“The Future is Bright” flag was made in October 2006 to give recognition to three local business men who are the driving force behind the “Friends of Featherstone Rovers” consortium who have stepped in to help the club. Throughout 2006, Featherstone Rovers found life adjusting to National League 2 year very difficult. Unfortunately the ultimate aim of promotion was not achieved and with the prospect of the clubs’ most consistent performers leaving the club it was feared the club was approaching very dark times. People who had season tickets for decades vowed never to return to the club again.

Up step Mark Campbell, Tony Kenney and Allan Nicholls who at the final home game of the 2006 season decided that enough was enough and things couldn’t carry on the way they were. The Friends of Featherstone Rovers was born. Within only two months, the consortium have rejuvenated the club to such an extent that season ticket sales are at their highest for several years. The replica kit for 2007 has also seen record pre-orders on the back of the new signings the club has made in the close season and equally as important re-signings of influential players already at the club.

The enthusiasm and energy that the three men have shown is nothing short of remarkable. Particularly Tony who has spent many an hour on the club forum spreading the good news and personally thanked every single poster who pledged £100 to the consortium (over 60 people). Tony coined the phrase “The Future is Bright” on his posts and that phrase is the main inspiration of the flag.

What turned out to be a simple idea by Paul Taylor to raise money for a small flag turned into many people donating money (see the Thank You page) towards the flag which enabled us to buy a 18 ft x 9 ft flag which means it’s one of the biggest flags in Rugby League (to our knowledge!). The flag made its debut on 12 th November at the Federation Shield Final between England and Tonga at Widnes. The flag was briefly on Sky Sports which Allan saw whilst Tony was actually in the ground to see its first unveiling with his family with him. The flag will hopefully be present at all home and away games over the coming years!

Many thanks to Mark, Allan and Tony for putting the life back into Featherstone Rovers, we hope you like the flag.

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT