MY FAMILY and I have supported Blackburn Hawks ice hockey team for eight years now. The troubles of last week are, I think, fifty-fifty.

Half of the problem is we don't get enough support from the people of Blackburn and the media.

Reports of the matches are stuck in a small corner of the paper, with no mention of league tables to show how well we are doing. What more do people want? For £6 per adult, you get two-and-a-half hours of a very fast, interesting game.

Have a drink after the game in the bar and you get to meet the players. If you are hungry, there is the cafe.

We do hold one record - which is for the coldest rink in the country. This could be the reason people don't come.

But, unlike many of the seats at Ewood Park, at the Arena at least you are out of the wind and rain.

We don't want to lose our senior hockey team, but unless the people start coming through the doors, we might.

We were promised that, this season, heating would be installed but, to our misery, it has not been because funds don't stretch that far.

But we do have a good team - or three-quarters of one after recent goings-on.

So, come on you folk, get to the Arena and support local sport.

E MURPHY (Mrs), Newfield Drive, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.