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Workington Town , Can you help ?


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My club have hit hard times and are fighting hard to survive and I'm appealing to the rugby community to support the initiative started by the Travelers Rest Workington Town supporters club which is a just giving page to help us work through our problems.

If you would like to help in anyway ,however small please do on the following link

https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/TRSC

Please state your name or at least club so we know you've helped on the donation page, thanks in advance

Up the Town!

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Youre not going bust as well are you? First thing ask your players to take a pay cut.If you go down they will have to anyway.

They already have taken a pay cut. The club has no debt whatsoever but a cash flow problem has arisen due to a major sponsor not being forthcoming with their payment, no fault of the club.

I’m not prejudiced, I hate everybody equally

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Merge with Whitehaven to Form West Cumbria United. It wont be popular with traditionalists but with the way things are going even to be competitive in the Championship you will need to merge.

 

I was at Hunslet.v.Skolars yesterday and the average age of the "traditionalist" crowd was pretty high, merging two skint clubs to give one skint club and giving a reason for hundreds of 50+ year old supporters to jack it in is not a great idea.

 

Tradition is now the only strength some clubs have left.

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I was at Hunslet.v.Skolars yesterday and the average age of the "traditionalist" crowd was pretty high, merging two skint clubs to give one skint club and giving a reason for hundreds of 50+ year old supporters to jack it in is not a great idea.

 

Tradition is now the only strength some clubs have left.

Your comment of 'hundreds of 50+ supporters' shows the seriousness of the situation.

Tradition is fine but it can stop you going forward. These hundreds of older supporters will die or pack in watching the game through illness or disastisfaction and crowds will dwindle to nothing. Do you really want to see crowds to disappear altogether just so someone can proudly say 'Thank God that we kept to tradition'.

IMHO tradition is actually slowly suffocating the game in Cumbria - and other locations as well.

A joint Cumbrian team may well lose some of the traditionalists following the individual clubs but is that reason enough to dismiss the idea. Presently the 3 clubs attract around a 1000 each. Will a joint Cumbrian club that is packed full of the better local players sharing games at each stadium attract more? Possibly. It cannot do much worse.

Why cant the 3 existing clubs continue with an over-arching Cumbrian team?

I am not a Cumbrian but if I ever won the lottery that would be the area that I would love to invest in to build an elite team.

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Your comment of 'hundreds of 50+ supporters' shows the seriousness of the situation.

Tradition is fine but it can stop you going forward. These hundreds of older supporters will die or pack in watching the game through illness or disastisfaction and crowds will dwindle to nothing. Do you really want to see crowds to disappear altogether just so someone can proudly say 'Thank God that we kept to tradition'.

IMHO tradition is actually slowly suffocating the game in Cumbria - and other locations as well.

A joint Cumbrian team may well lose some of the traditionalists following the individual clubs but is that reason enough to dismiss the idea. Presently the 3 clubs attract around a 1000 each. Will a joint Cumbrian club that is packed full of the better local players sharing games at each stadium attract more? Possibly. It cannot do much worse.

Why cant the 3 existing clubs continue with an over-arching Cumbrian team?

I am not a Cumbrian but if I ever won the lottery that would be the area that I would love to invest in to build an elite team.

 

The local population levels are sparse, Barrow is a long journey to west cumbria on a poor road, the cumbrian junior ARL is very small and struggling for players. It's historically a hot bed of RL but not today.

 

We've been through the discussion many times and on paper, which is how you've drawn up your plans,it's an idea, in practice there's no central ground to play at, and no guarantee that if the clubs joined their 800 crowds 1600 would follow the new club. Half might

 

No prospect of a merged club attracting many new fans, The championship has declined across the board in favour of Superleague, and any club that has risen from the Championship has needed a wealthy backer and there are no takers in West Cumbria.

 

The latter point you readily accept with your lottery comment, clearly you yourself realise you won't be building anything, if you won a few £Million you'd be buying in imported professionals mainly antipodeans and you'd probably get to compete in the top end of the championship with crowds of a few thousand.

