dealwithit

There is little to no evidence of developing nations attracting (sustained) funding by getting into the WC. @gingerjon Why would I be delighted? Pre-covid the strategy was G20 nations targeted. Post-covid, we have no money and we need to build up our kitty to better support developing nations. If we hold another 16 team WC, we risk making another loss. Which means we never break out of the cycle. The IRL have come out very strongly and said there’s only 5 nations with 10k participants. We need to focus on building this up first. How? By better resourcing local development. To do that we need profitable WCs, because we aren’t an olympic sport and therefore governments give our members little to nothing. Again, the IRL’s data suggests that there’s only 5 nations with a turnover of £30k or more. That’s diabolical. How else do you fast-track development? By being ingrained in a country’s institutions.

Yep. Terrible strategy. The RL villages have already consumed a hell of a lot of content. I don’t understand why we wouldn’t be looking to under-consumed markets.

The letter from Grant and the IRL is strong. While I don’t like 10 teams in 3 pools, we’ll all be happy if the strategy means more resources for developing nations. Rather than WCs, I see Olympics as the primary way to obtain gov funding. We seem to have distanced ourselves from this prospect. The union WC demonstrates the possibilities when a sport is ingrained in institutions — something RL lacks. In portugal, there’s tens of thousands of players with the universities providing a pathway to elite and professional rugby. In Australia, we can’t even get RL played in private schools.

I don’t buy this idea that London won’t obtain enough IMG points to stay up. There’s a lot of reading between the lines being done on here than anything factual or public. We all know the broad categories, but no one here has a copy of the calculator.

Would have thought Albert, Waine, Natoli and Parata were FT.

Apparently the loan was the sweetener for the ground share.

Who are the current FT players?

I made the counter point a few months back. Acccording to Steve Mascord, the £200k is a loan from David to the football club at above market interest rate. Is this true? No idea.

It only makes sense if they’re also going to review the current membership status of all nations at the date mentioned. For example, there’s no way Scotland meet the full membership criteria. But as it stands, they can participate in the qualification and world series but nations like the USA can’t.

I thought Avignon had one of the best rugby league schools? Surely there’s a pathway.

From a different website: Younes Khattabi dreams of Super League for Avignon WRITTEN BY NICOLAS · OCTOBER 2, 2023 Younes Khattabi, president of SO Avignon, told La Provence that he dreams of Super League for his club. It has now been a little over a year since the former Catalan Dragons player took over the presidency of the SOA. Younes Khattabi explained that this new challenge was very interesting even if it was very different from the player's. He hopes to meet the expectations of the people who support the club and wants to dream big for the Bison. He explained to La Provence: While Elite 1 is still struggling to take off, Avignon is another club looking towards England while Carcassonne has confirmed that it has taken action for an entry into the RFL competitions hoped for 2025.

To be fair, Red Star were keen but the RFL weren’t after the Toronto mess. That led to Red Star and the RLEF exploring if a European league was feasible.

Serbia don’t seem to be improving when it comes to the National side. Teams like Partisan and Red Star play with a lot more structure and set players. Serbia seemed to play one-out rugby the whole game.

I’ve always been dubious about the reserves comp. Do the Broncos really need a reserves team? Surely those squad members that miss out on selection could go back and play that weekend for a southern conference team?

That ship has sailed. It’s possible broadcast and betting market, but not participation at a pro level.

Yes, sorry, I should have better explained. Is it a future opportunity, not something for today. Plus, not every player is motivated by money. I reckon there’d be enough players out there that would do it for the experience — maybe 2 per team. If I was younger I’d do it for a season or part there of.

Personally, yes, I think the history is important to retain. There was a post earlier suggesting they’re starting a new club, not restarting the former. Can anyone clarify?

Just a thought… does Greece present an opportunity for lower pro players (League 1) to continue playing in the offseason, ala French Elite season?

Who is Baloup? also, why wouldn’t Lyon restart the old club to retain the history rather than start a new club?

Yeah, I know. But doesn’t it show that you kinda can plonk a team somewhere as long as you commit long term? Obviously the RFL doesn’t have the cash, corporate partners or the track record for this to happen in the UK.

Melbourne?

I guess I’m naturally inquisitive. Because they were dubbed the great opportunity for the RFL. Launched a plan to win SL by 2030. Yet they’re about to be relegated. I was hoping to learn why. Perhaps the owner’s divorce goes some way to explain the downfall.

Because I live thousands of miles away and I’ve never been to Newcastle. From my arm chair I can read that the owner has cut the budget, the team has gone part time and Hogan has left the set up. From where I’m sitting, I thought there’d be more discussion. I use this forum to learn about what’s happening on the ground.

Because 2023 is the current year we are in and quite relevant for a discussion on an internet forum. Why do you have to dig and dig relentlessly? What’s so bad about starting a thread to generate dialogue on a topic?

About Newcastle’s imminent relegation in season 2023?