The closure of all terraced areas at The Shay in 1985 lasted just three early-season Halifax Town FC games. By January 1986, Halifax RLFC, hiring the ground on a one-off basis for a First Division game with Widnes, because of problems with the Thrum Hall floodlights, attracted a 6,385 crowd to The Shay (more than double any crowd Halifax Dukes attracted during their final season, 1985).
The speedway club, incidentally, were sub-tenants of the football club, who chose to hike the rent circa 1985 - one of several factors in the Dukes leaving for Odsal. £25,000 is the figure that sticks in my mind.
The Shay was reconfigured quite a few years before the rugby league club began sharing the stadium in 1998. The first and second bend area was removed circa 1990. It was replaced with a gently inclined open standing area. In 1996, a stand was built on the site of the third and fourth bends. Later that year, an identical stand replaced the open standing area at the opposite end of the ground.