 

Workington and Whitehaven are what they are grand old traditional clubs, and they should be allowed to stay as that, and as long as the fans are OK with that great. I hope Town survive their money problem.

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possibility both West Cumbrian Clubs may be in Championship 1 next year & have an ageing fan base. Looking at the Championship to be competitive a club is going to have to be professional or very close to being pro to compete with Leigh, London, Bradford, Featherstone, Halifax, and more than likely a cashed up Toulouse next year...

 

the writings on the wall for the future read it or ignore it West Cumbria's choice. Two main towns with clubs are less than 10 miles apart, could combine sponsorship, admin costs, recruitment, marketing & promotion to younger generations, joint application to build a new stadium.  

 

or

 

the status quo which is hoping for the best every year but being stuck in yoyo cycle between bottom of Championship & Championship 1.

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possibility both West Cumbrian Clubs may be in Championship 1 next year & have an ageing fan base. Looking at the Championship to be competitive a club is going to have to be professional or very close to being pro to compete with Leigh, London, Bradford, Featherstone, Halifax, and more than likely a cashed up Toulouse next year...

 

the writings on the wall for the future read it or ignore it West Cumbria's choice. Two main towns with clubs are less than 10 miles apart, could combine sponsorship, admin costs, recruitment, marketing & promotion to younger generations, joint application to build a new stadium.  

 

or

 

the status quo which is hoping for the best every year but being stuck in yoyo cycle between bottom of Championship & Championship 1.

 

That's where Championship Rugby league has been going for years as the playing and supporting levels gently decline to lower levels than before the pay for TV sport boom and professionalisation.

 

If less people want to play and watch that is entirely up to them, those who do want to stay involved in the game don't need to have their clubs ripped apart by a promise of a new future by some rich man, so many of these being fly by nights who are all talk.

 

Nobody is "stuck" they are playing and watching Rugby League and enjoying it.

 

At many clubs they haven't had a sniff of the top flight for decades, but they enjoy it so why do they have to have your dubious ambitions foisted on them?

 

Sell the rec for housing, close the clubs down, re-apply as "Cumbria" re-open at Derwent Park with a "Superleague or bust" razzamatazz.........

 

.........then go bust and be left with nothing? 

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Parksider you made the following statements in your last two posts:

That Cumbrian junior RL is struggling for players

Cumbria WAS a hot bed for RL

If people want to play and watch that is up to them

So you recognise that the game in Cumbria is in decline yet you prognosis is for the clubs to continue doing what they have always done. I assume you are not a strategy advisor to businesses.

I would suggest that the Junior game in Cumbria is struggling for players because youngsters nowadays view the world globally, unlike you or I that in our youth saw the world locally. How can Whirehaven, Workington or Barrow in the Championship/C1 with little or no TV or social media exposure compete with other global attractions?

How can Cumbria become an hot bed again? How do we attract younger supporters or junior players? Doing the same old thing will not reverese the trend.

In my view just because people have supported a club for 30, 40 or even 50 years - and I include myself as a Cas supporter for 42 years - does not make me/others any more important than the potential supporter of the future. In fact I believe that we current supporters should be doing everything we can to entice the future supporters of this game as they will continue to support the game long after we have gone.

The game cannot afford to let Cumbria wither away but I fear that is what might happen.

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Im half a world away from West Cumbria, If you want to see sparse population come to NZ... Cumbria has almost 500,000 people. Enough of the not enough people routine... Whitehaven, Workington & Maryport have 15 miles between them and a combined population of 60,000 the same population as Widnes! That is a part of a wider population of 150,000+ in the Copeland & Allerdale regions of West Cumbria!. Thats enough to support a pro rugby league Club! 

 

Game by all accounts seems to be stagnating in the area and obviously a couple of hundred old guys are getting there fix every other week... every year recently been a story about West Cumbrian clubs struggling to either pay players or struggling to have enough players to pull a team together ...with  the 2 existing clubs obviously not currently inspiring youth participation in the game like they once did.

