Harrogate Fire Ants

The problem we have is that we have England touch which were once linked to O2 and have their own set of rules. We also have the RFL community run Touch Rugby League too. Possibly too many options

TTRL has recently teamed up with the Bulls foundation and they run a midweek league (South) at lightcliffe along with the already established Bradford and Bingley league. There are 4 league events a week in the general Leeds area and 1 in Wakefield with Sheffield also being proposed. More pro club foundations need to take the reins on this especially as they can often provide the facilities too which will make things a bit cheaper and the fan base could easily be raised the profile of. Yorkshire host a national team event at Stanningley RL in August every year which is a great day out and there are several other events too in London amongst having the opportunity to apply to play at Magic (during half time on the pitch) amongst other events. On another form with X-league they have recently gone into the beach form with an event scheduled on 25th September between 1-3pm at Bridlington South Beach. If you Facebook @BridBeachXLeague or twitter @BridBeachRL you will find full contact info and details.

It is but also under £5 in an Uber

Least I got a couple of laughs

Go big or go home restructure. Leagues in same format, start Feb end in July with challenge cup final No repeat fixtures, no playoffs. 4 Leagues of 10 teams one up one down in each. Scrap the cap allow Toronto, New York and Ottawa in plus a couple of additions from Europe such as Red Star Belgrade to fill the league structures Then from July to October I would start the international and/or representative origin calender potential of fixtures like Yorks vs Lancs or North vs South or North West, WF & Hull mergers. Internationals such as England Knights vs Wales, England vs France, Canada vs USA etc. Internationals and origins to be played in UK Rugby league stadiums with host stadium getting % of gate money and all bar takings. Not saying I fully support the above but would shake up the game a bit with a variety of fixtures. You could please your flatcappers and your franchisees with a bit of both. The problem with a merger is to create franchises although sounds sensible ruins the history of both the game and clubs. If you take the "WF problem" there are 3 sides steeped in proud history in Wakey, Cas and Fev, someone looking at that from a franchise view point with their USA American Sports hat on would say a one club merger "WF" but you would lose 100 years of tradition, rivalry etc.The same goes with the 2 clubs of Hull You could also argue a North West super merger all within 20 miles of each other of Wigan, St Helens, Leigh, Salford and Warrington under a North West/ Manchester banner could be achieved but same as above also applies. I personally don't think mergers are the way forward as although commercially less competition you lose the sole of the comp and the fans. Would people turn out for a combined best of the North West sides vs best of WF or Hull? I am not sure However if we sold out and a capital equity franchiser got a proper hold on the comp they could say Wigan has a near on 30K stadium use that and bring these together and Hull FC has a similar capacity with Leeds/Huddersfield merger at Headingley due to the location and facilities. When you look at American owners they moved Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas 550 odd miles away in a different state and you only have to look at the recent uproar in soccer with the "ESL". Do we go big, stay stagnant or make little changes be interesting to see what if anything changes.

I suppose its who the ball bounces too and how setup your attack is. If your dummy half isn't in the picture as the forwards have forced the error do you want to waste the opportunity or setup with clear direction especially now you can opt where on the pitch to place the roll the ball as in near, middle or far side on the other hand if that drops to a speedster like Grace there is definitely play on to be had then

I would invest in India creating a link up with Kabbadi teams and developing the newly created ISL (India Super League) that has no salary cap and plays from November to January. Then once that is setup. Build a £50million stadium for teams in Harrogate. But then I don't play the lottery so these can remain dreams.

Thank you for putting me right... Least it means I can do 50 in a 30 zone as North Yorkshire police don't exist and set fire to stuff knowing that North Yorkshire fire and rescue aren't going to do anything about it. I might even going to the mythical North Yorkshire Moors National park. I agree it is sparsely populated however 75,000 people in Harrogate 190,000 in York. Even in York there is the opportunity to tap into the casual Rugby league/sports fan or bring super league watchers to York from Harrogate and surrounding areas. The strategy if you listen to Jon Flatman (Chairman of York) is based around York and the surrounding areas of North Yorkshire in terms of increasing fan base and attracting new supporters along, he hasn't got the cure and cracked York in terms of supporters but thinking outside the box and with supporter organisations like the Harrogate York Knights amongst others are always going to help.

