: Mon May 11, 2009 8:55 pm
Gateshead Thunder will not be seeking a change of venue for their Challenge Cup quarter-final tie against holders St Helens at the end of May.
The Tyne and Wear club have insisted it is only right to give their own fans the opportunity to watch the match at Gateshead Stadium.
And Thunder's chief executive Rod Findlay dismissed any suggestion the tie would be switched to St Helens in order to draw a bigger attendance.
Findlay stressed: "Gateshead is our home and I think it's only right that we play a match of this stature at our own Gateshead Stadium.
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We think our stadium is probably better than St Helens. We have a 12,000 all-seater international stadium and there's no reason to move it. We might get a bigger crowd if we played the game at St Helens but that would be extremely unfair on our fans who deserve better.
"They've had 10 years in the wilderness after Super League was taken from them. There's been an awful lot of interest since the draw was made. There's already a buzz about the match and the phones have been ringing non-stop with people asking about tickets for the tie."