Hello

Their lowest rated in terms of importance:- COMMUNITY • Clubs awarded for foundation - participation growth and community engagement • Indicator of club fanbase potential • Incentivises investment in large potential markets • Foundation activity reflects a clubs impact in its community Worth just 12,5 % This is why, for example, the cricket and Union world cups are watched my many many times more people than the RL world cup, not even thinking about football. This is why other sports such as basketball are expanding globally and we are not. Fanbase potential/ Incentivises investment in large potential markets are an afterthought. IMG seens to be same old RL, never growing.

Great wumming, keep it up, brings a smile at the end of a bad day in work!

Ok John, point taken. I would say that a lot of threads go off on tangents and please can I point out that I thought that it was ok to post what I did in a Toronto thread. Thank you

Such a shame to see a team in a major city that were breaking record levels of attendance in the Championship before they were VOTED out of existence now unable to participate in meaningful games, and therefore unable now to help provide the desperately needed expansion of the sport with it's knock on benefits to all existing teams, with the increased glamour and media attention that they did and would again have provided looking to a better future. But hey ho, let's look at a few quid lost next year instead of a sport dying in the next 5, 10, 15 years.

Thanks for taking the time to update us with this info. There seem to be small but positive steps in the region?

Market knowledge and marketing are crucial, I agree.

Checking back in on the topic that I started, thanks for all of the well cosidered contributions. I was hoping (but not necessarilhy expecting) to hear from some people in at least the midlands and possibly London who might have positive news. But hey ho, the fight is tough. If we don't keep fighting though, we will die on this hill. Have a nice evening

"Rugby league strives to step up amid Premiership’s collective crisis With tens of thousands of union fans left without a club, league may attempt an expansion into other strongholds" The headline of the article. Yes, there is no detail on how, so I guess from your comment that you don't think anything will come of it,and I totally understand why you feel that way. Fair enough, I'm just asking for opinions on here. Got to say though, I would love just one person to come forward with an optimistic view, even if it was fantasy lol. That's rugby league I guess.

So you also diasgree with the article, again, fair enough. Maybe the article is total fantasy and we should just accept how things are without trying to make some small positive steps. I agree with you that there will be other union clubs on the way to replace them, but things are constantly fluid in sport - I would like to think that at least small gains could be made as suggested in the article, but mabye we should just lay down our weapons. i know though that shifting opinions in established areas is damn difficult, which might be why going to virgin territory is easier in a way.

So you disagree with the article, fair enough. I'm not saying that I agree or disagree, just putting the question out there.

OK fair enough, but I'm not talking about massive investment to make a big change, just wise use of limited resources to make tangible, if small, steps in the right direction. I take it that you disagree with the thrust of the article (not saying that you're wrong, just putting it out there).

Sorry Damien, nothing at all. I meant to post a "sad" emoji and effed up. Now changed

I totally agree with you that there is no MAJOR presence in Coventry, though there is a small one. I believe though that the Midlands team now plays in Birmingham and is intended to attract people from the whole area. The article says that there are some promising signs in terms of youth numbers etc. I have my doubts like yourself, but if you don't buy a ticket you don't win the lottery etc and a question might be could RL achieve significant growth without spending a lot of money? Again, I agree with you in having severe doubts but the article suggests that some Wasps fans for example are interested in going to see Midlands Hurricanes now that Wasps have gone down the pan for the forseeable. Is this based on solid evidence, I'm putting the question out there. One thing for sure, all sports worldwide started in one town/village/city and then expanded to a lesser or greater extent, if you lay down your weapons and quit trying then you have no chance.

So you don't see a gap in the market that RL can succesfully exploit as implied by the article? You may well be right, I don't know. A key thing is surely promotion of your sport for any sport.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jun/10/london-irish-rugby-league-rugby-union-wasps-worcester Any thoughts? I'm particularly interested to hear from fans in the midlands as to the direction of travel for playing numbers at youth level and whether there is an increase in attendances, and if so to what level. The London effect I think, as the article suggests, is less directly promising as a result of what's happened in Union's Premiership, but I'm still interested to hear any thoughts on this.

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 !!!!