Ackroman

Didn't attend but it seems speculation about ground ownership was correct. Let's be honest with ourselves, purchasing land and leases is a long term investment, not short term opportunism. The Giants are here to stay. The outcome for the Rams then is that they have a lot less costs to deal with and retain all income streams, with the distinct possibility of a better playing budget and player pool and they have a home for 50 years. Sounds great for those wanting to see a competitive side next year. Then there are those such as myself who can't get their head around 2 clubs playing out of the same ground and trying to keep the identity of both teams distinct and understandable to the buying public. This is where it falls down (or adds up) for me. Essentially then, will the current fan base of both clubs buy in enough to make both clubs viable? Or, will interested rugby fans tilt to watching SL at Flair stadium, rather than Championship rugby? I've said previously I think it will be the latter because I believe the Giants season tickets will be cheap. For example I can't get either of my brothers, brother in law, nephews or mates to watch the Rams but I would bet they would pay to watch SL at Flair stadium. That's a whole new customer base that needs to be marketed to. I just don't see the Rams, even with a more competitive team, re-building a fan base of note with the Giants in town. So, rather than trying to keep the rump of 2 sets of supporters on-side and fail, I believe it would better to identify with 1 entity that can attract a new vibrant fan base. I would rather be associated with a successful brand than watch the Rams fade into irrelevance having had to sell the crown jewels to keep going.

Everything just seems like a massive gamble.

I found this quite interesting looking back when asking if a 14 team league has worked now. We had a 22 round season in 1996 from a 12 team league. It started the last weekend in March and finished the last weekend in August. CC was run before the SL began. I can't see much wrong with that, except of course CC would be in winter and we also have Vegas, WCC, and Magic Weekend. So if I got my way (and I won't), we would have a 10 team comp of 18 regular matches + magic for the super league title. I would complement this with challenge cup competition for the top 16 sides only (SL plus the top 6 from "SL 2"), playing in 4 pools of 4, home and away with the winners of the pools becoming the quarter finalists. All the other clubs would play in the 1895 competition and maybe the winner of the 1895 gets entry into the main CC competition. This way you get 25 rounds and 12 guaranteed home games over 2 competitions, all fitting somewhere between March and October.

Football is an absolute behemoth you simply can't ignore it, it offers far more insights into the prospects for British RL or other sports that you mention, than comparisons with sports in Australia. Super league was born 30 years ago to provide top class sport for Sky during the football off season. Football this year has manged 11 months TV coverage on it's own, so we are under pressure for eyes on. I am actually impressed with the fans of RL being so loyal and turning out for matches but we need to avoid starting the league too early and ending it too late, as we do at the moment. Having less teams in SL will bring that about but we also need to configure the challenge cup to be a tiered competition to stop interest falling off a cliff.

Average Premier League attendance is 43,500 and 22,000 for the championship, 10,000 league 1, 6,000 league 2. FIFA world cup and UEFA Championship every other year. That's what Rugby League is up against in this country.

This take over has far reaching consequences. Whatever is said at the FF, I think most would bow to the inevitable consequence of Huddersfield moving in, regardless of what reassurances are given.

I didn't go yesterday, mainly due to the BH weekend and my kids working etc. I'm sad about Paul's low key retirement, I've watched him play rugby since he was 14 playing for SJF but his achievements are staggering, considering that's 30+ years playing the game. I agree about the marketing plan, which could even draw interest from South Leeds, so anyone mocking this take over needs to be aware of the impact on them. The economics for part time rugby is on a knife edge IMO, particularly now we have access to the best players and teams for a couple of hundred quid, playing in Dewsbury.

There are 2 converging lines, whether we like it or not. The SL club will get the attention of the kids and families. The Giants season ticket prices are very tempting at around £200. This isn't just an asset purchase, it is also an asset stripping exercise. Basic socio economics. So if the Giants were to offer me that price and free entry to the Rams, like Wakefield did, I would bite their hand off.

That's the thing about marking your own homework.

That's all well and good but what does the whole game's attendances look like or is it convenient to ignore the detrimental affect on the leagues below? On the other hand (no pun intended), I guess if all clubs were in SL, it would be a marketeers wet dream pumping out stats on how great the attendances are.

We'll reverse engineer a takeover of the Giants. Go to all home games wearing red amber and black, shouting for the Rams. They'll give in at some point.

Motivation syndrome. Its rubbed off. Im a bit sad I got so wound up by it all but reality has set in now, so I'm not travelling on a BH weekend. I'm not sure anyone sane would. The stadium is lost or won dependant on your attitude. Newcastle's ability to remain competitive is symptomatic of the state the game's in. It's the biggest dead rubber for a long while. We will either win or lose by a lot. I look forward to next year hoping we at least have a competition to watch, rather than the ridiculous procession and half arsed attitude of a number of clubs (which I totally understand).

Er no but the aggregate could be higher than the attendance, my season is over.

Cancel the gold leaf for the Royal Suit at Flair stadium and get the flock wallpaper catalogue out.

I can smell you from here