Martyn Sadler - Talking Rugby League

[Padge]

I've read enough of your thoughts on how the mythical "Calder area" clubs should merge, and when faced with counter argument you simply re-state them.  

 

You never seem to state that Leigh/Wigan and Saints should merge.

 

I've had four PMs telling me how I'm wrong about you today, but at times all I see is a Wigan fan telling others how great Wigan are and how their clubs should be more like Wigan but can't ever be.  

I have never said the 'Calder' clubs should merge. Where do you get that from, I have said what they do is up to them.

 

Where are these posts you speak of, Could you find them for me.

[petesmithfan]

I don't know if you're being serious or not, so I'm assuming you are. I hate to break it to you but, outside of RL, you'd struggle to find anyone who has even heard of Featherstone never mind associate it with tgg. You'd find it even harder to find someone who knows the club's history.

I understand where your coming from, but not entirely true, however that the case or not, some of our cup wins do stand up as amazing sporting achievements when you consider the small demographic and georgraphy much talk of on here.  And put a cross right and marketed to the right people the " awakening of David" could in my view be a reasonable core statement to base marketing on YES.

[Larry the Leit]

I have never said the 'Calder' clubs should merge. Where do you get that from, I have said what they do is up to them.

Where are these posts you speak of, Could you find them for me.

I retracted my earlier post, I realised it was crass and provocative.

Again I'll tell you, the Calder clubs do not exist.

[Padge]

I retracted my earlier post, I realised it was crass and provocative.

Again I'll tell you, the Calder clubs do not exist.

 

If you notice I always put 'Calder' in quotes.

[Terry Mullaney]

I don't know if you're being serious or not, so I'm assuming you are. I hate to break it to you but, outside of RL, you'd struggle to find anyone who has even heard of Featherstone never mind associate it with tgg. You'd find it even harder to find someone who knows the club's history.

Utter rubbish! Where ever I've been in this country the name Featherstone instantly generates the response ' oh yeah Featherstone Rovers' Try it for yourself and see.

[JohnM]

If the club really was a national brand, a household name, it is hard to see what impact it has had.

[Robin Evans]

If the club really was a national brand, a household name, it is hard to see what impact it has had.

Difficult to judge impact john.... and I'd tend to agree it maybe just cursory acknowledgement.

But I've been approached by locals in provence, British columbia and even Chesterfield who have approached me when wearing fev attire recognising the name in rugby league.

Fev most certainly do not have tge global brand of FC Barcelona or even wigan rlfc, but in my own experience at least, they aren't as anonymous as the previous poster suggests..... not that it has any relevance to the topic of the the thread like!!

Edited May 29, 2013 by Robin Evans

[l'angelo mysterioso]

If the club really was a national brand, a household name, it is hard to see what impact it has had.

 

 

If the club really was a national brand, a household name, it is hard to see what impact it has had.

there's a difference between a 'national brand' and somebody having heard of something

there's a good chance that in sports aware circles for instance that people will have heard of featherstone rovers but that's about it. If you walked up to somebody in the street anywhere in the uk and mentioned rugby league they wouldn't know what you were talking about

[Larry the Leit]

Utter rubbish! Where ever I've been in this country the name Featherstone instantly generates the response ' oh yeah Featherstone Rovers' Try it for yourself and see.

 

I think that this is less true nowadays than it was ten or twenty years ago mi old pal.  From personal experience I can tell you that in the Midlands you'd struggle to find anyone under forty that would instantly know who Featherstone* were unless they were mad keen sports fans, and this seems fair as it's thirty years since they got lucky at Wembley.  I'd bet that a the majority of players at the likes of Leicester Storm and Bristol Sonics wouldn't have heard of Fev.

 

*Most people think it's a prison near Wolverhampton.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Larry the Leit

[the phoenix]

I think that this is less true nowadays than it was ten or twenty years ago mi old pal.  From personal experience I can tell you that in the Midlands you'd struggle to find anyone under forty that would instantly know who Featherstone* were unless they were mad keen sports fans, and this seems fair as it's thirty years since they got lucky at Wembley.  I'd bet that a the majority of players at the likes of Leicester Storm and Bristol Sonics wouldn't have heard of Fev.

