co-owner of the Hurricanes.
The 30-year-old, a Mancunian who moved to Huddersfield to study at university, teamed up with club founder Alan Robinson to buy into the Bears, now rebranded as Midlands Hurricanes.
The club will continue to play in League 1, the third tier of rugby league, the level they have played at since 2015.
Coventry Bears will also continue to exist – but outside of the professional structure – and it is the Hurricanes who are now occupying Robinson and Lomas’ time.
Lomas told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads: “The value of rugby league has diminished over so many years and something needs to change for the better.
“Alan and I met through a guy who worked for Big Red Industries Group – Connor Squires – whose brother Richard is the coach of the Hurricanes.
“Alan came into the office and gave me the pitch about rebranding Coventry Bears, but also keeping the legacy of the club.
“I think Alan has done a fantastic job with the Coventry Bears.
“We’ve got to appreciate that he’s done with no sort of marketing investment at all or outreach.
“Coventry Bears as a brand was great, but I think Midlands Hurricanes as an outreach brand can take us into different regions, schools, universities and encourage more people to get involved.
“We can be more targeted with our approach and, with a bit of investment, I think it will go really far.
“When Alan pitched the idea to me I thought it was fantastic and he knows the area better than anyone, having lived there for 20-odd years.
“I thought it was the right thing to do and I trust him.
“What has Alan has done over the past two decades in developing Coventry Bears in the area – and making it a sustainable business – speaks volumes for him.
“Especially with rugby league the way it is at the moment.”
Lomas’ introduction to rugby league was a curious affair as he explains: “I was originally born in Manchester but went to university in Huddersfield.
“I moved around a bit and then came back to Huddersfield.
“I now sponsor Huddersfield Giants but I’ve never thought about taking over there… I haven’t got that much money!
“We set up Big Red about five years ago as a construction company. My background is in pharmaceuticals and I’ve got a couple of shareholder partners who have helped me along the way.
“About 10 years ago, when I was at university, I did a bit of a charity exercise.
“I got the world’s fastest marching band to do a marathon and I made £120,000 for charity by doing that.
“We had a lot of events and a lot of bands going all over the place. Then in maybe 2014, the commercial manager of the Giants asked me to provide a band for the game.
“We became the Giants band and I played the trumpet, so that’s how I got involved with rugby league.”
Lomas reckons his financial clout, coupled with Robinson’s experience and know-how, can drive the Hurricanes forward.
He said: “When Alan and I first spoke, he explained what he had done with Coventry Bears and he’s quite an inspirational person.
“His passion for the sport is incredible and that’s absolutely commendable. What he’s done with no money is absolutely fantastic.
“He’s made the sport of rugby league accessible to so many people in the Midlands.
“Midlands Hurricanes, though, is about branching out into a much wider area and being able to impact people.
“We said we wanted to appeal to the mass market and invite more people to be involved in rugby league.
“That’s the main goal of it. It’s not one of them where we go ‘right, when do we get a return on investment?’
“It’s more of an investment into the future to make sure the sport grows in the region.
“Collectively, we had the same thoughts and it’s quite nice to have someone on the same level.
“Coventry Bears will still exist in the region. It will be more of a community brand and I’m not sure what league they will play in.
“It will still be accessible in the region so rest assured, the Bears haven’t just been parked. They still exist and remain close to Alan’s heart.
“With the outreach programme that we’ve got, which includes the Bears, we want to harness the fans we’ve got and the local people who regularly play tag rugby and amateur rugby league in the area.
“It’s about encouraging them to come and support their local team and getting them involved in that respect.
“That also involves looking at ‘how can we get other people who aren’t involved in the sport to also see us as a viable offering?’
“My big point is about making the gameday a big event where people want to come to it.
“If you look at my story as an outsider – I played the trumpet at Giants, sponsored them and now have a rugby league club.
“That’s great, but there are so many things that could be done with the sport which aren’t being done.
“When I was speaking with Alan, we said ‘we can do it’. And I think we can.”
The Hurricanes’ squad for their forthcoming League 1 campaign will compromise many of the players who played for Coventry last season and Squires will serve as head coach.
The club will be leaving Butts Park Arena after almost two decades to play at Forshaw Heath Lane in Portway, south of Birmingham.
The ground, which is situated off the M42, is the home of rugby union club Birmingham and Solihull Bees, and will also serve as their training base next year.
However, the Hurricanes only intend to stay there for one season, and are in talks with the owners of the Alexander Stadium, an athletics ground in Perry Barr to the north of Birmingham, in the hope of moving there from 2023.
Midlands Hurricanes will be one of two new names in an 11-team League 1 in 2022 along with a new club for Cornwall.
They will be up against two Welsh clubs – based in Wrexham and Llanelli – as well as London Skolars.
Some League 1 clubs have been critical of Cornwall’s introduction next season, largely due to the cost of travelling so far to play there.
Yet Lomas countered: “I think Cornwall is brilliant and perhaps the number of people who did were few and far between.
“It’s a strain on the League 1 clubs financially, don’t get me wrong, because they have got to pay additional costs to get down there.
“But if the RFL are wanting to expand the game to make the net worth of the game better.
“From a club perspective, if it’s investing in the sport across the UK, I think it’s a brilliant idea.
“They have got to do something to make the game grow and, if there is a financial strain to the first part of that, then so be it. It’s the bigger picture we have to look at.”
Lomas is refusing to put a figure on the size of his investment in the Hurricanes, but says rather diplomatically: “It’s a case of what we need to do, we will do but there is no exact figure.
“We will obviously spend quite a bit of money every year so that it stays afloat, but the investment we’re offering isn’t just about sustaining it but to make it develop and grow further.”
With Newcastle Thunder having boldly stated their ambition to win Super League by 2030, could another club from outside the game’s traditional heartlands make the top flight one day?
“For me personally, I don’t go into things half-arsed – I go into win and that’s what we’re here to do,” declared Lomas.
“If you look at the West Midlands area, 3.8 million people live there and we’re the only professional rugby league club in the area.
“If we can’t push it and we can’t make it work then there is something pretty wrong.
“Alan runs the Hurricanes on a daily basis in terms of running the club but he’s also involved in all the community projects. He’s a busy man.
“When you’ve got someone like Alan who has the drive and the desire without any kind of backing whatsoever, I think it’s a perfect match.
“I don’t think you could get a better match to be honest.”
It is currently all systems go as Squires’ squad gear up for the new season, with Lomas adding: “The world’s our oyster.
“We’ve got a very good strategy and a clear way of trying to achieve that and develop the team.
“To make it a sustainable business and a business offering which includes more people in the community.
“It’s great winning games, but we want to make sure that people are winning games with us.
“We want to widen the sport of rugby league in the area first and foremost and also develop the club through the ranks.
“I think they go hand in hand. There is the off-field development and on-pitch development.
“Rich is very much focused on the on-field development. You see the players we’ve got this year and they’re fantastic.
“We’ve got some great announcements in the next couple of weeks.
“And then the off-field development is very much Alan and myself trying to figure out how we create a sustainable business which can grow and make a sustainable rugby league club, which I think is a rare thing nowadays.
“If we’re financially stable, we can push forward from there. That’s our aim.”
Rugby league, collectively, should wish the Midlands Hurricanes well.
