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Wellsy4HullFC

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Posts posted by Wellsy4HullFC

  1. 8 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

    Well actually it isn't unavoidable we don't employ this system simple

    That doesn't avoid them being outposts. They'd still be outposts, but without the guarantee of being in the same division (potentially making them even greater outposts).

    9 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

    but you say the West Cumbrian clubs are outposts, there are 3 clubs there so how would you term Cornwall?

    Another outpost.

  2. 1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

    Err, Workington and Whitehaven even Barrow, travelling to Birmingham and Cornwall and Visa versa.

    The only option is to obviously chuck out Cumbria...

     

    Seriously though, until we have more southern clubs, this is unavoidable. The West Cumbrian clubs will always be outposts as there's literally nothing else around there. They either travel to Lancashire or travel to North East (which are similar distances).

  3. 22 minutes ago, Midlands hobo said:

    The answer actually is very similar to your earlier one. Not a fan of regionalisation.

    If something could be done and I had my choice I'd have NFL style conference.

    Conferences can be mixed up with best split based on travel which I'm sure a spreadsheet could work out.

    How large would your conferences be?

    It would still have the same issue of clubs in areas having to travel due to concentration of clubs in hotspot areas, mainly West Yorkshire.

  4. 1 hour ago, Barley Mow said:

    I'm not sure I agree about the split being an indicator for aiming expansion: Your western group covers 3 government regions with a population of about 19 million (plus 1 club in Wales), your eastern group covers 6 government regions with a population of about 37.5 million (plus 1 club in France). The ratio of clubs to people is higher in the west group.

    It may cover 6 regions, but only 3 of them currently have clubs (NE, Yorks, London). If we ever got to a point where we had an Eastern, South East and East Midlands club in addition, then we'd be in a great position to split to a southern division.

    As is, even with the greater coverage in theory, in practice, the west division has more travel on average. There's a huge concentration of West Yorkshire pro clubs. That could really do with a counter balance of Lancashire clubs (there's still loads of areas there without clubs). Sometimes regionalisation can show areas to target.

  5. 37 minutes ago, Eddie said:

    It would be another contraction if the game imho, if semi professional clubs can’t travel from Lancashire to Yorkshire for a match they might as well go amateur. 

    It's not about traveling across the north. It's about traveling FROM the north.

    The East/West split also splits the outposts so you don't have L1 clubs traveling far and wide to every expansion club that newly enters.

    Ideally there'd be a push at a southern division, but that would take direction, ambition and a lot of people willing to throw a lot of money away in the short term (which we've actually seen there are a few willing to over the years, but without a coordinated effort it's just a waste of everyone's time).

  6. 42 minutes ago, Barley Mow said:

    Why use the government regions? Why not have a more even split of teams (11-12) by transferring Keighley and/or Halifax into the west group? Surely we would want both groups to have a similar structure/number of fixtures.

    I did consider that, but at the same time I considered the impact it would have on those clubs in the centre having to flip flop divisions. Sometimes it's better to have a boundary and say "this is where you are" so they can build (on) rivalries.

    The West having less clubs would also be an indicator for where expansion should possibly aim. There's a pretty large inland imbalance east of the Pennines!

    47 minutes ago, Barley Mow said:

    Beyond that, the only issue that jumps out is disparity in travelling. With one London team being promoted to Super League and the other dropping into the amateur game, other than Toulouse, the only eastern group team outside of Yorkshire is Newcastle (and that is assuming they are able to continue) - that's only 1 hour 45 mins from the M62. The western group has a much larger geographic spread.

    That's why I put Toulouse in the East really (although inevitably they'll switch to SL with London).

    2 outposts east (London/Toulouse, Newcastle), 2 west (Birmingham, Cornwall). The nucleus of the east is obviously a lot more concentrated than west though with Cumbrian clubs. 

    • Like 1
  7. Sorry, I know it's another "structure" topic, but thought I'd try and visualise this as travel is often used as a criticism of expansion so the closer we can keep clubs, the less effect this has overall.

    Going by government regions (i.e. NW, W Mid, SW, and anything west of it like Wales), you get this Western Division:

    1. Widnes (Ch 9th) 

    2. Swinton (Ch 10th)

    3. Barrow (Ch 11th)

    4. Whitehaven (Ch 12th)

    5. Oldham (L1 4th)

    6. Workington (L1 5th)

    7. North Wales (L1 6th)

    8. Rochdale (L1 7th)

    9. Hurricanes (L1 8th)

    10. Cornwall (L1 9th)

     

    Eastern Division (based on NE, Yorks, East, E Mid, London, SE and anything east of it):

    1. Wakefield (SL 12th)

    2. Featherstone (Ch 1st)

    3. Toulouse (Ch 2nd)

    4. Bradford (Ch 3rd)

    5. Sheffield (Ch 4th)

    6. York (Ch 6th)

    7. Batley (Ch 7th)

    8. Halifax (Ch 8th)

    9. Keighley (Ch 11th)

    10. Newcastle (Ch 12th) *live in hope!

    11. Dewsbury (L1 1st)

    12. Hunslet (L1 2nd)

    13. Doncaster (L1 3rd)

     

     

    Would that be more manageable? Would it be competitive? Would it make any difference to growth opportunities (i.e. new teams being targeted in the South to open up a southern division in later years)?

