Jump to content

Is Super League in good health?


Recommended Posts

Do the good people of the TRL message board believe we have a good, healthy competiton in SL?

Last weekend if you watched Sky Sports two games you would have thought we were the greatest sporting league on the planet.

Four top teams, great intense games (for the neutral :rolleyes: ), great atmospheres in the stadiums, packed out crowds etc I could go on.....

But outside of those top 4 sides, there are only a handful of clubs that are doing positive things (Catalans seem okay for now despite a horror season, Hull maybe crowds wise and Hudds in patches).

There seems to be a big gap between the haves and have nots in our game and I feel that the salary cap is still not working well enough and that these clubs are struggling to make ends meet and advance in crowd terms.

Our traditonal clubs like Cas and Wakey and Bradford are all in a slump, playing in dated grounds, dropping crowds and struggling to hang on to their best players. When was the last time any of these clubs signed a top player from the big four? Nothing promising seems likely in the near future for these teams.

Then we have our expansion clubs, Quins who are struggling badly with investment, crowds and putting a decent team on the park. Crusaders too are punching above their weight this year but questions remain over whether they are viable long term?

Even over the next franchise period 2012-2015 I cant see many of these 'lower clubs' improving apart from maybe Salford if the new ground is ready by then!

The only bright light is a revitalised Widnes Vikings coming into SL in 2012 and the additon of a 2nd French side Toulouse perhaps.

I think unless we are careful and make some hard decisions regarding who is included in the SL in the next franchise round, SL could be an even more divided competition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Do the good people of the TRL message board believe we have a good, healthy competiton in SL?

Last weekend if you watched Sky Sports two games you would have thought we were the greatest sporting league on the planet.

Four top teams, great intense games (for the neutral :rolleyes: ), great atmospheres in the stadiums, packed out crowds etc I could go on.....

But outside of those top 4 sides, there are only a handful of clubs that are doing positive things (Catalans seem okay for now despite a horror season, Hull maybe crowds wise and Hudds in patches).

There seems to be a big gap between the haves and have nots in our game and I feel that the salary cap is still not working well enough and that these clubs are struggling to make ends meet and advance in crowd terms.

Our traditonal clubs like Cas and Wakey and Bradford are all in a slump, playing in dated grounds, dropping crowds and struggling to hang on to their best players. When was the last time any of these clubs signed a top player from the big four? Nothing promising seems likely in the near future for these teams.

Then we have our expansion clubs, Quins who are struggling badly with investment, crowds and putting a decent team on the park. Crusaders too are punching above their weight this year but questions remain over whether they are viable long term?

Even over the next franchise period 2012-2015 I cant see many of these 'lower clubs' improving apart from maybe Salford if the new ground is ready by then!

The only bright light is a revitalised Widnes Vikings coming into SL in 2012 and the additon of a 2nd French side Toulouse perhaps.

I think unless we are careful and make some hard decisions regarding who is included in the SL in the next franchise round, SL could be an even more divided competition.

This would be the same revitalised Widnes that may not even make the Championship playoffs this season?

Here we go again .....

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do the good people of the TRL message board believe we have a good, healthy competiton in SL?

There seems to be a big gap between the haves and have nots in our game and I feel that the salary cap is still not working well enough and that these clubs are struggling to make ends meet and advance in crowd terms.

On your overall question - I think we are slowly progressing in terms of building the game, but unforunately as you say - mainly remaining in the "heartlands" (hate that)..

That said - we still talk "the Big 4" only that now includes Warrington. It would be great and indicative if the pundits referred to the Big 6 or Big 8 without thinking about it.

I am keen to see Catalan to continue growing and becoming less dependant on imports too. My dream would be to see RL as big here as it is in Oz - but don't think I will ever see that day.

On the point I have pulled out above - the salary cap may not always be the answer. Bradford are nowhere near spending to the cap because their income is below it and therfore they cannot spend it! The cap only help equal things out when a backer adds (declared) income which is spent on players upto the cap limit.

So wherever crowds are low and there is no backer - there will remain a problem that capping cannot resolve?

As for low crowds - that is a big concern - very difficult to grow support even when success is aparent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On your overall question - I think we are slowly progressing in terms of building the game, but unforunately as you say - mainly remaining in the "heartlands" (hate that)..

That said - we still talk "the Big 4" only that now includes Warrington. It would be great and indicative if the pundits referred to the Big 6 or Big 8 without thinking about it.

I am keen to see Catalan to continue growing and becoming less dependant on imports too. My dream would be to see RL as big here as it is in Oz - but don't think I will ever see that day.

On the point I have pulled out above - the salary cap may not always be the answer. Bradford are nowhere near spending to the cap because their income is below it and therfore they cannot spend it! The cap only help equal things out when a backer adds (declared) income which is spent on players upto the cap limit.

So wherever crowds are low and there is no backer - there will remain a problem that capping cannot resolve?

As for low crowds - that is a big concern - very difficult to grow support even when success is aparent.

I think thats the problem that the likes of Cas, Wakey and even further down the ladder Crusaders and Quins are facing.

They either need to grow their fanbase or else get a rich backer to boost their team and then hoe the fans come.

At the moment poor grounds are holding Cas and Wakey back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.