Huddersfield Giants staying on at Accu

Image: Huddersfield Giants

English rugby league club Huddersfield Giants will remain at the Accu Stadium for the 2026 Super League season because their temporary home at The Shay will not be ready in time for a proposed move.

The Yorkshire Post said Giants owner Ken Davy had been hoping to relocate the club to The Shay stadium in Halifax next year while a new fit-for-purpose stadium is built in Huddersfield.

But the Giants will now spend one final season at the Accu Stadium, where they have played for 31 years, to allow more time to finalise arrangements.

The Shay Stadium in Halifax, England (UK) will be used as a stopgap home for the Giants until their own stadium is built in Huddersfield (West Yorkshire, England).

The Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England (UK). The Giants play their home games at Accu Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league.

The Giants have played at the John Smith’s Stadium since 1994 but the average crowds are under 5,000 which mean the 24,000-seater stadium is far too big and lacks the atmosphere.

The club wants to move to a smaller, purpose-built venue in Hudersfield.

Davy said, “The upcoming 2026 season will be our last season at the Accu and in 2027 we will have a new home base for which there could be a number of options at this stage.

“The purchase of The Shay has not been completed and whilst I remain confident that it will be, the timeframe to get that stadium up to Super League standard for next season is quite simply impossible. Therefore, we will remain at the Accu Stadium.”

The Shay Stadium is home to FC Halifax Town football club and the Halifax Panthers rugby league team and they will share it with the Giants. A hybrid pitch will be installed so it’s robust enough to play so many games.

The announcement of the delay comes as Kirklees Council prepares to debate the use of Huddersfield’s gasworks site as the location of the proposed new stadium.

Thousands of Giants fans are urging the local authority to allow the plot of land to be developed into a new home for the Super League team.

The council has repeatedly made its position clear, saying that the site is already earmarked for other uses.

However, it has also said that if plans are put forward for the former gasworks or anywhere else, it will consider them “in detail”, as it would any other planning application.

Davy added, “I am told that the petition for us to be allowed to develop the gasworks site, which remains our preferred option, has reached the number whereby it will be debated by Kirklees Council. I sincerely hope that the outcome of that will bring positive news.

“The reality is that a new stadium, with its planned focus on sporting excellence, research and health and wellbeing for the community, has the potential to be a huge asset for the town, as well as delivering high-quality sporting facilities for the Giants and the many other potential users of its all-weather facilities.”

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