13 replies to this topic

[superten]

here we go again as the northern rail cup gets going this week end with two new teams. It got me wondering which team has been our biggest sucess in exspanding our game. So many clubs have come on gone just in the last thirty years what makes this time different will they survive a season .Why does it seem that we are poor at exspanding our game is that we have too many teams in one area which restricts exspansion with travel cost.To me in this current ecconomical climate I think we the rl are taking a big risk it could back fire and we end up loosing two of our great traditional clubs in oldham and rochdale. I would have put oldham and rochdale in the championship giving the league 16 teams playing 22 league rounds with top 8 play offs and a straight 16 team northern rail cup knock out. Then looked at starting a county league for development with gloucestershire , hemel to become hertfordshire, gateshead = northumberland, south wales to glamorganshire , crusaders to clwyd crusader although not a county it is one of wales preserved counties.Then add a barl team of yorkshire , lancashire and cumbria .The skolars could become the county team with in the london area and maybe a team in cheshire for a ten team league.

[TheDuke]

For me Sheffield have been good for the game and done well for themselves after being shafted about 15 years ago

[jpmc]

London are still going after 30yrs

[Ponterover]

Sheffield are probably the best example of an expansion club succeeding, despite a right royal rodgering along the way.

With the best will in the world, London Broncos are a basket case, however Skolars have the makings of a successful club.

Too early to tell what will come of the Welsh adventure, although things are looking fairly good.

Gateshead still clinging on, hope they can rise again.

Do Donny count? I know they've been around a while, but they've just won their first ever trophies.

[Northern Sol]

Then looked at starting a county league for development with gloucestershire , hemel to become hertfordshire, gateshead = northumberland, south wales to glamorganshire , crusaders to clwyd crusader although not a county it is one of wales preserved counties.Then add a barl team of yorkshire , lancashire and cumbria .The skolars could become the county team with in the london area and maybe a team in cheshire for a ten team league.

UGG, Hemel, Gateshead etc would have exactly the same players, changing their name to a "county" would hardly change anything.

As soon as you create BARLA teams to play against them you need to think about home stadiums and supporters. Hence you would have just created a new heartlands club probably based somewhere that already has pro and semi-pro sides and will thus struggle for finance.

[Northern Sol]

Depending on how you define "expansion" Catalans could be argued to be expansion. They represent expansion of Super League into a new area and the club are new even if the Perpignan area is hardly new to RL.

[Rascal Bongo Stork]

let's not knock the new boys before they've started. I think the three new clubs all have great possibilities, let's hope they're all still going strong for many years to come. If one or both of Oldham or Rochdale fail to get promoted then they have two heartlanders coming to join them next season and then they wont feel all cast away and lonely. Obviously the lack of away fans is something to worry about for those two clubs but hopefully they will be fine, I'm sure North Wales will take plenty to both and then they have the benefit of playing their near neighbours
Also...followers of those two might get an inkling of what those in expansion areas have felt for years - cut off geographically and needing to get by without decent away followings to boost gates. I say all this as someone originally from Oldham and who also use to watch Hornets (yeah, I know - perversion).If either ever did go to the wall,god forbid,then there would be a million and one reasons to put before the fact they're playing the likes of the Stags and the other ORLFC this season.

[superten]

Sheffield are probably the best example of an expansion club succeeding, despite a right royal rodgering along the way.

With the best will in the world, London Broncos are a basket case, however Skolars have the makings of a successful club.

Too early to tell what will come of the Welsh adventure, although things are looking fairly good.

Gateshead still clinging on, hope they can rise again.

Do Donny count? I know they've been around a while, but they've just won their first ever trophies.

if we are going back to post war I would say workington and whitehaven

[Gav Wilson]

Sheffield, then Catalan.

I'm really excited to see how Championship 1 gets on this season though, I hope its a massive success and forms a platform for steady, sustainable growth.

[D9000]

Hemel. And for why? Apart from the success (against much adversity) of the club itself, because more RL is played in Hemel than in Manchester. Q.E.D.

[Ponterover]

Why do people think Catalan are an expansion club?

They are right in the French heartlands "le M62 Francaise" if you will

[Matt J]

Sheffield... no other team comes close at the minute.

[marklaspalmas]

Catalan is not expansion. Sheffield have done well, Gateshead and Skolars deserve admiration for their survival.

[Griff]

Sheffield a success ? With crowds of barely 1000 ? Half of what they were achieving in Division Two 20 years ago ?

Having said that, it's better than the other potential candidates, I suppose.