VIKING HEROES
Fans, players and staff unite
DANNY CRAVEN is confident Widnes can recover from its administration nightmare – despite being told they cannot train.
The club’s administrators took Kieron Purtill’s team off the field on Monday to avoid injuries to potential assets, although it is hoped Sunday’s Championship game with Featherstone will go ahead.
Talks with a consortium continue, while fans have rallied round to raise more than £100,000.
Craven, 27, has been at Widnes since 2010 and says what he has seen over the last week has convinced him the club has a future.
He said: “When we first got told about the situation, basically we had no hope, but what’s happened since then has been inspirational.
“You’ve got staff members who aren’t being paid rocking up at 9am and going home at 10pm. We’ve had members of the ‘cup kings’ side of the 1980s donating their shirts and people all over the town pulling together and giving what they can.”
The Vikings squad has also rallied behind the fundraising efforts by donating personal items, manning the phones at the Halton Stadium and, in some cases, buying auction pieces themselves.
Craven says the players are determined to focus on how they can help rather than dwell on why the club has found itself in financial ruin. He added: “We have heard the stories, but you can’t take everything literally. There are different things that have gone on which have led us to be in this situation.
“But with what is being put in place now, if the club does survive, then it will be better for what’s happened and be more sustainable for the future.
“I’m confident we’ll get through it because there are too many good people around the town to let Widnes rugby league die.”
HULL KR’s Joel Tomkins will have to wait until next week to discover if he will be banned after being charged with questioning the integrity of a match official.
Rovers have asked for the hearing to be delayed by seven days, while agreeing that Tomkins will miss Friday’s trip to Castleford.