Evening Press reporter Rosslyn Brennan was among the packed audience in Huntington Stadium for the crisis meeting of York Wasps' supporters and gives her impressions

THE meeting of York Wasps' supporters was always going to be an unknown quantity.

As I walked into the bar of Huntington Stadium it crossed my mind that there may be just a handful of die-hard fans for company.

Meeting organiser and supporter Gary Hall later admitted that he feared he would be staring at an empty room yesterday afternoon.

But as the meeting got underway it was obvious that there were no spare seats and a crowd of supporters and players were crammed against the sides of the walls. Everyone's expectations had been exceeded.

For Phil Denton, 40, a Wasps fan of 20 years, there was no doubt that he would be at the meeting.

He said: "Losing the club would be like losing a hand.

"I'm here to try to help save the club, it means a hell of a lot."

And 53-year-old Patrick McCauley said: "I've been watching them since 1960. I'm not prepared to just sit back and let them down."

What followed was a massive show of support for a club that is battling against almost certain doom.

Lifelong fans of the club, some pensioners, some generations younger, exchanged sighs of frustration as the true extent of the problems were revealed to them.

Monthly costs in the tens of thousands, debts that were starting to spiral to hundreds of thousands, lack of sponsorship and lack of support on the terraces.

But as the meeting progressed and it became clear that there most definitely was support from the fans, and as the players firstly offered to play for free and then to forget about thousands of pounds that they were already owed, the mood altered.

Fans stood up and took the microphone, some more nervously, and gave a rousing boost to morale.

When solicitor Roger Dixon came out of the crowd to put the debts into perspective - 500 people to sacrifice the cost of a couple of pints a week - there was applause and jokes followed at the back of the room.

And when a man rushed forward with £100 to put into the kitty the bar bell rang in celebration.

Children who were with their parents and grandparents, occasionally weaving in and out of the crowd to buy a lemonade from the bar, were also keen to get involved.

Two youngsters from the New Earswick All Blacks stood in front of the meeting and offered to stage a sponsored run around the town. Again the gesture was met with rapturous applause.

After 90 minutes there had been a positive move - a supporters' committee had been formed, there was cash and pledges of cash being thrown into buckets and there was a clear idea that there would be a real fight to avert the death of the club.

Albert Morrell, 70, a fan for 40 years, said: "There were more people than I thought there would be. I think we are going to go somewhere now.

"It shows me that there is the support - it's been very positive."

And Louise Ince, chairman of the supporters' club and a member of the new committee, said: "It was an incredibly positive meeting and the turn-out was incredible.

"The generosity that the players showed, I was just lost for words."

Updated: 11:58 Monday, March 25, 2002