Hornets: No regrets
Spoke with chief executive Steve Kerr about the club’s
to apply for Championship, we’ve recently been in the Championship for three consecutive years in it’s current format, so it’s where we believe we belong,” he said ahead of Thursday’s announcement.
“We’ve said in some of our social media posts that we’re Championship level in all but name. So, getting back to the Championship is a priority for us, if that’s via the application stage or if it’s to do it on the field if we do play in League 1. Because League 1 is some really strong competition.”
He went on to explain the difficulties outlining what they felt was a deserved place in the Championship over other clubs.
On the matter he told Rochdale Observer: “I would say that the application was extremely challenging in terms of gathering all of our information and presenting a strong case because they’re asking us to really prove our value.
“When we sat down with the criteria it was great to look at it and go you know what they’ve highlighted everything that we are as a club.
“They’re asking for everything that we should ‘It was great to look at the criteria and go ‘you know what they’ve highlighted everything that we are as a club’’ have in place, that we do have in place and so we were really comfortable completing it.
“Some of the key points in the application like the facilities we’ve got, a Super League ready stadium – it’s held international games there before – our facility partners are again a world class facility and it’s been used by England rugby league in the past.
“I think some of the other points that set us apart from the competition is our pathway and community engagement.
“We’ve had a foundation since 2014 and that provides a blueprint for us to increase attendances, engage with the community and really get them behind the players.
“We’re excited to be working hand in hand with our foundation next year, in an important year because it’s our 150th anniversary.”
The club’s pathway scheme attempts to bring in players from local Rochdale clubs into their academy and Kerr was proud with some of the players that have come through that scheme.
He said: “The alumni that have come out of that pathway the likes of Matty Lees, Matty Ashton who’s at Warrington, have all come through the local community clubs, gone onto the academy and onto bigger and better things.
“We’re proud of that pathway and we’re working really hard with the college to develop the next set of players.
“We’ve got five academy players boys in our squad this year for preseason which is great and so that’s another exciting element that we talked passionately about in our application.”
Had Hornets been successful in their application it would have given them a chance to rekindle rivalries with Swinton Lions and Oldham.
“There’s always those great local rivalries, it does certainly add to the experience for the fans,” said Kerr.
“The fans will always tell