yipyee

The pitch looks fantastic, better than a lot of established clubs

Calm down amigo.. Away fans want to stay together, bit poor on Leeds to house the away fans in early 20th century conditions but hey ho its the same for all visiting clubs. I was enquiring the capacity of this dodgy stand and were Leeds limiting themselves ie shooting themselves in the foot. The away end looked full and if its 3500ish that end can fit in then maybe there were several pay on the gate.

Thats beside my point but all factually correct

Just mean lack of revenue. Away fans tend to want to stick together in one end but its good that some who don't want to or can't stand all game have a sit down option. Surprised it ended up 14k great showing from the Leeds faithful during a period of uncertainty.

Leeds only allocated 1500 to saints, shooting themselves in the foot there, is that the capacity of the derelict stand they force away fans into?

Everyone played union until they changed the rules way past 1895...

You are correct in all of that however saints and wigan are small towns where some of the biggest football clubs in the world are a stones throw away, whilst the rugby is a big draw in these towns they are probably at near maximum 'expansion' unless the game itself massively expands to a point where it can draw in fans, sponsors and players from a larger geographical area. If you look at saints academy players and graduates few are actually from St helens but surrounding areas. The positive is sponsors with st helens main shirt sponsor coming from Liverpool. The game needs toulouse to fulfill its potential and the next stage of that is to stay in the SL. Just a final note look at the sponsors, players, attendances, ground relocation and overall development of the club in the last 5 years, there is no reason this cannot continue. Now the question is would a French TV deal be split evenly between the 2 French clubs??

Yes I do, Catalan have hit a point were they cannot grow anymore, if toulouse replicate this in a major city they would be bigger than the 3 you name. Catalan did have all home games televised and they travel to all away games by private jet. They are top of the league in commercial revenue and have an academy only second to saints. Theres a reason dark forces have kept toulouse down for as long as they could

You are of course wrong... not for older fans but certainly for new fans, although running a club is bigger than just fans, its competing for new fans, local govenment support, as well as sponsors and youth players to name a few

The French attendances seem to boost when the domestic league is over, not sure if there is a direct correlation. Catalan always had a max saturation point and for me that is why they were chosen over other bids (toulouse being one) in that they could be a big club but not bigger than the status quo at the top of SL. I hope we don't end up with another hull situation in that Hull fc were competing at the top end of SL and then kr got promoted and we now have 2 middle run SL clubs, probably due to market saturation for fans and players. This is always dressed up as a positive though due to the 2 Derby games.

Thats obviously the selling point to sky to give up exclusivity. People watching channel 4 wanting to watch more rugby league which is behind a pay wall. Suppose its similar to sky showing boxing on their channels but then showing the big fights as ppv I know quite a few people who get now tv passes just for the RL and this is also a good avenue into this part of sky

Its better not to worry and let's see what happens. In Cornwall case the guy in charge has done this before and it worked out just fine until the mafia closed ranks at the top

Oww So money and revenue is one thing A conveyor belt of talent in an area with no RL background is hard to do. Especially when they appear disorganised in the back office. Many a multi million pound companies have gone bust due to poor leadership. Now your initially just on about how are they semi pro with 100 Gates, well obviously they have additional revenue streams. This financial side has little to do with hiring a decent coach and recruiting local talent that doesn't currently exist.

Well derrrr gate takings are only one income stream, its about time RL morons finally understand this

Well then Swinton, Oldham, York, Bramley, Hunslet Sheffield, Doncaster and all other failed and failing lower division clubs should just give up then?

If that was true the club wouldn't exsist in the first place. There also wouldn't be a historic list of welsh players whom excelled at league. Infact at junior level Wales are competing, the issue appears to be one above desire and will.

No large sums pumped in, only went pro this year and have organically grown. I am sorry if this truth doesn't fit your rhetoric.

Gateshead then Newcastle carried on ever since and invested in the pyramid below, they are a success story

Newcastle thunder? Sheffield Eagles? Coventry/ Midlands?

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/rugby-league-news/wayne-rooney-roy-keane-argument-4081891 Leeds rhinos fan... also emphasises the Liverpool / wool divide

I think Giggs has bigger issues to deal with... but as the seasons overlap its understandable that they had a job to do so are armchair fans St Helens and Widnes are not Liverpool, if you lived in the area you would understand.

Bellew is a rugby fan but kids play union due to no RL in the area. Rooney is a big fan as is Ryan Giggs, apparently quite a few of the old utd squad watched Friday night games in the team hotel the night before their games...

Its the lack of knowledge that the game exsists more than anything, Wayne Rooney is a fan as too was Tony bellew who was enjoying one of the last saints games, its the getting them to watch a game and having a scouse team to get behind.

The best players in the area will play semi pro union though so a RL club couldn't exist in the lower league unless importing players from St helens widnes etc and then the fans wouldn't get behind them..

RL would be successful in Liverpool however St helens is by no shape or form anything whatsoever to do with Liverpool so it would not work. There is too much of a divide between Liverpool and everywhere outside of Liverpool. There would need to be a Liverpool only club but then the union clubs would close ranks.