Saying this as a York fan but also from Harrogate. What often gets overlooked is the larger picture, York is the only pro club in North Yorkshire which is a massive county by landmass in England taking in huge coastline to the moors and nearby towns. North Yorkshire is definitely a growth area with huge potential, its much more than just York, although the stadium looks great and I can't wait to watch my first game from there.

The exchange rate is quite good at the moment but the like of Qantas you need a vaccine certificate for Covid to fly with them regardless of restrictions

The costs would vary so much the best way would be to fix a budget first. Look at the cheaper match tickets although the NRL isn't that expensive (around £15-20) each flights in August you will be luckily to be under £1000 and same again for accommodation. £3-4k region but that could vary if you are prepared to backpacker it or hotel it.

Proper set of coverage that. Personally I think it's great, although I don't know much about the sportsman's deal with the Challenge Cup it's brilliant it gives another viewing platform for Rugby League. A take over on BBC 2 is brilliant too and if they do a combi deal for the Our League stuff I might be locked in the shed permanently!

I know it has been struggling and there are often articles popping up on BBC about "does Speedway have a future in the UK" and that was about 6 years ago reporting below 1,000 mark typically on average. However like most sports I imagine you will have your hardcore followers. Most of the riders seem to come from abroad especially Scandinavian countries if you include Denmark. Most of the tracks are greyhound racing tracks or used to be and that still keeps going when you get the negative press. Speedway GB recently has had investment from BT Sports as a sole coverage provider but its usually like on Channel 2 but the GB competition seems to be a feeder comp where the foreign riders come to be less high profile before going to Sweden or Denmark where it seems very popular.

It's been clear for some time that the gap between Rugby Union and League is getting larger in terms of funding however I came across this article recently. Otley, Leeds Tykes (Based at Headingley), Huddersfield RUFC and Wharfedale (now however have decided to pull out) were due to be playing in a 4 team friendly tournament home and away with a "finals day" at Headingley this summer. You maybe thinking it's 4 union sides which it is however at least 3 of them are in "Rugby League territory" when in comes to location. The prize fund for this tournament is £10,000 for clubs that size that are probably League 1 standard in terms of crouds and playing standards (all part time too) how do they negotiate such a good deal. It would be interesting to know if the 2019 pre season "Yorkshire Cup" had a cash prize or the prize structures for Challenge Cup/1895. They would still get gate receipts due to the time of the year they were proposing to play it and all the corporate stuff on top too. https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/otley/news/otley-in-new-ventur-cup-2598502.html

Just an update regarding work going on in Harrogate. Although we are in North Yorkshire and half way between 2 clubs in Leeds and York. Harrogate itself would be deemed a Union Town. But taking that we have embraced the fact mainly because of Gary Mercer (ex Kiwi) being the Director of Rugby at Ashville College in Harrogate and we are now based there permanently. We are the first and only to date rugby league team playing from an independent school. What they are able to offer in terms of facilities is unrilved with 7 Rugby pitches, an all weather pitch and the option for our members to pay £20 per month for gym and swimming pool membership at a corporate rate. In return they are providing players that usually play Union for the college allowing us to work with them from May to August which will keep them fit and skill sets up and we have overnight created an U16s and U18s side with further junior development to be added from other age groups and the local Grammar school. This will also give us the opportunity to play the Army foundation college based in Harrogate in a friendly match at U18 level. I know a few "Southern" teams work with Union clubs and some play directly out of them but looking from an outside in from May to August every year there isn't stopping any Union teams picking up league as a "Summer fitness sport" and maybe to increase the success of our sport in the non heartland areas we could do more to increase participation such as this?