Rochdale announce record profit

Supporter-owned Championship club Rochdale have announced a record profit of £25,157 for the year end November 2013.

The Hornets were the first British professional rugby league club to be owned and democratically run by supporters on a one member, one vote basis.

In 2013, they enjoyed a promotion-winning season, and hosted a successful sell-out World Cup match between Fiji and Ireland.

Chief executive Ryan Bradley said: “In 2012 the club recorded a record loss of £38,845. Expenditure was tightly controlled but the income just never came in.

“We put a lot of effort into raising income in 2013. We nearly trebled our sponsor portfolio by improving our corporate match day experience and the income into the community programme via grants improved six fold, meaning we could meet more people and promote the club on a wider level.

“As a result, gate receipts doubled from the previous year and this offset the reduction in funding received centrally from the RFL.

“The donations received from the clubs lottery was slightly down, but in line with national trend while the donations received from our memberships remained stable.

“It was a fantastic year for the club and proves that our supporter owned cooperative model is sustainable and can give us success”