After 12 tough months, Salford RLFC are back playing rugby league.
In what was a momentous occasion for the club with over 4,500 fans in attendance the Betfred Championship got underway, with the Phoenix club taking on Oldham RLFC at the CorpArc Stadium.
Unfortunately, the side went down to a 44-0 defeat with tries from Ben O’Keefe, Ted Chaplehow, Tom Nisbet, Riley Dean, Jake Bibby, Cole Geyer, Owen Farnworth and former Salford player Ryan Lannon. Kieran Dixon went on to convert six of eight attempts.
With the club getting new ownership in late December, it was a race against time to get 17 players out on the pitch for the first game, but everyone has worked tirelessly behind the scenes and made it a reality.
Before the start of the game the Chief Executive Ryan Brierley and members of the consortium, led by former player Mason Caton-Brown welcomed all the Salford fans into the stadium in fine style.
Oldham who are one of the favourites to win the Betfred Championship title was always going to be stern test, but the players performed admirably in defeat and will look to build on their first game of the season.
We will look to get our first win of the year as we travel to Hammersmith this weekend, in the Challenge Cup second round.
By Harvey Redmonds
