These are fascinating times in rugby league’s Championship. Toronto Wolfpack comfortably lead the way heading into this weekend’s final round of the regular season, and below them are five teams separated by a solitary point. Three of them will, after this round of matches, join Toronto in the Qualifiers, where the Championship’s best battle against Super League’s bottom four to claim a place in the top-flight next season.
Newer, sexier clubs such as Toulouse, who confirmed their place with a 44-18 win over Dewsbury on Saturday, and London are in that chase, but so, too, is one club that is steeped in rugby league history. Once upon a time, the West Yorkshire town of Halifax was the heartbeat of the north’s textile and woollen industries, while its rugby league team were one of the leading lights, winning the Challenge Cup on five occasions.
With a population of 90,000, Halifax do not have the significant budgets of those teams around them. This year their spend is less than £400,000 – compare that with Toronto and Leigh, who are spending well in excess of £1.5m, while others spend more than double their amount – making their presence in this year’s promotion race mightily impressive. “We don’t overspend but we’re a good unit and everyone buys into the cause,” says their chairman, Mark Moore.
Win against Rochdale on Sunday and Halifax will reach the top four for the third time in four seasons, meaning games against big-spending sides such as Leeds – “We haven’t budgeted for that, so that’ll be nice,” Moore says, laughing.
“It’s not a fluke when you look at how often we’ve done it,” says Richard Marshall, Halifax’s coach. “We don’t have the biggest budget but the league table has shown it’s not about the biggest budget. It’s about attitude.”
There is a collective spirit in and around Halifax that fuels this progression. The young players in the villages of Siddal, Ovenden and Southowram, nestled in the winding roads of the local countryside, play just as important a role in their development and the pathway is provided by Halifax via their reserve grade: a model some Super League clubs refuse to adopt.
“Reserves should be mandatory; around half our squad is local and I don’t know where we’d be without it,” Marshall says. “We invite a different community club down every week to make them feel part of what they’re doing. The town is a sleeping giant but the community is a massive part of what we do.”
Equally important for Halifax is the support from volunteers. The club employs one off-field full-time member of staff, with two others part-time. “The club shop is run by volunteers,” Moore says. “Other clubs have too many chiefs and not enough Indians and, well, you’ve seen what’s happened elsewhere financially.”
“I take the training bibs home for my wife to wash,” says Marshall. “But we’re greater than the sum of our parts. Nobody trains full-time; a couple work in the local schools and most spend their days on building sites and roofs.”
Despite such modest roots, though, Marshall is ambitious. With a top-four finish likely to bring significant financial rewards for Halifax, he hopes that one day the promised land comes within reach. “I would love to take this club into Super League and I don’t think that is impossible,” he says.
Marshall and Moore laugh at one another when asked if they would consider going full-time. “I want to,” Marshall says. “I’m not sure it’s where we’re at right now,” Moore says with a wry grin. “But full-time team or a reserve grade? Reserves every time,” Marshall says.
The Championship, it seems, has never been more revolutionary and internationalist. But at the heart of life outside Super League remain clubs who stick to the values and principles that have served them well for over a century. Halifax, to their credit, are very much one of those sides.
