IT'S a busy time for Huddersfield Giants general manager Stan Sharp.

The next Super League season is less than three months away, and his department is in overdrive securing sponsorships for the new campaign.

By all accounts, it's going well, although the greedy Sharp is obviously always hungry for more!

But it wasn't always so straightforward trying to sell match sponsorship packages.

Until 1998, Huddersfield had spent over 20 years out of the top flight of British rugby league and trying to promote the club on the commercial stage was a thankless task.

All that changed, however, when the Giants gained promotion to Super League at the end of the 1997 season.

The club was back on the major rugby league stage and, to announce their return, the Giants were handed the opening fixture of the Super League IV season at home to Bradford Bulls in front of the Sky TV cameras.

And it was an occasion the popular Sharp will never forget.

"I don't know if it would be strictly correct to describe this match as my all-time favourite," said Sharp, who watched the Giants lose 38-6 in front of a stadium crowd of 12,417.

"Over the years, I've seen some cracking Giants games and in my younger days I was an active local cricketer and footballer.

"But, from a commercial perspective, the Bulls' Super League opener has to go down as the most memorable.

"I joined the club a few years before we got back into Super League and, commercially, it was very hard work.

"But what a different story for this match!

"For the first time, I had people knocking on my door wanting to get involved in the game, and the night was nothing short of fantastic.

"Over 12,000 were in the stadium, the banqueting suite was packed out with fans enjoying a pre-match meal, and all our matchday sponsorships had been snapped up.

"It's not always been such an easy sell as this, even in Super League, but from a commercial point it was the signal for brighter times.

"The result itself was a let-down, although Danny Russell did score a cracking solo try, but it was an occasion when Huddersfield showed the rugby league world that we're back"!