THE  FOCAL OF THE COMMUNITY

By Howard Borrell

I first met Neil Kelly just over a year ago at a conference at Manchester City's new stadium and have kept in touch ever since to make sure I could monitor the fantastic story that is Warrington Wolves.

Warrington Borough Council were obviously ahead of their time, six years ago, when they appointed Neil as Rugby League Development Officer. That appointment came about as a result of the huge "behind the scenes" changes that took place in December 1998. The club's future was secured when a consortium comprising the brewers Greenalls, Warrington Borough Council, Bill Holroyd (a local businessman) and Simon Moran (a local pop concert promoter) came together with a plan that was unique in sport.

Norman Summers, head of Greenalls audit and corporate services department, summed up the takeover: "This will be a listening club; it will be the peoples club. We really do believe this. Without the people of Warrington there is nothing."

The injection of cash into the club will virtually wipe out the £1.6m debt that has accrued over the years. All consortium members are committed to the supporters as well as the clubs future, Leader of Warrington Borough Council John Gartside said: "The responsibility now is not just with the Directors and shareholders but with the people of the town."

All good words but with a ramshackle stadium and a few dreams and not much support bringing it all together was easier said than done. Sounds very much like Chesterfield - unfortunately we still have the debt. So how did Warrington go from being dreamers to holding the Super League award award for the best community programme for the current and previous two years?

First of all by believing it could be done and then by slowly but surely building links and involvement locally so that the club's name was synonymous with positive outcomes in respect of healthy living, learning and social inclusion.

This work hasn't been done with an army of staff. The council employed Neil (and still do) because they saw the opportunity of achieving so many of their targets via the Rugby club. Believe me if you were born in Warrington you support the Wolves so their logic was well thought out. Neil, with one assistant, created "Primary link" - a coaching programme for nearby schools and clubs. Secondary schools came on board next, with the "Try Hard" programme, when they saw the quality of the product that was being delivered. Major sponsorship followed when companies such as Coca Cola, the  Cheshire Building Society and IKEA saw the benefits of linkage. Believe it or not a degree in Rugby League emerged after a link with Chester College was forged.

The Wolves Community Game Plan can be summed up as "To have an active development programme, enabling Rugby League to make a positive impact on Community life." That positive impact is now so wide reaching that this article will only touch on the initiatives.

What makes a big difference is that the club's first team players are happy to merge involvement with such schemes into their daily routine which, of course, increases the appeal and success. First teamer Mike Wainwright, in the middle of probably the best form of his career,  explained "Rugby League is a short career and I'm looking to progress later to working with club's community programme".

Playing For Success, a scheme (that we're looking to introduce at Chesterfield) aimed at providing children with a unique and stimulating learning experience in an environment far removed from a standard classroom has been a huge success in improving literacy and numeracy. The schemes home is set to move from the club's old stadium, Wilderspool, to the lavish new community floor at their new home, the Halliwell Jones stadium. Ex-player Gary Hulse explained "I'm currently involved in the Playing For Success programme as a mentor. I encourage children to learn through their interest in sport. Community programmes like this one are an essential part of linking education to sport".

Wolfie, the club's mascot, is in huge demand helping to deliver messages that range from the importance of oral hygiene to how essential exercise is to all of us. Why children listen to a wolf rather than a teacher, I don't know - but it's a fact that they do!

You name it - sex education, domestic violence; they're examples of difficult areas that the club has worked hard to impart positive messages. All of the key organisations in Warrington now don't question the effectiveness of involvement with the Wolves. In fact the Primary Care Trust has recently taken possession of two floors of one stand behind the goal to bring together many of its many outreach services such as chiropody and physiotherapy. Next month a new community floor in the main stand opens housing, amongst others the LEA, Playing for Success, the Youth Offenders team, the Council Sports Development team and a Health and  Well being centre.

All with just five full time staff and a huge amount of effort by everyone in the community team. Just possibly some of the latest initiatives wouldn't have happened without Tesco paying for Warrington's brand new stadium. Looking  at it another way, there's little doubt that  Tesco saw the benefit of being associated with almost certainly the most committed and professional community minded sports club in Britain.

The Wolves are aiming for a top six spot, for me they are already the undisputed champions whatever the outcome on the pitch and certainly I'll be maintaining my contact to help us build Chesterfield FC's future in a similarly positive way.