By Mally (on 16/09/02)
September 16 2002

Ever been in that situation when your mates have let you down, or the other half has to look after the kids, & as it means coming along to games on your own you give it a miss? Or give the post match beer a miss as you’re on your own? Or don’t travel to the away game as you your mates are busy? No one wants to be Billy-No-Mates but occasionally it happens - a partner who’d rather go shopping than watch the match or friends who decide they’d prefer to go down the pub and watch footie on Sky…

This is where a Tykes Supporters Association can help.

The aim is to set up a Tykes Supporters Club to bring fans together, get people talking Tykes, strengthen the social side of rugby, encourage people to come along watch Tykes and join us for a drink afterwards.

The long term goals would be to run social events, send out a newsletter, organise travel to away games (if a club-run coach isn’t feasible the SA could run a minibus), have some fun, build support for the team and as well as provide the fans with a voice and official representation.

LRUFC (the members club based at Chandos Park) does exist, however I feel that a new separate club can work along side the LRUFC to promote and build support for Leeds Tykes. The Tykes Supporters Association will be for all Tykes fans old and new, whether newcomers to the club, or people who have followed the club for years. What we have in common is Tykes.

Memberships costs would be kept low, as we want to attract as many fans as possible, but all members would be eligible to vote for & be elected to democratically elected committee, which would run the SA.

National Representation

Last year a new group was set up to represent rugby fans giving them a voice. The National Rugby Supporters Association (NRSA) is made up of affiliated club based Supporters Associations, and as such can represent the fans, putting our point of view across in talks with the Powers That Be, the RFU, England Rugby, Premier Rugby et al.

However Leeds Tykes are not part of this organisation, and are virtually the only ZP club supporters not represented by the national body. This is something we would like to change. To join the NRSA a Supporters Association must be independent of the club, so we the fans need to organise it.

With this in mind we are holding our first meeting on Tuesday 24th September, in the Supporters Bar in the South Stand car park, 7.30 pm for an 8pm start.

We would like as many people as possible to attend, the more of us who are involved the better it will be! Everyone is welcome so please spread the word!