The Greatest Game

In the second half of my interview with Castleford Tigers Chief Executive Richard Wright, Richard discusses the club’s licence chances, plans for attracting new fans, the small playing squad and the club’s relationship with the fans.

Are you feeling confident about the licence application?

It is going to be very competitive but with the new stadium, junior development and the fanbase we have here I’m confident.

If the club does get a licence, what work needs to be done then for retaining that licence in 2012?

With the new stadium and the 50% rule on the salary cap removed I think we can move towards a B or possibly an A category within the RFL’s strategic aims. If we can get into the B category we can’t be considered for losing our licence in 2012. Once the stadium is delivered I don’t see a problem but at the moment we are going to be judged on what we have at The Jungle and that is obviously going to affect where we are.

The club is seen as a small town club whilst the licence system is looking at a bigger picture: big cities, Europe-wide. Castleford is sat in close proximity to four other Super League clubs, does that ever play on your mind?

I think we need to change that mindset, we have fans from a much bigger area than Castleford itself and we also have superb transport links – especially at the new stadium. I think our catchment area is bigger than it’s ever been, with fans from East Leeds. I also think the stadium will see us grow and the economy of the whole area is improving. It is a densely populated area in any case so I think we need to change the ‘small town’ mindset and I think the stadium will be the catalyst for that: it’ll attract bigger brands, it’ll attract more people and I think we’ll be seen as a far more serious competitor and a much bigger organisation.

Last year’s Grand Final saw 10,000 Castleford fans at Headingley, what plans do the club have to tap into that potential?

We had a massive turnout at the semi finals in 1999 and 2002 and in the Grand Final against Whitehaven in 2005 but there were even more fans at Headingley. It was interesting to see so many people turn up, there were so many shirts from a bygone era and all those people have an interest in the clubs and its fortunes and rugby league in general and we need to tap into that. There were also a lot of people who were just after an evening’s entertainment and we provide a lot of that.

This season you have a weak squad, do you think that if the club suffers badly on the pitch this season that would detract some of those potential new fans?

Yes I do and we are trying to address the squad. We are being more thoughtful about the longer term but will try and bring in players as we go along. We’ve got to be competitive – we’ve got pride, we don’t want any games where we get tanked by 60-70 points and we want to get back that reputation we’ve always had of being a tough team to beat, especially at home. We certainly want to bring more players in but I suppose we need to try and get people to believe in the longer term. It’s about achieving a balance.

Do you see this season as a gap year?

No not really because it is an important year to continue building. The community programmes, the stadium, the licences. It will all generate a lot of goodwill and publicity and we need to develop the excellent young players we’ve signed. We don’t want to finish bottom, we want to be competitive and if there are one or two quality players available we’ll try to bring them in.

Financially how viable is it to bring in more players?

There is some budget available, we’ll see what is available and if we can get off to a decent start and get some good attendances that will give more finances. We’ve lost money for the past three years but you can’t do that forever and we try to manage the club responsibly. But there is some money available.

How do you see the relationship between the club and the fans?

Well we need to consult with the fans more and regain some trust that has been lost in the last few years. I think we have to build their trust and get them to believe in what we want to achieve. We need to do that so people can see we have a long term goal.

Have you got a plan for how that’s going to happen?

I think we need to take their views on board and we’re doing that at the moment. We need to consult with everyone, particularly over the stadium, and I think that acts as a catalyst to everything else. We need to find out what their thoughts are about the club, what they think we’re not doing that we should be and what we’re doing that we shouldn’t – trying to take everyone with us in what we want to achieve. We want to build upon the ‘meet the directors’ nights and the supporters’ club and we’re always accessible to the fans. We want to encourage and increase the amount of interaction and we have a massive community programme and soon people are going to be aware of the amount of work we do in senior and primary schools and our role in the community will become much bigger.

This interview was conducted as part of research into a feature I am writing for Code13 magazine’s second issue, out Friday 29 February. The excellent first issue is out now and can be purchased from ebay as well as the following club shops: Wigan Warriors, Wakefield Wildcats, Warrington Wolves, Harlequins RL, Leeds Rhinos, Castleford Tigers, Sheffield Eagles RLFC, Bramley Buffaloes, South London Storm, Dewsbury Rams, Barrow Raiders, London Skolars, Gateshead Thunder and New Earswick All Blacks.

For more information, visit www.code13magazine.co.uk.

Following last weeks successful flutter on Hull KR to beat Leeds with a 14 point start,  this week’s £10 bet focusses on the three teams expected to be battling at the bottom of the table come September as well as one expected to be towards the top.

On Saturday night Harlequins host Wigan, who are given an 8 point deficit by Skybet, and the Quins will be determined to defy the critics who have had them down for an end of season tussle with Castleford for the wooden spoon.