 

*Most people think it's a prison near Wolverhampton.

your aggorance knows no bounds it seems

[Ponterover]

I think that this is less true nowadays than it was ten or twenty years ago mi old pal.  From personal experience I can tell you that in the Midlands you'd struggle to find anyone under forty that would instantly know who Featherstone* were unless they were mad keen sports fans, and this seems fair as it's thirty years since they got lucky at Wembley.  I'd bet that a the majority of players at the likes of Leicester Storm and Bristol Sonics wouldn't have heard of Fev.

 

*Most people think it's a prison near Wolverhampton.

 

That's probably fair comment, apart from the lucky bit!  I think you watched a different game to me. 

[DeadShotKeen]

Rugby league has very little wider appeal in this country. It exists in its own smug, cosy, ignorant Yorkshire/Lancashire bubble. At home in Hull for the weekend there was much talk about the Saturday Hull derby. Back in Manchester now, it is an irrelevance. Something quaint and historic, of no more than curio interest. Most people don't even know the difference between the 2 sides. I didn't watch any of Magic Weekend, such is my disillusionment with the European game. But I'd be surprised if it warranted more than a flicker of coverage on FiveLive, terrestrial TV news etc. It's not good enough just banging on about it being "the greatest game" ad infinitum, whilst courting deadbeat teams like Featherstone and Leigh. Our appalling structure and presentation overrides the quality of the product.

The lead news photo for Castleford's recent board of director appointments was a sheet of corrugated iron with a broken Castleford Tigers badge. Viva Super League! The elite European game is really a laughing stock.

This will remain until such time as we grow up, amalgamate as a unified force and take the game to the big cities.

[oldrover]

when i was working, i used to travel all over the uk, and i had one of those Featherstone Rovers sun strips across the top of my windscreen. you'd be amazed how many people, from non rl areas, would see the name and come over and start talking about Fev. superleague and a lack of tv exposure put an end to that. ( post office road even got a mention by les battersby on coronation street )

[the phoenix]

I think that this is less true nowadays than it was ten or twenty years ago mi old pal.( very disrespectful terry isnt that old nor would i suggest could be classed as your pal )  From personal experience I can tell you that in the Midlands you'd struggle to find anyone under forty that would instantly know who Featherstone* were unless they were mad keen sports fans(do you have a source for this or have you been asking around and keeping a tally), and this seems fair as it's thirty years since they got lucky at Wembley.(as already pointed out you must have been watching a different game , not sure where the luck was)  I'd bet that a the majority of players at the likes of Leicester Storm and Bristol Sonics wouldn't have heard of Fev.

 

*Most people think it's a prison near Wolverhampton.(not sure you could be more smug)

as i say - your arrogance knows no bounds - and dont bother with the personal message thanks , anything I say i am more than willing to keep it in the domain it was first aired 

[DeadShotKeen]

post office road even got a mention by les battersby on coronation street

Look out NFL!

[the phoenix]

until recently the ground was the Chris moyles stadium , he gave fev a lot of mention to ten million listeners every day

[Terry Mullaney]

Rugby league has very little wider appeal in this country. It exists in its own smug, cosy, ignorant Yorkshire/Lancashire bubble. At home in Hull for the weekend there was much talk about the Saturday Hull derby. Back in Manchester now, it is an irrelevance. Something quaint and historic, of no more than curio interest. Most people don't even know the difference between the 2 sides. I didn't watch any of Magic Weekend, such is my disillusionment with the European game. But I'd be surprised if it warranted more than a flicker of coverage on FiveLive, terrestrial TV news etc. It's not good enough just banging on about it being "the greatest game" ad infinitum, whilst courting deadbeat teams like Featherstone and Leigh. Our appalling structure and presentation overrides the quality of the product.The lead news photo for Castleford's recent board of director appointments was a sheet of corrugated iron with a broken Castleford Tigers badge. Viva Super League! The elite European game is really a laughing stock.This will remain until such time as we grow up, amalgamate as a unified force and take the game to the big cities.

I thought you'd gone

[Terry Mullaney]

I was dining in a Portuguese restaurant last night in the lovely town of Albufeira. As soon as the waiter clocked my Rovers polo shirt the first thing he said was 'who's got the coaching job?' And 'When will the stands be ready?' Amazing!

