Positive start for Martin Ballard as a director of Rochdale Hornets

Martin Ballard in his Hornets shirt with the Rugby League World Cup

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Martin Ballard became a director of Rochdale Hornets in November 2013 with the aim of bringing in fresh ideas about how to promote and market the club.

Martin, who has a strong background in marketing and finance and is the manager of the Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre, was approached to be on the board by Mark Wynn.

“I was approached by Mark Wynn about being part of the board in autumn 2013 and I think that it is a great club, and there are great people involved with the club so it seemed like a good opportunity to take hold of,” said Martin.

As part of Martin’s role he will help the club promote and market themselves in a number of new ways.

Martin added: “There are a number of people on the board for different disciplines so the board is made up of good, strong people to help the club and my role is to help with the marketing side of things based on my background.”

Since Martin began as a director he has already organised and sold a charity calendar involving players from the club. He said: “That was one of my first ideas that seemed to go down well. We sold a lot of copies and raised a good amount of money for Action for Alports, a kidney research charity.”

Martin added: “When the Wheatsheaf started out sponsoring Hornets, I told them that it wasn’t just going to be for one season, I wanted it to be a long term thing and that has certainly been a good journey.

"With this, I am not too sure how long I will be involved but I am happy to stay with the club for as long as they want me to be involved or for as long as they are happy for me to be involved. For now I am just going to see how things go and see how things pan out.”

Martin, who is also responsible for Dale Con, Rochdale’s science fiction festival, described it as an honour being asked to be on the board of directors. He said: “I think it is a great game that attracts great people so it certainly was an honour to be asked to be involved.”