The brochure that the club produced to support its application to the Rugby Football League addressed issues such as finance, the ground and future development.
Bridging the Gap
Category: Rugby League Clubs
The club produced a balance sheet and projections that seemed realistic.
The club’s argument was persuasive and in the summer of 1984 Mansfield was accepted into the Slalom Lager Championship Second Division.
The first home game for Mansfield Marksman was played, at Mansfield Town’s Field Mill ground, on Sunday 9th September 1984 against Wakefield Trinity. The attendance was an impressive 2,291, but unfortunately, despite winning eight of their first nine games, attendances, instead of increasing, rapidly declined. In the second half of that first season there were often fewer than 500 spectators attending home games. Towards the end of the season a low point came when the attendance for the home game against Rochdale Hornets, played on the 8th of April 1985, was recorded as only 321.
Mansfield Marksman lost £90,000 in its first season, a much greater loss than had been predicted.
Despite that larger than expected loss Mansfield began the 1985/86 season with some optimism. A 20-18 win in its opening league game against Bramley appeared to give the club hope for the future. Unfortunately, those hopes were soon dashed and things went downhill from there on. Just one win and one draw in its next twenty two games coupled with the depressing attendances at the 23,000 capacity Field Mill ground meant that continuing to play in Mansfield wasn’t a viable option. After its game against Leigh on the 2nd of February 1986, the club left Mansfield and moved eight miles to Alfreton Town to begin playing home games at the non-league football club's North Street ground. The first game at Alfreton took place on the 23rd March against Workington Town. However, only two years after its move to Alfreton, Mansfield moved again, this time to Kirkby in Ashfield to play at Sutton Town, another non-league football club. The final move for this nomadic club came in June 1989 when Nottingham's Harvey Hadden Athletics Stadium became its home ground. This move caused a boardroom split, the loss of the sponsorship from Mansfield Brewery, and a change of name to Nottingham City.
For the next four years the club struggled both on and off the field. On the field Nottingham only won seven games over that period while attendances, at home games, were often less than 250. At the end of 1992/93 season Nottingham finished bottom of the Third Division. In 1993 the Rugby Football League decided to re-organise the league structure and to do that it needed to reduce the number of professional clubs and so Nottingham City, along with Blackpool Gladiators and Chorley Borough, were relegated to the National Conference League. After one season in the Conference Nottingham resigned from the League and went out of existence.
The story of Mansfield Marksman is, with hindsight, perhaps one of unrealistic expectations. Although, prior to being accepted into the professional competition, the club appeared to have made sensible and realistic financial projections and had serious plans to establish the sport and ‘bridge the gap’.
What went wrong?
That is a difficult question to answer, as there are probably a multitude of reasons why, after starting out with such high hopes and seemingly sensible plans, the club was only in existence for ten seasons.
Rugby league is no longer played in Mansfield, at any level, but has survived in Nottingham in the shape of Nottingham Outlaws, a Community club that currently plays in the Midlands competition.
Will any new club try to ‘bridge the gap’ in the future?
The club produced a balance sheet and projections that seemed realistic.
The club’s argument was persuasive and in the summer of 1984 Mansfield was accepted into the Slalom Lager Championship Second Division.
The first home game for Mansfield Marksman was played, at Mansfield Town’s Field Mill ground, on Sunday 9th September 1984 against Wakefield Trinity. The attendance was an impressive 2,291, but unfortunately, despite winning eight of their first nine games, attendances, instead of increasing, rapidly declined. In the second half of that first season there were often fewer than 500 spectators attending home games. Towards the end of the season a low point came when the attendance for the home game against Rochdale Hornets, played on the 8th of April 1985, was recorded as only 321.
Mansfield Marksman lost £90,000 in its first season, a much greater loss than had been predicted.
Despite that larger than expected loss Mansfield began the 1985/86 season with some optimism. A 20-18 win in its opening league game against Bramley appeared to give the club hope for the future. Unfortunately, those hopes were soon dashed and things went downhill from there on. Just one win and one draw in its next twenty two games coupled with the depressing attendances at the 23,000 capacity Field Mill ground meant that continuing to play in Mansfield wasn’t a viable option. After its game against Leigh on the 2nd of February 1986, the club left Mansfield and moved eight miles to Alfreton Town to begin playing home games at the non-league football club's North Street ground. The first game at Alfreton took place on the 23rd March against Workington Town. However, only two years after its move to Alfreton, Mansfield moved again, this time to Kirkby in Ashfield to play at Sutton Town, another non-league football club. The final move for this nomadic club came in June 1989 when Nottingham's Harvey Hadden Athletics Stadium became its home ground. This move caused a boardroom split, the loss of the sponsorship from Mansfield Brewery, and a change of name to Nottingham City.
For the next four years the club struggled both on and off the field. On the field Nottingham only won seven games over that period while attendances, at home games, were often less than 250. At the end of 1992/93 season Nottingham finished bottom of the Third Division. In 1993 the Rugby Football League decided to re-organise the league structure and to do that it needed to reduce the number of professional clubs and so Nottingham City, along with Blackpool Gladiators and Chorley Borough, were relegated to the National Conference League. After one season in the Conference Nottingham resigned from the League and went out of existence.
The story of Mansfield Marksman is, with hindsight, perhaps one of unrealistic expectations. Although, prior to being accepted into the professional competition, the club appeared to have made sensible and realistic financial projections and had serious plans to establish the sport and ‘bridge the gap’.
What went wrong?
That is a difficult question to answer, as there are probably a multitude of reasons why, after starting out with such high hopes and seemingly sensible plans, the club was only in existence for ten seasons.
Rugby league is no longer played in Mansfield, at any level, but has survived in Nottingham in the shape of Nottingham Outlaws, a Community club that currently plays in the Midlands competition.
Will any new club try to ‘bridge the gap’ in the future?