 

Just seems like such a no brainer to merge but obviously has to come from people in the region who see the advantages of a merger and that individually the glory days of the 2 sides are very unlikely to return. Perhaps a merger agreement with the RFL could see promotion to super League when the new new format comes in? with Whitehaven & Workington surviving as Championship 1 sides without the right to gain promotion or participating in the national conference... food for thought...

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Im half a world away from West Cumbria.If you want to see sparse population you should come here... Cumbria has Same population as Wellington region of NZ almost 500,000. Enough of the not enough people routine... Whitehaven, Workington & Maryport have 15 miles between them and a combined population of 60,000 people the same population as Widnes! On top of that you have wider population of 150,000+ in the Copeland & Allerdale regions of West Cumbria!. Thats enough to support a pro rugby league Club! 

 

Game by all accounts seems to be stagnating in the area and obviously a couple of hundred old guys are getting there fix every other week... every year recently been a story about West Cumbrian clubs not playing players... the 2 existing clubs obviously not currently inspiring youth participation in the game.

 

Just seems like such a no brainer to merge but obviously has to come from people in the region who can see the advantages of a merger and that the glory days of the 2 sides are very unlikely to return and want to do something positive for the game in the area....

The youtng players of West Cumbria do not aspire to play for the 2 local sides any more,they would rather stay with their local clubs,especially in the Whitehaven area who have 3 clubs in the NCL premier,

All 3 clubs have a good youth set up with Wath Brow their own school development officer.

The only way forward is to merge Town/Haven,and hopefully get a competative Championship side,with a reserve team and in time their own academy set up.Then we might see improved crowds and the league playing youth of the area actually wanting to play pro rugby for their local club.

But as this would require vision from both the RFL and the 2 teams and their supporters,it will probably never happen.

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Instead of killing two or three clubs we need to invest in the sport in Cumbria.

It's madness to think you can shut two or three established clubs to create a 'super club' and that new venture will be financially viable from the off. It would take years to grow to sustainable levels even if it survived the start. I just can't see enough passionate fans of the existing clubs backing it. And there's zero evidence that thousands of people who don't attend RL games already would suddenly be interested in the sport by a new club.

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...er, just a thought...wasn't that glossy report on Cumbrian RL meant to point a way forward (he asked, albeit naively!)...as I say, just a thought!

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Sorry to drag this back on topic, just a huge thank you to those supporters who have so kindly donated via justgiving.com. I have always had the opinion that rugby league fans are a pretty special group of people, the fact that supporters of other clubs have put their hands in their pockets and made donations does nothing but reinforce that view. We've had plenty of donations from Town fans of course, both near and far, but it's humbling to receive donations and kind words of support from fans of other clubs, thanks again!

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in my opinion the survival of the cumbrian clubs is far more important than having manufactured clubs like toronto in the league 

"Why is Napoleon crying ?" said one sailor to the other, "poor ###### thinks he's being exiled to st helens" came the reply.

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The 2 West Cumbrian sides look like being relegated next season to Championship 1... Workington Town official /supporter started this post to ask for financial help as club is struggling... Crowds are going to be even lower in Champ 1, sponsors even harder to come by, locals harder to convince to play for team!

 

What do people get out of having two clubs based in the same area that are struggling other than tradition & small town rivalry! But if you have a joint venture both clubs traditions can live on in a new entity, Instead of neighboring small town rivalry you could have regional pride in larger area of West Cumbria, while the available sponsorship pool & player pool will double and club admin costs can be reduced....  

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It's a sad state that many of the games clubs are living hand to mouth.When I go to games these days I can't help noticing the lack of numbers of kids in attendance. They are the future of the sport. The RFL and the clubs need to approach local schools more to drum up interest in rugby league. I fear for our sports future. The sport is a great,action packed game.I think the adminstration of the game needs to be addressed. The situation in Cumbria is sad by all accounts and there should be more done by the powers that be.You don't know what you miss till it's gone.