[Larry the Leit]

as i say - your arrogance knows no bounds - and dont bother with the personal message thanks , anything I say i am more than willing to keep it in the domain it was first aired 

 

 

It certainly appears that somebody has got out of bed the wrong side this morning.  I have known Terry for just short of thirty years, and if he's offended by being called old, I'm sure he'll take it up with me; probably after he's finished watching countdown.

 

I have not got a tally, and as for the source it's me.  It's usually when I'm asked which soccer team I support and I say I don't and that I support Wakefield Trinity.  If conversation continues around RL then I'm asked usually which League Trinity play in (for those that don't know) and then how widespread the game is which is where Featherstone Rovers, Hunslet Hawks, Batley etc come into the conversation.  I'd say that almost without exception if I'm talking to somebody under 40 then they will never have heard of any of those clubs.  If you think that makes me arrogant, so be it.

 

I have been involved with amateur rugby league in the Midlands and the London leagues on and off for around fifteen years, and it's safe to say that most players don't even watch the game on Sky and couldn't name all the sides in Superleague, let alone the championship. It's of enormous disappointment to me that players of RL in non-heartland areas are not universally watching the Sky coverage (and Premier sports) to learn and make their own games better, but that's what I've found.

 

If you think that calling Featherstone's victory at Wembley in 1983 lucky is arrogant, then you need to get out and meet a few more people.  It was a litte dig, from a Wakefield Trinity supporter who is generally massively supportive of Featherstone Rovers and their hopes and ambitions.  

 

I sent you the PM, as I thought your post was odd.  In hindsight it wasn't odd, it was stupid.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Larry the Leit

[Terry Mullaney]

your aggorance knows no bounds it seems

Larry's alright really Phoenix, he's got a bit of a soft spot for Fev.

[l'angelo mysterioso]

when i was working, i used to travel all over the uk, and i had one of those Featherstone Rovers sun strips across the top of my windscreen. you'd be amazed how many people, from non rl areas, would see the name and come over and start talking about Fev. superleague and a lack of tv exposure put an end to that. ( post office road even got a mention by les battersby on coronation street )

 

 

when i was working, i used to travel all over the uk, and i had one of those Featherstone Rovers sun strips across the top of my windscreen. you'd be amazed how many people, from non rl areas, would see the name and come over and start talking about Fev. superleague and a lack of tv exposure put an end to that. ( post office road even got a mention by les battersby on coronation street )

not inability or unwillingness to capitalise on success then. Such success was followed as sure as night follows day by crisis and financial problems anyway.

 

and as someone else has said until fairly recently your club featured regularly and frequently on prime time radio 1, what a great opporrtunity that was...what happened?

[Griff]

Soccer gets soccer-style funding because it has P&R! This keeps their fans interested and gives them hope.

If that were true, I'd expect any sport with P+R to get soccer-style funding. They don't - so that must be rubbish.

[Ponterover]

Rugby league has very little wider appeal in this country. It exists in its own smug, cosy, ignorant Yorkshire/Lancashire bubble. At home in Hull for the weekend there was much talk about the Saturday Hull derby. Back in Manchester now, it is an irrelevance. Something quaint and historic, of no more than curio interest. Most people don't even know the difference between the 2 sides. I didn't watch any of Magic Weekend, such is my disillusionment with the European game. But I'd be surprised if it warranted more than a flicker of coverage on FiveLive, terrestrial TV news etc. It's not good enough just banging on about it being "the greatest game" ad infinitum, whilst courting deadbeat teams like Featherstone and Leigh. Our appalling structure and presentation overrides the quality of the product.

The lead news photo for Castleford's recent board of director appointments was a sheet of corrugated iron with a broken Castleford Tigers badge. Viva Super League! The elite European game is really a laughing stock.

This will remain until such time as we grow up, amalgamate as a unified force and take the game to the big cities.

 

 

Yawn

[oldrover]

and as someone else has said until fairly recently your club featured regularly and frequently on prime time radio 1, what a great opporrtunity that was...what happened?

you tell me, it was your club too at the time

[l'angelo mysterioso]

you tell me, it was your club too at the time

Nothing happened

Apart from your club getting lots of publicity on prime time national radio which kind of puts your whinge into perspective . I'm given to understand that your club featured regularly on SKY's coverage of championship rugby league