I know the mood is that of doom and gloom at the moment, but if I may I'd like to use your forum to publicly thank Salford Reds Rugby League club for tonight.

In September they started visiting our school, and four times a week Development Officer, Tom Sumner has delivered RL to over 500 of our students in all weathers. This has been so fantastically recieved and has created a real buzz in a school that thought sport mean't LCCC or MUFC.

Tonight, our Yr 7 and 8s came to their first ever game. They didnt know it wasnt a great match, they dont know Salford are struggling and the crowd wasn't great. What they know is it was exciting, fast and most importantly, its a sport they can feel part of, rather than supporting a team they can never watch and players they can never meet.

They played at half time and were so excited. They cannot wait to come again. I didnt book a bus because I want them to learn to make their own way to The Willows. This meant several families came too. These are families from Muslim, Polish and Somali backgrounds who might never normally come to our great game.

They did ok on the pitch and Folly Lane ARLFC has invited boys to join them and the boys are keen. After the game they met players from both teams and left thinking Salford Reds is the most exciting thing on earth!

I know its so hard at the moment, believe me as a Cas fan Ive been through it too and still might. But you have a fantastically hard working Community Development team at the Reds who are doing a great job with the resources they have and face a massive battle to compete with football.

In the frustration of tonight, I hope you guys whoo are genuine Salford fans, see the positives in this work tonight. And as much as I love my Cas, I didnt go to Hull tonight and cheered Salford as much as I could - your club has begun to mean a lot to me too - cos its part of the new dreams of these kids I teach.

We are working towards touring Serbia in 2011 and RL is here to stay at Stretford High, and we feel Salford Reds is our club too.

Thank you Salford.

Can't belive Im typing this, but KEEP THE FAITH!!!

good to hear your group had such a good time tonight ,at least the club are doing something well.

Just need to sort out the performance on the pitch

really glad you and your school kids enjoyed the experience at the willows ,at least there is someone else aswell as mcrea who can takepositives out of last nights game

And a big thank you to the pupils,parents,teachers from Stretford High School for how they all conducted themselves before,during and after the match they were a credit to all concerned.

We were sat amongst them and it made up for a miserable night on the pitch.

Cheshire Tiger, that's the best post I've read on here in ages.

Well done Cheshire tiger for spreading teh faith and embracing the work of teh community side of the club, perhaps the SLUg could learn something from this, after all there was a positive from tonight, out in the stands where we have to build.

Many thanks for your hard work

A nice post and good to hear. Cheshire Tiger, you are a proper RL fan through and through. I salute you...

Fantastic post.
You should get onto our so called marketing team and give them some tips on how it should be done.
Glad they all enjoyed it, imagine how they would feel if we actually won

Great post in all the doom & gloom! Its great to hear some positive feed back.

This thread got a mention on the radio manchester rugby league programme yesterday, well done