Tommygilf

That doesn't mean that they aren't doing things now though surely?

Because of working early on weekends occasionally I've often found that if I'm to socialise with mates that week I'll be driving and as such not drinking. There's only so much pepsi max or lemonade a man can drink, so I've tried the 0% stuff. FWIW I think the Peroni version isn't bad, better than Becks Blue imo. Not had Guinness 0 or many others yet as I've liked the Peroni stuff. I wouldn't have it if I didn't have work the next day mind.

Dependent on your preference, a top historian or spiderman...

I can't believe that, given your club is the single biggest example of a club that has taken on implementing the "IMG plan". Improved matchdays, a rebrand, squad investment? Have all these passed you by?

Reflective? The sport was a financial basket case then. Its not great now, but its in a far better place financially.

That doesn't make sense to me H sorry.

I know. "But its just the clubs acting in their own interests" - of course!!! That is the point - directing self interest to also work for the benefit of the whole sport.

I think this is the way Olympic host cities are going to have to go. The days of huge "Olympic Parks" are going to be fewer in future imo. Equally, this solution can only be applied to cities that already have this sort of infrastructure to upgrade; which again limits options.

If the merest hint of "minimum standards" and "grading" has got the clubs here, imagine what IMG's actual impact is when fully engaged.

I think that in the 80s the revenues across the game were lower, attendances were lower, sponsorship was almost wholly reliant on fags and booze which would soon be banned, facilities were already looking aged and there were very few full time employees in the whole game. That's before we look at the economic fate hitting most RL towns at the time and there being little to no other major competitors for attention from either kids or adults.

So clubs are progressing and that is a good thing?

Doesn't the community game directly reflect the commercial success of the sport as both are reflective of general interest?

Standing still is going backwards.

Its like Liberty Media and F1. They are undeniably behind the massive uptick in that sport's popularity in the past few years, they took a large interest in the recent regulation changes that have been implemented, they are behind ththey e teams and administrators of the sport taking a whole new approach to how the present themselves and interact (many quite reluctantly). Most fans, especially the new fans, don't know who they are.

Up till very recently there was massive issues over the TV rights in Europe iirc.

Yet he continually chooses not to, why?

Agreed, they have to work in partnership off the field.

As I said its not necessarily translatable to London or the South East specifically, but I think these things can all work together. As you say I think the RL situation is far from ideal, and is closer to critical.

I'd argue a lot is prestige and a local boost, like hosting the world championships of any sport. It isn't the Olympics, but the RLWC isn't either! In some sense as well it can be either a trial run for a larger Olympic bid, or part of the Olympic legacy programme. My point was rather that as financial belts begin to tighten, even for the biggest events, the smaller events will naturally suffer.

To be fair, finding hosts of the Olympics and FIFA world cups are becoming more difficult. For the former, the options are becoming narrower due to the cost of hosting. Brisbane 2032 won unopposed for example. And for the latter, either autocratic regimes that can pump money into facilities they will never need again, or a growing amount of multi-national bids seems to be the only way for many to make it cost effective. Likewise the Olympics seem to be garnering "multi-city" interest, with regions considering joint bids. The reality seems to be that unless you already have the facilities in place, which is rare, many of the facilities required for big international events is difficult for many to justify financially. How many massive atheletics stadiums don't become white elephants for example.

I absolutely get what you are saying and agree mostly with it. I too think the Broncos decision to go part time has tipped the balance out of whack and the Skolars are bearing the brunt of that. However, if possible, I do think that sometimes having a "rival" can help a team trying to make headway in an outpost area. It gives at least 1 or 2 big games a season they can draw attention to. On field rivals but off field partners can be a good mantra. I think its particularly effective very far off areas, including internationally, but can be seen in a domestic context too.

Partly I think that is because it isn't set up as a primarily Spectator focused comp, certainly in NSW where it is most obviously a reserve competition and has arguably shifted more this way in the past decade. The Queensland Cup has always felt a bit more of a genuine second tier comp, as opposed to a reserve grade one, to me at least. Its not just existing NRL club reserves, and quite a few of the clubs are based a fair way away from any of the NRL clubs in the area (most notable of course being the Hunters!). They're probably not going to get die hard support, but they provide a lot of Queensland with access to a good level of RL they'd otherwise have to head into Brisbane, Townsville or the southern bit of Gold Coast.

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RIP