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in my opinion the survival of the cumbrian clubs is far more important than having manufactured clubs like toronto in the league 

 

Does this mean that it is either/or?

 

What resources are going towards Toronto that could be diverted to Cumbria, and how?

Sport, amongst other things, is a dream-world offering escape from harsh reality and the disturbing prospect of change.

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 if you have a joint venture both clubs traditions can live on in a new entity, Instead of neighboring small town rivalry you could have regional pride in larger area of West Cumbria, while the available sponsorship pool & player pool will double and club admin costs can be reduced....  

 

Who will back it if the existing chairmen won't?

 

Where will they play?

 

What would died in the wool Town and Haven fans do if they lose their club?

 

How does combining two poor playing squads make a good playing squad?

 

Why would any new fans come when the combined club would still be playing at a low level

 

How are sponsors more interested if you call it Cumbria 

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in my opinion the survival of the cumbrian clubs is far more important than having manufactured clubs like toronto in the league 

 

no monies what so ever are being redirected to toronto instead of heartland clubs....STOP BLAMING NEW CLUBS!

 

 

the reason our clubs  struggle,oldham included. is down to crappy management...not toronto,oxford,london etc

 

 

you know what cumbrian RL needs? barrow,workington & whitehaven need to join forces and create CUMBRIA SL as a joint venture, and the 3 clubs become feeder teams to the main cumbria SL team..and sod playing the games in carilse,i realise how far that is....so rotate the home games around barrow,whitehaven & workington!

OLDHAM RLFC

the 8TH most successful team in british RL

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The 2 West Cumbrian sides look like being relegated next season to Championship 1... Workington Town official /supporter started this post to ask for financial help as club is struggling... Crowds are going to be even lower in Champ 1, sponsors even harder to come by, locals harder to convince to play for team!

 

What do people get out of having two clubs based in the same area that are struggling other than tradition & small town rivalry! But if you have a joint venture both clubs traditions can live on in a new entity, Instead of neighboring small town rivalry you could have regional pride in larger area of West Cumbria, while the available sponsorship pool & player pool will double and club admin costs can be reduced....  

Tradition and local rivalry..........that's exactly the point,

Unless you live in the area and understand that tradition you cant possible appreciate the strength of feeling.

Also lets not get carried away that this merger idea works anywhere,  even in the biggest league of them all, down under, tradition has eventually played its part and affected merged clubs. Quite quickly they have effectively split with the stronger club then carrying on under the merged title but in reality being its original self.

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you know what cumbrian RL needs? barrow,workington & whitehaven need to join forces and create CUMBRIA SL as a joint venture, and the 3 clubs become feeder teams to the main cumbria SL team..and sod playing the games in carilse,i realise how far that is....so rotate the home games around barrow,whitehaven & workington!

Would you advocate merging Oldham, Rochdale and Swinton????

"i hate workington town fans with a passion they are the biggest cry babies in rl and boy do they get jealous easy"- Choccy 2012

"if it wernt for me they would have nowt at all to talk about" - Choccy 2012

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Get Cumbria to play an end of season game at Derwent Park. Cumbria used to have a regular game but that seems to have gone beside the wayside. They could play Scotland as their warm-up game before the 4N and would also bring some much-needed cash into the coffers at the same time

 

Don't always judge the state of the game by the top of the pyramid i.e Town and Haven

There are plenty of good amateur clubs competing well in the NCL - Kells, Wath Brow, Egremont. If you look at some of the under 16 or academy squads over the years there has bene plenty of Cumbrian representation. The key is keeping them interested after 16 to 18 years old and to get them to have more faith in their pro clubs - whether that is a merged club, a merged reserve team or an academy side that isn't run for the benefit of a SL club. Or that the young amateurs are pitched in against full time pros if they decide to sign, so decide to stay in their comfort zone, where they may also have good jobs at Sellafield

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