Hello

Personally, as someone who watches football as well, I've always much preferred the video reviews in League and enjoyed the open analysis of the situation.

Honestly, I'm not sure of your comment. I don't know whether you are making a witty observation about the bleak future of the game or implying that I would never watch a game again as I've lost interest. Truth is, I still take a lot of interest in following what is happening. That doesn't mean that I have to like what I see going on in the game. Neither does it mean that I am one of those proclaiming to have lost interest - I haven't. Show me a decent plan to drag the game into the 21st century and I'd be all for it. I would also like to add that, despite my at times frustrated and angery tone, I am not against small town clubs at all, I think that it is good for any sort to have investment such as has happened at Leigh. What I am against is those, and we all know who they are, who repeatedly tell us that expansion is impossible and are glad when bad things happen to expansion teams because it protects their own small world in their mistaken view. The reality is that everyone benefits from increased reach and exposure in any sport.

Sorry, dont mean to be a party pooper but despite some RU clubs falling by the wayside for overextending their reach (the same way that some football clubs do) the revenue of their club game is be on a different scale, and at the top end does not include tiny towns that noone has ever heard in their premier leagues and in their version of the champions league. This is in stark contrast to Rugby league where we have tiny population towns at the top of the English game and barely anything else in the northern hemisphere to speak of. Let's not even get started on the attendances at internationals..... to be fair, there are a fair number on here who are very happy to hold back the game so that their own small town can be a big fish in a small pond (cough, cough, certain posters implicated). I just wish that our sport had proper vision and ambition, but, alas, no.

In the bigger scheme of things, this makes RL look more than ever like a "Happy shopper" afterthought of a sport. Massively dissapointing turn of events, searching for positives is a difficult one.

Ok thanks, I didn't realise the capacity was nearly that high, thought I'd read that it was lower, but my mistake sorry. Do you think that the positive seeds that are being sown in schools etc are translating into small steps forward in attendance in recent times - I hope so?

Fearnowt can I ask please. I understand that the stadium in Colwyn bay has a decent atmosphere, which is great. I've considered trying to get there myself. But, best case scenario and Crusaders get promoted, I understand that the stadium also has a low capacity. Is there talk of what might happen in future if demand for tickets exceeds the stadium capacity? Cheers

Hey mate, thanks for the reply. The thing is though, if there are literally less than 20 thousand people altogether in the Cook Islands, then even if they are much more enthusiastic than your average person globally about attending events, they can still only have a tiny attendance at best. It's total population spread over different islands is not even half the population of a county in the UK for example

I don't get this sorry. Cook Islands population on Google is currently less than 18000 so what use would an international stadium be when they would be doing really well to get 1000 in. For me the most important targets in the southern hemisphere are improving infrastructure and interest in PNG which has a half decent population, NZ which still has decent potential for improvement in interest levels and then Fiji, Samoa and Tonga who actually have much smaller populations but at least something to work with. I can't see how the Cook Islands should be any kind of focus I'm afraid with a population smaller than a smallish town. Edit - and of course reach new areas in Oz and try plant seeds in other Southern hemisphere countries

Not welcomed back or not wanted to try again after what happened? Qatar is a difficult one for me, gut reaction is big no but joking aside about folau, could it possibly bring some plusses? Interesting one.

Do you mean the one that was getting great crowds and raising the game's profile at home and abroad before an unforseeable global crisis in covid hit? Laughable isn't it how some idiots try and expand interest levels in a desperately struggling sport lol !!!!

Hi Mojo, hope you are good. Just checking on Wikipedia for All Blacks games last year, found that the attendances for their three games against Ireland in 2022 were 48,195, 30,748 and 38,000. I don't question your knowledge and so I'm guessing that those attendances are down on figures they might have expected in the past? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Ireland_rugby_union_tour_of_New_Zealand

Sorry mate but that's a pipe dream if ever I heard one. The All blacks sell big crowds for several games every year, and I was shocked at how low the attendances were in New Zealand for their home fixtures last world cup that was down under, despite the fact that they rarely play internationals. Shocked, and also very dissapointed, just a handful of thousands of fans. I hope that you are right that it is on the up, though. I hope that if they are the main host next time then we can ALL get behind them for the love of the game to help them achieve a realistic best that they can, and give the tournament respectability.

If it was a crowd of 1000 then fair play, that's genuine progress in a nation that's basically new to the sport. More, more, more of this needed. Don't listen to those voices (we all know who they are) who say that expansion can never work and actively want to hold the sport back to keep their own small club as a big fish in a small pond. Well done to Greece and Serbia for making this happen, respect

Hey Eddie, can I ask the dreaded attendance question? Genuinely curious as to how much interest you might be getting.

Another little nail in the coffin of the sport - kerching!

Once again, the detractors of the Wolfpack who say it was never going to work fail to acknowledge:- a) they brought much more attention to the sport on BBC and other media sources, attention that faltered sharply when they were "voted" out and therefore WERE having a positive impact for all concerned. b) they were verging on 5 figure crowds even in the second tier, and their fans were enthusiastic and passionate and a great look for the game and were helping to shed the stuck in the past image that so clearly holds the game back. There would have very likely been considerable future increases in crowds if they had been allowed to take part in SL and play some home fixtures, with an improved stadium on the horizon with success. c) as ever, the knockers conveniently ignore the massive world crisis that was covid, and how it's crippling effect on any income streams strangled this extremely promising club.

Where is the ambition, where are the great ideas for promoting and expanding the game? In a week when the US union competition broke it's attendance record by getting over 11,000 for an opening round fixture, I look at the composition of teams in SL, I read the general negative attitudes towards any attempts at expansion, I see the long-awaited new ideas from IMG leaving me feeling "what was all the excitement and optimism about" and I try and think of another sport that gets it so badly wrong. If anyone can think of one, please do say.

Ok

Ok

So which side of centre do you favour out of interest?

Just tuned in to the forum and am happy to find that peace and harmony are breaking out left right and centre

I clicked on the link to the scores provided by langpark and i asked it to translate to English. It told me that, in the fourth game down, a team called Living Room were beaten away from home. Fair play though, they scored a few points, not bad for a room. Doesn't say much about the standard of the opposition though!

Yep, the efforts to grow it have been shockingly bad.

I am pro-expansion and think that having Toulouse going back up and staying up would be great for the sport in general in the medium term, so I will be hoping that they get promoted. However, I respect decent posters like yourself and think that Featherstone is a great club, and absolutely you should be trying to get into SL. It would be great for the sport to have more heartlands clubs at Championship level that bring in your level of support to the game in general and, particularly if SL expands to 14 clubs (which it should) SL could do a lot worse than having Fev as a member.

The NFL is watched by many millions of people outside of the states and London sells out Tottenham's stadium easily when they play a game there, usually more than once a season so I thinking if RL had the international popularity of the NFL then the IRL would be laughing all the way to the bank. I agree with you to an extent that at times people expect the RFL to be miracle workers and blame them unfairly in some instances, but I think that nearly everyone on this forum is in agreement that they could do a damn sight better at supporting the existing game and promoting it to new areas, starting with not forcing Toulouse to pay travel if they get back to SL. The short term thinking by some is how they might lose part of their team budget in travelling whilst not seeing the bigger long-term benefits of having big name places in the sport to make it more attractive to potential new supporters and not be seen as "tin-pot" as so many say.