Huddersfield Giants Director offers stadium move update as pundits assess benefits of ground switch

Huddersfield Giants ‘Director for Change’, Ralph Rimmer, has provided an update in regards to the club’s plans and progression with building a new stadium.

Rimmer, a former RFL CEO, was brought in by owner Ken Davy to help the side in their efforts to either locate or build a new facility more suitable for the Giants’ needs.

Davy has been very vocal in his plans to find Huddersfield a new home, with their dwindling attendances much too small for the size of the Accu Stadium.

With an average home crowd of under 4,500 since 2024, the 24,500 capacity venue is far too big for the Giants, which is a huge reason as to why they want to move.

The Shay, home of Halifax Panthers and FC Halifax Town, is one stadium that has been touted to become Huddersfield’s temporary home, with Davy investing money into the facility including the relaying of a new pitch.

Rimmer was interviewed by Sky Sports prior to the club’s defeat to Leeds Rhinos on Friday night and was asked whether the Calderdale-based facility is still in the club’s plans.

“I think that’s highly probable as far as The Shay goes in the short term, yes,” Rimmer said in regards to a move for 2027.

“But, we are looking at many different options. I’ve been in fairly protracted talks with the local authority of where we might find a site nearby.

“It’s not straightforward, as you would expect, but what I absolutely can tell you, we will be in an 8,000 to 10,000-capacity stadium within the next three or four years.

“We’ll be playing to some sell-out crowds, and we’ll have generated a club that is really a club for people to be proud of, a banging atmosphere of a club.”

Super League pundits discuss why Huddersfield Giants stadium move is a must

His comments were then analysed by Sky pundits Jon Wilkin, Brian Carney and Kevin Brown, who all believe a move away from the Accu Stadium needs to happen for Huddersfield to succeed.

Wilkin started the analysis by saying: “I think this stadium has been a problem for Huddersfield for a number of years. The size of it… it’s hard to generate matchday atmosphere.

“It’s hard to really recreate big game intensity at this stadium just because of how sparsely populated it is. And there’s two issues there.

“One is the size of the stadium and two is maybe Huddersfield’s inability over time to actually draw casual fan base and increase their fan base.

“It’s something they’ve struggled with and what Ken Davy said as been his biggest struggle in his life, actually finding fans to fill a stadium like this.”

Carney praised Davy for his efforts within both Huddersfield and the sport as a whole, saying:  “He has been one of the greatest individual benefactors we’ve seen in the game of Rugby League.

“He has promised them a stadium. It’s not that easy a thing to deliver, but he is determined it seems to find or build an appropriately sized stadium for this club and he feels that may be the catalyst to improve.”

Brown, an ex-Huddersfield player, recalled some memories of his time at the club, saying even when the club were going through success it was incredibly difficult to generate a crowd.

“He’s tried everything else and it isn’t for lack of effort from Ken.

“I remember when I played here, we used to love playing here, but it was quite empty and he opened up the stand once for free against the Catalans Dragons and it still felt a little bit empty and I think there was over 14,000-15,000.

“You’d need over 20,000 to fill it, so logistically it isn’t going to be easy just to find a stadium because it’s got to tick boxes, it’s got to be local, it’s got to be up to Super League standards and there are a couple that stand out.”

Backing the club’s plans of moving to The Shay in 2027, Brown added:  “I think Halifax is probably the front-runner and when I was here, we played there a couple of times when the pitch was being ripped up.

“Great atmosphere, it felt like more of a home place that is intimidating.

“At the moment you come here, it’s almost nice to play when you’re an away player. There’s no pressure, you’ve got a good pitch, but there’s not many fans here cheering on.