Leeds Rhinos and Headingley Stadium, Wigan Warriors and DW Stadium, Warrington Wolves and the Halliwell Jones, St Helens and the Totally Wicked, Hull KR and Craven Park, there are plenty of famous grounds in the Betfred Super League.
Some are very traditional like at Wakefield Trinity and Castleford Tigers and we see the use of football stadiums like Hull FC and Huddersfield Giants but all bring a special vibe to the sport as does the AJ Bell Stadium of Salford Red Devils.
The stadium has been at the heart of a lot of questions lately. As the club take huge strides to secure their financial future with a fan ownership scheme, the club continue to face an uncertain future around their stadium.
According to the Manchester Evening it is causing Salford “significant financial hardship” as they wait to see if the City Council’s “controversial” bid is taken further.
Board member Oli Randall said: “The delays over the clarification of the future ownership of the stadium is already causing significant financial hardship for it tenants.
“We can’t set prices for season tickets, which should already have been placed on sale in July. The current owners and management team have been in place for just four years during which time the Covid lockdowns devastated the revenue and commercial relationships during the last 12 months.”
Executive director Paul Trainor referred to ‘disrespectful comments’ made about the [lack of] community engagement of the club.
“We have hundreds of students and children a week playing in our rising stars programme, our building for the future programme engages with 100 schools across Greater Manchester, many of them in Salford.
“I think we are more than doing our part in terms of engaging with young people. It’s more than just playing on pitches, it’s about our players visiting schools, community clubs, and all the positive work going on around mental health – there’s a whole host of things that the club is doing for that which is integral to our work as a community club.”
Though Councillor Coun Garrido stuck to his guns: “Salford Reds are an important part of this city’s sporting heritage, and long may they continue to be so, but it does not need the city mayor or the council to purchase the stadium for this to happen.”
He also questioned the lack of growth of the sport in the area:
He added: “The city mayor talks about improving sport throughout Salford by owning the stadium but they have been part owners for 13 years and what has been achieved? Have we seen a proliferation of new local sports clubs, particularly for our young people, I am afraid not.
