gingerjon

A further problem is that by organising it we're not learning any of the lessons from the World Cup, the mid season internationals or the Tonga series. Yorkshire and Lancashire are already saturated for top class rugby league. A further game there is selling to the same people who already get to pick and choose from the best rugby league in the country. And it's been shown that there really aren't massive numbers wanting to come out for extra games. And a Roses match, by definition, only really has meaning if played in Yorkshire or Lancashire so you have to overcome something that we really should have learned to avoid having to overcome.

In my imagined county set up the top tier would be Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria - with a play off between the bottom side and the top of the tier below (let's say North Wales, South Wales, London) for P&R. I'd not be bringing back Yorks v Lancs as a context free dirge.

I can't remember if anyone put down a Yorks-Lancs match as their favourite game ever on the thread we had. I think all other types of RL games were featured though. An observation there about just how significant and engaging a standalone Roses match or series has been and would be.

Would they? I have no idea. We already know that standalone Roses fixtures generate no excitement, interest or profit. If we're going down this road, doing something that has failed because nobody cares enough for it not to fail is not a way forward. As said, the only reason it is even being suggested is because the alternatives are being poorly done. There has been literally zero movement to re-establishing the game away from that. Which rather tells you something.

Then you've just made it the most boring set up imaginable.

I see it as a barrier rather than a bad thing. The clubs have shown time and again that gate income across 13 home games is key for them.

With some tweaking, I think this is the only way rep fixtures could ever work. But you'd need to reduce the number of club fixtures, spend money on the structure and development, and do more than just hold a half-baked game in Warrington and hope RL's usual fans turn up...

I saw yours was the last post on this thread and I guessed entirely what you'd be saying. You need a better act.

Bingo. And this is, by the admission of its most fervent proponents, an idea that only exists because of a lack of alternatives - not because anyone wants it.

If you aim for mediocre and miss ...

Nice try.

But there are more casual followers of rugby league who will be gutted when NSW lose. There are no casual followers of county rugby league out there to give this game any meaning and you can’t really fake meaning. I’ve said before because this thread comes up all the time. State of Origin is massive outlier. They couldn’t even make it work with other states in other sports in Australia. But because it’s big in rugby league we think this unique rep level game that is bigger than internationals is something we can copy. Experience, literally a century of Roses games, shows that is not true.

So far, your idea is: play it, market it. The rivalry between NSW and Queensland was real and already had a RL angle. Is it really going to ruin your season if Lancashire lose to Yorkshire?

The rivalry is all at club level. You’re more likely to find rivalries within the sides than at their opponents.

So what are we doing differently to the previous 100+ times this fixture was played?