Unfortunately, the start of season battle will show the superior class that a Wigan team that includes the ever exciting Trent Barrett holds over a Quins team who have barely strengthened in the off season and managed to lose heavily to National League 2 champions Celtic Crusaders a few weeks ago. They’ll give it a good start, but I expect Wigan’s quality to comfortably cover the 8 points in the second half.

Three hours later, 192 miles north of Twickenham, Castleford will be sharpening their claws for their return to Super League. The bookies seem to think the Tigers will have enough passion to topple Challenge Cup finalists Catalans Dragons on the weekend and have given the Dragons a four point start. Despite their small squad, the home support for Castleford, bolstered by the excitement of Super League, will push the Tigers on to just cover the start.

Bet, week 2

£10 on Wigan beating Harlequins (+ and Castleford beating Catalans (+4) @ 26.45/10 (both results)
Potential return: £36.45

The Greatest Game 2008 Betting Statistics

Bets made: one
Money bet: £10
Money won: £4.09
Money lost: £0
Season kitty: £14.09

Skybet

Disclaimer: you can make bets on our predictions but we will not take any responsibility for any losses you sustain: sensible gamblers only bet what they can afford to lose.

This week’s big hit should probably come with the caption “there’s a reason rugby union wingers kick the ball as soon as they get it.”

It is New Zealand Warriors’ Michael Crockett doing the hit on Canterbury Bulldogs winger Cameron Phelps.

Researching a feature on Castleford Tigers I am writing for Code13 magazine, I met up with Tigers Chief Executive Richard Wright and took the opportunity to ask him about the past and future of the club: why the club are scrapping between the divisions after being 80 minutes from the Super League Grand Final in 1999 and what his vision for the club is for the future.

In this first part of two, Richard talks about his relationship with the Tigers, the club’s plans for a new stadium and his thoughts on the club’s spectacular fall from grace (the second half can be found here).

The next issue of Code13 will be out on Friday 29 February, the first issue is out now and can be bought from ebay and the following club shops: Wigan Warriors, Wakefield Wildcats, Warrington Wolves, Harlequins RL, Leeds Rhinos, Castleford Tigers, Sheffield Eagles RLFC, Bramley Buffaloes, South London Storm, Dewsbury Rams, Barrow Raiders, London Skolars, Gateshead Thunder and New Earswick All Blacks.

What is your history with the Tigers?

I came down here as a kid when I was about six or seven years of age and have been coming ever since. Darryl Van de Velde asked me to do a bit of sponsorship after someone dropped out of being a player position sponsor and I said I would. After I’d done a bit of advertising and sponsorship I became a director. Then in 1996 with the dawn of Super League, we needed to fill various senior positions within the club to access RFL funding and I was asked to take the Chief Executive’s job.

It must be a pretty busy job at the moment with franchises on the way?

Yes it is, obviously we’ve got the stadium to deliver and we’ve got to get a licence and those are the two things that are occupying my time. It is an important season and it is important that the club continues to grow in tandem with those two very important things. I think we’ll get there – the licence application will be in by the end of March and we just need to push forward with the stadium, we need to maintain the momentum that we’ve got.

What is the position with the stadium at the moment?

Well we got planning permission, now we are finalising the ownership, the management, the funding package and the design. Obviously the detailed design will determine what the finished costs will be. We are appointing architects so that the detailed designs can get underway and consulting with the fans and the sponsors so that they are along the lines of what everybody wants. Meanwhile we’re working with the council on the actual ownership, the management and the financial contributions from each partner.

Wasn’t it initially a Castleford and Waystone partnership for the stadium and the council weren’t going to be involved apart from the planning permission aspect?

No, the council have always been involved. It is a three-way partnership between the club, Waystone and the council and obviously we want to ensure we deliver significant community benefits from the stadium and that is the council’s role.

Does that conflict at all with the Wakefield plans for a council-funded community stadium at Thornes Park?

Well I don’t know much about the Wakefield project and we’re just focussed on ours. Since I’ve been here we’ve been looking at ways to improve the facilities because if we’re to compete at the highest level we’re going to have to have better facilities. On this particular project we’ve been working five years and we’ve got a public initiative that a lot of work has gone into. I keep out of what Wakefield are doing.

What is the timescale for the stadium at the moment? How do you see the project commencing?

We’re anticipating resolving the funding and management issues by the end of March for when we submit our licence application. Once we can agree a detailed design with the sponsors and the fans we can submit an application for the detailed planning and that will take quite some time. Hopefully then by the back end of the year we will be able to get on with the construction which will take about 12 months.

All your eggs seem to be in the stadium basket. If worst case scenario happens and the stadium doesn’t happen what is the fallback plan?

