Widnes nearing half-way point

Widnes have revealed that they are close to reaching the half-way point of their aim to reach 7000 members for their first season back in Super League.

After their successful licence application, the club launched its Viking Stronghold membership in early April, a unique initiative which enables fans to pay a monthly subscription, with a host of benefits including entry to home games, texts of team news, exclusive member’s shirts and exclusive information.

So far, 1300 new members have pledged their support to the Vikings next season, alongside 96% of current season ticket holders, bringing a total of 3220.

Chairman Steve O’Connor said: “I am delighted with the response so far, but there is still a long way to go and we still need more people to join us. Paul Cullen is visiting Australia next week and has a number of overseas players earmarked by Denis Betts to join us in Super League. We hope to announce these in the next few months. This I’m sure will convince those people who are still unsure of our intentions to compete to sign up.

“Many of the Super League clubs have shown an interest in our Stronghold and we are sure that this is the most modern approach to supporter engagement.”

The Vikings have so far announced just one player for 2012 in current forward Ben Kavanagh.