iffleyox

I get that. With a mercenary head on I think Oxford were close to making it work with bussing northerners down so they were close to beating northerners. Winning against the north is key to southern development IMO, and ideally what you want in year one onwards is to look good against all-comers (Oxford were in the play-offs in their first season). I don’t think there’s much of a better idea than hosing money at Southern clubs (a la Melbourne), until winning and success becomes habit and more people invest. Consequently I’d be looking at more funding for the south than the north… I also think that’s a complete non-starter and am not advocating it. But I’ve come the view that success in the south is only going to be achieved by prioritising such clubs, even at the expense of the heartland clubs at the same level. Again, I’m not advocating it. What I’m saying is that unless you’ve got wealthy investors willing to do a Toronto, or an RFL that can carry a policy of sending the money south and letting the existing clubs look to their own fundraising or fail, then I’m now at the point of thinking it should be about maximising coverage of what RL currently exists, on national television and encouraging people to engage with that, and not trying to expand. Grow digital eyeballs rather than physical clubs and attendees. I’m aware I probably sound depressed. I think even at League One level an expansion club is doomed if it can’t routinely spank the opposition straight out of the traps. No one now has got the patience for plucky losers slowly building.

Had some great (RU) visits to Blaydon. It’s a good little set up and while clearly Newcastle need the support if you’re wavering then that might help sway it!

The big stumbling block - and I say this as an Oxford fan who went to every home match in their first two seasons - is that in seasons three and four I picked and chose matches on the basis of the opponents. I found I didn’t care how we measured up to the other flat pack expansion teams, I was only interested in how we fared against ‘proper’ clubs, so London, Hemel, Scorpions, Bears was an opportunity for a weekend off. I know that makes me not a proper fan, but honestly I just didn’t care about expansion vs expansion matches. I just didn’t.

You could probably count Oxford twice actually given they ended up playing in Abingdon…

Anyway, water under the bridge - neither Oxford nor Coventry now has a League 1 club.

I sort of mostly agree, but the numbers change a bit depending on if/how you count Gateshead vs Hull and Sheffield vs Huddersfield… that’s a whole other can of worms, but it’s a relevant whole other can of worms tbh

And sometimes it’s because the League 1 you join isn’t the League 1 you’re playing in one whole season later. Some clubs are daft ideas, some clubs have daftness thrust upon them by the RFL.

‘Go elsewhere’ is going to be tough when really there might be more that would go and watch semi-pro than have got the bug and want to watch amateur. Broncos or Hurricanes are probably the ‘closest’ semi-pro alternatives so draw your own conclusions. i had a season ticket at Oxford and then going under didn’t make me decide to suddenly watch Oxford Cavaliers instead.

IIRC I think the Rugby League in Thatcher’s Britain book the other year made a pretty compelling case that the club zero for this sort of thing (not that it did them any good) was Kent Invicta in the early 80s. So literally any club could have had a go after about 1985, and none chose to until Keighley, but I don’t think Keighley actually devised it so much as were the next club to give razzmatazz a roll of the dice.

Forgot the main one actually - the main reason ODP has never been developed, even when London Welsh were one of the world’s leading RU clubs in the 1970s and would have *loved* to, is er, it’s virtually beyond verboten (Crown land). You think development is tricky at Ealing? There is less than no chance at Old Deer Park.

London Welsh??? Please tell me you’re joking? loads of minis and juniors taking up space, a fair walk from the clubhouse to the main pitch which involves duckboards, and to put the tin lid on a cricket pitch that overlaps with the main rugby pitch which affects RU overlap fixtures, never mind summer RL ones. No, London Welsh would not be a ‘far better option’

I’d have said ‘dream’ rather than ‘nightmare’ tbh if you’re the agents…

On the other side of the fence this is exactly what happened at Worcester RU in terms of the club trying to stagger on despite the owners. Their social media in the last days was something else in terms of the back room staff and players trying to communicate over the heads of the owners.

More likely that it doesn’t needlessly rule it out down the line if an opportunity wanders along?

Why do the words ‘Wesfarmers’ and ‘Homebase’ clang in my head…?

I can’t believe this is still an argument - it’s been going round in circles across threads for at least 18 months now. RL (and RU for that matter) use in-stadium screens for fundamentally different things than football does. So yes, actually, rugby does need better screens than the Premier League…

Mudflats behind Victoria Gardens not count? mind getting in would be easy enough, getting back out again….

Which is where ‘disrepute’ comes in. Virtually every organisation writes that so blandly that they can make it stick even when nothing else does. I’d imagine the RFL disrepute clauses are similar. Then it doesn’t need to be proved legally (unless an aggrieved club then takes the RFL to court), because clubs agree to be bound by the RFL… i don’t think for a minute they’ll do it, but it’s what they obviously could do.

Yes, from at least the 1970s I think (I’m mid 40s and fairly sure it predates me), Birmingham City are the team he says it about (obviously)

Thank you Mr Carrott…

Well I suppose that’s one spin on their relegation…

Richard Harris, Arthur Lowe, William Hartnell…

Fair - though I suppose as a Midlander who has attended both at times I still tend to think that equals a league 1 club, and the Bears (so is actually a net improvement to West Mids RL)* whereas losing the other two was indeed a net loss, no argument. *I totally realise die hard Cov Bears fans don’t see it like that but standing back a bit ‘Canes playing at the Alex is much better if it’s sustainable (if doing a lot of heavy lifting there) - and represents a reversal of the usual lower league expansion club change of ownership where money tends to decrease and grounds get progressively worse with each move…

Is Cov right? I thought they ‘just’ became Midlands Hurricanes?

Hang on… you’re *not* Dave Whelan?