Well an awful lot of money has been invested in this project by Waystone and in terms of the planning application you are talking about hundreds of thousands of pounds invested already in this development. People only do that when there is a fair degree of certainty that the project is going to happen. If we talk about a plan B there is the possibility of redeveloping The Jungle. It isn’t a route we’d like to take but it is a possibility that we could sell some of the land here and develop a training facility offsite. The problem with that is that it is not going to put us in a position to compete at the highest level. It will get us the stadium and comply with minimum standards but it will not give us the base to go forward and perform at the highest level.

Is it a case then that Waystone can’t afford for the stadium not to be built?

Well I wouldn’t say that and I won’t speak for Waystone but all I can say is that an awful lot of time, money and effort has been invested by ourselves, Waystone and the council into this project and we are confident that it will go ahead.

Ten years ago the club was almost at the peak of the sport – almost at the Challenge Cup final, almost at the Grand Final – what do you think contributed to the club being in the position it is in now, scrapping for survival?

Everyone seems to blame the directors for not being ambitious enough but I think if you look at the players we bought in the year 2000. In 1999 we brought in some quality overseas players and they lifted us to that next level. Obviously we didn’t do that again in 2000 and those that came in were of a lower standard and we didn’t move forward. In 1999 we brought in Aaron Raper and Dale Fritz and those overseas players were the difference. We needed to bring in better players the next year and we didn’t. It wasn’t a lack of investment though and it wasn’t a lack of ambition on the part of the directors. People won’t believe that but we don’t tell coaches who to bring in. From our perspective it is much easier to sell season tickets on the back of a big signing and we’ve always encouraged to bring big names in.

It comes down to 2004 which was a very difficult year. When we started that year I think people thought we had a very good squad and people were saying to me that they couldn’t wait to see the forwards we signed – Craig Greenhill and Shaun Ryan – and we all thought we had a really strong set of forwards and it turned out not to be the case. Then despite our best efforts we failed to turn it around. I think the one thing we didn’t have was quality juniors coming through and when we got into trouble we didn’t have anyone to underpin the first team. What’s happened since then has been a direct result of that year when recruitment was the key issue. I don’t think we brought the right balance of players in 2004 and since then we have invested trying to get back to where we were then and it has taken until now to finally get on the right track.

And now the future’s looking bright?

It is, we’ve been investing heavily in juniors since 2004 and we’re seeing that now with Michael Shenton, Craig Huby, Ryan Boyle, Richard Owen and Joe Westerman who have all looked comfortable in the friendlies and will play significant roles this year. We have a lot of good kids coming through and I think over the next four or five years we’ll see a significant percentage of the first team squad being from Castleford. That along with the stadium will finally give us the ability to compete at the highest level. We’ve never been able to sustain that challenge before, we’ve had some good teams and we’ve always been up and down because if you don’t have the money, it’s hard to sustain it and I think we now have an opportunity to do that.

For more information on Code13, visit www.code13magazine.co.uk.

The announcement from legendary Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett that he will be leaving the Broncos at the end of 2008 has sparked an interesting thread of speculation on the future of British coaches by Ian Laybourn on Sporting Life.

After Bennett dropped hints that he is eyeing up a northern hemisphere coaching position, Laybourn linked him with the soon to be vacant St Helens hot seat but, following a comment from the Saints that they had no plans to contact Bennett, the name put on the hypothetical chopping block was that of Wigan coach Brian Noble.

With the Wigan coach in the last year of his contract, a poor season could spell the end. But it would be a different folly for the new Wigan management to immediately follow the example of their predecessors and their liberal attitude to staff turnover. Coupled with the fact that they have one of the most highly rated British coaches around at the helm, it makes his exit most unlikely.

So the pressure inevitably turns up another notch on Warrington coach Paul Cullen.

The longest-serving Super League coach may be working for the most patient board in the sport, but having failed to reach the playoffs last term despite big money signings such as Adrian Morley, Paul Johnson and Vinnie Anderson, a failure to make a big impact this season would surely see his position become untenable.

After spending more money in the close season on high profile signings Matt King, Michael Monaghan, Chris Hicks and Louis Anderson, the Warrington board may start to think about spending its big money on a high profile, successful, coach and paying off the year left on Cullen’s contract.

It is undeniable that Bennett has the silverware laden history that would dazzle the big spending execs at the Wolves. In 21 years at the Broncos, Bennett has won six premierships, with the most recent in 2006, and he guided Queensland to State of Origin victories in 1987, 1988, 1998 and 2001. His only failures in State of Origin came in the drawn 2002 series and the 2-1 defeat in 2003 and the former Australia coach certainly has the winning ability Warrington’s financial power seems to crave.

The only question is whether Cullen can save himself, and failure to reach any finals this term will surely see his luck run out.

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