Halifax's Shay Stadium to be closed for 12 weeks

The Shay Stadium has been closed for 12 weeks as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

Calderdale Council has confirmed that the ground, which plays host to Halifax RLFC’s games, will be put on lockdown to the public for three months, starting from Friday.

It leaves Fax with an awkward predicament to face, with the club currently facing five home games between then and April 3rd, when the Championship is currently scheduled to resume.

While it is unlikely the competition will resume by then, Fax still face an issue heading into the summer while their offices are based at the stadium, however, the club will be able to use their facilities during that time.

Calderdale Council have closed a number of their own facilities including Calderdale College, where the Championship train during the week.

Fax have already ceased training as a result and are training in isolation with individual training regimes distributed by the club’s coaching staff.

Halifax managing director Dave Grayson said: “We expected this to come because they are Calderdale Council buildings.

“We stopped training this week because they decided they’d shut down the gym and training facilities.”

In a statement, Calderdale Council said: “From 5pm on Friday 20 March 2020, all Council-run sports and leisure centres and museums, the Victoria Theatre and the Shay Stadium will close for 12 weeks initially, but this will be reviewed as the situation develops.”

Cllr Tim Swift, Leader of Calderdale Council, said: “Protecting the health and wellbeing of our communities and staff is our highest priority. These are unprecedented times and we need to ensure both community resilience and reduced risk to people.

“We continue to rigorously follow national advice in our response to COVID-19. Due to the further social distancing measures announced by Government on Monday 16 March, including avoiding public buildings such as theatres and restaurants, we have decided to close our key public venues until further notice to help reduce the spread of the virus.”