     

    Just riffing!

     

     

     

  8. Not sure how I feel about this. I'm desperate for credible international competition, and it's beginning to feel more and more that the only way this will happen will be under NRL rule. If that's the case, could that be worse than what we've had?

    Could a 4N become 6N? 

    The only issue would be home competitions. They're never going to come over here for this kind of competition.

  9. 1 hour ago, phiggins said:

    I remember reading the paper whilst heading to Leeds, and there was a report about how Andy Farrell would throw a party if we won. Suspect he had to make a call to cancel the catering at half time.

    Think you're thinking of 2004.

    This is referencing the Kiwi win in 2005, which appeared a false dawn 2 years later when they got battered 3-0 in the GB test series... but then they did win the World Cup the year after 🤷

    • Thanks 1
  10. 1 hour ago, Archie Gordon said:

    I too am less than lukewarm about Scotland and Ireland. My bigger concern is South Wales and, if I may extend that concern, Cumbria, London/SE and Occitanie. I'm deliberately choosing regions here because that is where my plan would focus - a regional competition in the middle of season where I think we have the space for it. Internationals would remain for October-November.

    I'm inclined to agree.

    We have England, then (daylight) France, then (a little daylight) the Celtic nations, then the other European nations.

    We have to acknowledge that there will be no credible international competition for England mid season. We ain't traveling. They ain't traveling here.

    If we want mid-season rep games, we're going to have to look within for a while.

    Reverting back to GB would be us basically giving up on those other 3 nations. If there was a regional comp mid-season, at least there's a pathway if that's what we do; but then that alienates France further. What then for them? EU All-Stars with France, Ireland, Greece, Italy...?

    It's a sorry mess that we have only got ourselves to blame for. I long for the days of regular 4N competitions. I was so excited about a possible 8-team confederation cup. The international game up here is in the worst state I've ever seen it since I started watching.

    • Like 2
  11. On 28/10/2023 at 10:48, Chrispmartha said:

    Nice from Cas, Although id have swapped the colours round do it was predominantly Amber not black.

    Interesting Cas sre saying Home shirt not Principal

     

     

    Amber is back... as the secondary colour.

    Despite bringing the colour back, still doesn't look like a Cas home shirt. Feels like the wrong way around.

  12. 6 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

    I'd make Cumbria v England XIII (in Cumbria) an annual fixture. Decent crowd pretty much guaranteed, and a profile (and money) raiser for RL in an area that will almost certainly never again have an SL team.

    End of season?

    What about a 4-way between Cumbria, Yorks, Lancs and South? Get 3 games then, and 2 with majority SL players.

  13. Think the best bet to get France competitive in a mid season game would be to have a a couple of blank weekends in the calendar. One week for a the fixture and another week for a rearranged game featuring Catalans and Toulouse (not necessarily against each other) so that they get a 2 week lead-up to the international and reduce potential dropouts.

    That 2nd weekend could also be used for the team that competed in the WCC.

    You could also have another international for England (v Wales?) or York's v Lancs (don't kill me!).

    • Like 3
  14. 8 hours ago, welshmagpie said:

    An international Pacific Tri Series is been proposed between Cook Islands, Fiji and Papua New Guinea to be hosted by PNG in 2023, Fiji in 2024 and in the Cook Islands in 2026, Carlson revealed.

    “I guess that will give us time to upgrade the stadium properly and attract more international games after.”

    https://www.cookislandsnews.com/uncategorised/internal/sport/rugby-union/cirl-backs-qatars-world-cup-bid/

    With the World Cup moving to 2026, you'd guess that would bring CI hosting to 2025 instead.

    But this is RL.

  15. 1 hour ago, Coco said:

    I see the NRL as the premier rugby league competition in the world.  Where the best players play.  Great to see that the club's there are signing or are interested in English born / or qualified players.  Also like the fact that these players want to go there and test themselves against the best.  It's just my own personal opinion.  

     

    Yeah, but their now treble Grand Final winners couldn't beat our quadruple Grand Final winners, and ours didn't even win the comp this year.

    Bang average, the NRL.

    • Haha 3
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