Two significant things happened for Huddersfield Giants on Monday.
One was the signing of full-back Niall Evalds on loan from Hull KR for the rest of the 2025 Betfred Super League season.
The other, and more significant of the two in term of the club’s long-term future, was Calderdale Council agreed to sell The Shay Stadium to Giants owner Ken Davy for what was described as a “nominal” fee.
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Assuming the deal goes through, Huddersfield are set to leave their John Smith’s Stadium home of 31 years and temporarily relocate to the Halifax venue from the start of the 2026 season while Davy seeks to build a new 8,000-capacity stadium in their home town.
Anyone who is familiar with other rugby league clubs in the past 30 years which have moved while attempting to build a new ground – hello Swinton Lions, Oldham and Sheffield Eagles fans, for example – will know just how “temporary” can become either a nomadic existence or a state of near-permanence, though.
Davy, who made constructing their own stadium a priority for the Giants on returning as chairman last September, even admitted previously that relocating to Halifax is far from an ideal scenario as well, although clearly feels there is no other option.
“I would only reluctantly move out of Huddersfield if there were very strong reasons to do so,” Davy told Huddersfield Hub last October.
“In our talks with HGSA (Huddersfield Giants Supporters Association), the idea of The Shay wasn’t rejected outright but I don’t think it would be anyone’s preferred option.”
Few would deny the John Smith’s Stadium, which the Giants share with Huddersfield Town FC, is increasingly ill-suited for the town’s rugby club, particularly with them averaging home attendances of fewer than 5,000 in a 24,375-capacity ground during the 2024 campaign.
Yet moving to another town eight miles away without any clear plans in place for a new home apart from to return at an indeterminate point in the future, while at the same time buying the ground occupied by another rugby league and football club and spending millions on bringing it up to Super League standard, seems from the outside at least to be a risky proposition.
Even with the Giants set to transfer their 20 percent share in the venue’s operating company to Town owner Kevin Nagle, which would give the football club full control after purchasing Kirkless Council’s 40 percent stake last year – the council retains the freehold of the site – Huddersfield Hub reported the Giants would be able to keep playing at the ground for as long as they want.
There are already some signs this may not be as simple as it is perhaps being made out, with what was initially pitched as a new stadium within three years now, from information given at Monday night’s meeting at Halifax Town Hall, looking more like five or six years.
All of the four sites so far reportedly considered as potential for redeveloping as Huddersfield’s new home come with their own issues as well.
The site of a former gasworks on St Andrew’s Road has been earmarked for development by the council; Laund Hill, which is owned by Davy through a trust, has questions over whether it is big enough and is surrounded by housing among other problems; the Leeds Road playing fields are one of the few council-owned Kirklees Active Leisure sites which turns a profit.
Then there is Fartown, the spiritual home of professional rugby league in Huddersfield which the club left in 1994 after it had fallen into disrepair. The site still exists and while some nostalgic Giants would welcome a return, it being surrounded by housing and having limited access with little space for car parking makes it a near-on non-starter.
The Shay, home of Betfred Championship side Halifax Panthers and Vanarama National League football club Halifax Town, became available due to Calderdale Council no longer being able to afford the annual running costs of £350,000-£500,000 or the investments needed to improve the facility.
The original plan had been to sell it to one of the clubs using the facility, but ten months of negotiations produced no outcome. A bid by a community group to purchase it and operate it for both clubs, which would have required some funding from the council, was turned down as well.
As part of his purchase of the site’s freehold, Davy has promised to upgrade the pitch to a new hybrid surface along with making other improvements including new floodlights and the installation of an LED screen.
When the time comes for Huddersfield to move into their new ground, he will then offer it to either the Panthers or the football club, or continue to run it himself with both as tenants. A covenant to keep The Shay as a sports venue has been applied by the council, too.
Davy’s bid has to wait six weeks to be signed off due to The Shay being listed as an asset of community value, which means community groups can bid for it. However, Calderdale Council is under no obligation to accept any bid from them.
Huddersfield changing their home ground would also need RFL approval.
Then there remains the question of how three teams sharing one venue will be able to juggle their fixtures, particularly at the times of year when the rugby league and football seasons overlap, and play-off matches or cup games enter the equation.
How many of the fans from Huddersfield will make the trip to Halifax every other week, too? And if this ends up being a move away from their home town for half a decade or more, how many will just give up on watching the Giants altogether?
If anyone can make this work and get a new stadium built for Huddersfield then it is Davy, who took over as chairman in 1996 and has stuck by the club when there might have been times he could have easily walked away.
Even so, the 84-year-old is about to embark on one of his biggest challenges which has one big potential upside, but at the same time some downsides which do not bear thinking about.
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