Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. On a bitterly cold night it was fantastic to see The Willows so full, so well done to everyone that turned out.

Have to say, the staff and helpers did a fantastic job getting everyone in - at one point it really did look like we were going to have to delay the kick off due to crowd congestion outside, but everyone pulled together and pretty much all managed to squeak in on time to see the scheduled kickoff. But it was definitely close.

Wanted to say thanks to George, Mary, Shirley, Emma, Laura & Mike who volunteered to help out with the Golden Angels registration (don’t think I’ve forgotten anyone there), along with all the Community Lads as it would have been a real struggle without them. We even had a director and his son pitching in to help get everyone inside as quickly as possible!

As Robbie Paul likes to say, this really does feel like the start of something great tonight. Great to be a part of it.

The board have just confirmed the following prices for next Friday’s Challenge Cup game at The Willows versus Warrington Wizards.

Adults £10

Concessions £5

Juniors £2

Family Ticket (2 adults & 2 kids) £20

Tickets are on sale now.

The draw for the Third round of the 2008 Carnegie Challenge Cup has been made and the Reds have been drawn at home to Warrington Wizards. The game will be played next weekend but day, times and admission prices will be confirmed as soon as possible.

In this round the grass-roots teams that have qualified from the previous matches are joined by professional clubs from The Co-operative National Leagues. The tournament rules are that these clubs must be drawn against amateur or overseas opposition.

There are more Co-operative National League clubs than amateur and overseas clubs and so two National League clubs had to be selected to be included in the latter grouping.

A preliminary draw was made and Halifax and Blackpool Panthers were drawn to join the amateurs, French and Russians.

Also, during the main draw, an additional draw took place to determine whether The Co-operative National League club played at home or away.

All French and Russian clubs play away from home in this round regardless of where they were drawn.

The draw in full is:

Sheffield Eagles v Lezignan XIII

York City Knights v Halifax

Leeds Metropolitan University v Doncaster

Blackpool Panthers v Featherstone Rovers

Wath Brow Hornets v Swinton Lions

Rochdale Hornets v York Acorn

London Skolars v Queens

Bank Quay Bulls v Hunslet Hawks

British Army v Oldham

Leigh Centurions v Featherstone Lions

Batley Bulldogs v East Hull

Wigan St Pats v Workington Town

Keighley Cougars v Toulouse XIII

Gateshead Thunder v SM Pia XIII

Celtic Crusaders v Lokomotiv Moscow

Mayfield v Barrow Raiders

Widnes Vikings v Skirlaugh

Oulton Raiders v Dewsbury Rams

Salford City Reds v Warrington Wizards

Leigh Miners Rangers v Whitehaven

 Salford City Reds will face Swinton this Friday for a Salford Derby at the Willows, which will see the team looking to break the old Salford Leap Year Curse and steal another win from their local rivals. Round five of the Northern Rail Cup falls on Friday 29 February for the Reds and will mark 100 years to the day that the club last won a fixture on the leap year and Fridays team will no doubt look to change the legacy left by their colleagues of yesteryear and alter Reds history. Although the clubs records date back to the leap year of1896, Salford at that time played as a rugby union club, facing Rochdale St Clements in an almost now unheard of 0-0 match in the Lancashire Club Championships.  However in a total of five leap year games played in the last century it was 1908 and a Northern Union Challenge Cup game that saw Salford take the win and beat Widnes 15-2. Club Historian, Graham Morris, commented, “It’s a fascinating statistic and with the club on the brink of a new horizon I believe the club historian of 2108 will be telling a different story. “I’m confident the Reds will break the curse and change the course of history this weekend.”  Tickets are available for Friday’s game prices at £15 for adults and £9 concessions.  Kick off is 8pm. Note to Editor: Salford City Reds Leap Year games in chronological order:1896 Salford V Rochdale St Clements (Lancashire Club Championships)0-0Salford’s last season as a rugby union club. 1908Salford V Widnes (Northern Union Challenge Cup)15-2Northern Union Challenge Cup is now the Carnegie Challenge Cup.1936Salford V Barrow3-6The team played under Manager Lance Todd with Barney Hudson scoring the Salford try 1964Salford V Barrow (RL Challenge Cup – Round 2)4-10Salford had caused an upset in Round one of the competition beating Leeds 10-6 at the Willows. 1976Salford V St Helens (RL Challenge Cup – Round 2)11-17A record attendance at the Willows of 13,023 saw a try from Keith Fielding and 4 goals from David Watkins 2004London Broncos V Salford City Reds (Challenge Cup – Round 4)24-8   

Wednesday night at 6pm on Salford City Radio our guests will be from the University of Salford talking ahead of Friday’s big partnership announcement, world record attempt and generally rugby league in the city.

We’ll also be disecting last Friday’s defeat at Oldham and having a look at this week’s deby against Swinton. All that plus tunes from the Stones, Ian Brown, The Verve, James, plus much more….

94.4FM or listen online at www.salfordcityradio.org….

And don;t forget we are repeated on Friday 6-7PM if you miss any of it..

Email me on paul.mcnally@reds.co.uk up until about 4.30pm or on studio@salfordcityradio.org for shouts and requests….

See you there..

Paul

Pauls opening dinner will take place on Thursday 6 March 2008,

Tickets are now available from the club shop priced at £35 for dining and £10 for non - dining.

To reserve tickets please email Paul directly on paulhightontestimonial@hotmail.co.uk or phone the club shop on 0161 736 6564.

Tickets will also be available from Shorley Bradshaw before and after the game in the Willows on Friday night

Salford University exercise and health students put the Salford City Reds first team through their paces this morning when the players dropped into the University’s high-tech human performance labs for a gruelling fitness testing session. As the Reds geared up for the new season, students from the Faculty of Health & Social Care analysed the team’s levels of strength, flexibility, endurance, speed, agility and body fat – using cutting-edge laser technology. It was the second time the students had got to grips with the players, and heralded a new community partnership between the University and the club – about to be launched at Friday’s home game against Swinton Lions. The University’s Sports Science and Partnership Manager, Chris Bamber said: “The fitness testing session couldn’t have gone better.  The players really benefited from understanding more about their fitness levels and hopefully we’ve helped them train smarter and win more matches. “The students also benefited enormously from this hands-on experience working with some of the best rugby league players in the country.  It’s all part of the University’s mission to make learning more relevant and practical.” Some of the assessments involved a ‘speed gun’ which fires laser beams to measure how fast the players can sprint, a ‘power mat’ which gauges how high they can jump, and a ‘dynometer’ machine which uses air resistance to calculate strength.The results will be translated by the University into reports which Reds coaches can use to plan training strategy.  Head Coach, Shaun McRae, said: “It’s a great partnership.  We’re seeing some real benefits from working with Salford University and I’m confident their work will help boost our performance this season.” The University’s state-of-the-art human performance labs are among the best in the UK, and students studying exercise and health have regular access to the facilities.  For more information on the facilities and the courses, go to www.chssc.salford.ac.uk/exerciseandhealth