Koukash and new Cumbrian club - good idea?

[Hopping Mad]

Don't mention the appalling roads in Devon (and Cornwall)! I still bear the scars from the short time I worked in Exeter. Was over that way on holiday last September. Combe Martin (near Ilfracombe) to Penzance, to watch Cornish Pirates RU - a six-hour return drive. :-(

Mind you, a west Cumbrian once told me the guy who laid out the Barrow to Whitehaven road was drunk at the time.

[Davo5]

12 hours ago, TMF said:

Look, can we just knock this stupid idea on the head, now, and go on to more interesting things?

You do realise it's not compulsory to post on these threads,don't you.

[wiggler]

As a name how about West Cumbrian Jets?

This name would clearly be a Workington/Whitehaven/Maryport club - linking it with Barrow would be a stretch too far.  Cumbria is a big county with poor roads so the journey time from Barrow to Workington is prohibitive.  According to Google maps it takes 30 minutes longer to get form Barrow to Workington than from Featherstone to Rochdale.  And how ludicrous does it sound to suggest a merger between Fev and Hornets to generate a Super League team?  The better non-conference amateur teams are playing in the North West league this year rather than travelling up the coast to West Cumbria, which tells you something about the journey.

Biggest stumbling block would be the ground.  It would need to be new so as not to alienate existing club fans (not there are many left who pay to go these days) and attract new comers (both Derwent Park and the Rec are past their best before dates).  Lillyhall ( near Distington) has always been the favourite as there is land and it straddles the Allerdale/Copeland border. 

The playing talent is there, so keep dreaming.  All it needs is plenty Koukash cash!

[Hopping Mad]

Cumbria Atoms? West Coast Atoms? Go very nicely with some investment from Sellafield.

[yipyee]

9 minutes ago, Hopping Mad said:

Cumbria Atoms? West Coast Atoms? Go very nicely with some investment from Sellafield.

And when the investment ends you are left with a daft name...

[Spidey]

2 minutes ago, yipyee said:

And when the investment ends you are left with a daft name...

London Skolars would disagree

[Hopping Mad]

1 minute ago, yipyee said:

And when the investment ends you are left with a daft name...

If it were the price of securing investment from Sellafield, I could live with it.

[yipyee]

5 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

Problem is, the RFL's post-1995 policy, myopic and elitist, has been 'Only Super League Matters'. The clubs in Cumbria, even a 'super club' based either in the Whitehaven/Workington area or in Barrow (Furness is the bigger catchment), are never going to be sustainable at that level. As things stand, they have no future. The locals aren't daft. They know the score, which is why they have stopped attending matches. The Cumbria county team has shown itself capable of attracting crowds up to 5,000. Is it enough for Super League? Would it be enough for a Super League II?

5k home support with no concessions.. no tricks to up attendance (flag waving kids n parents, mascots, mini games, subsidised tickets in schools) and no away support...

5k would turn into 8k which is then sustainable with the SKY $$$

As said it's not the current support that is needed it's the stayaways/new supporters that's needed. 

[yipyee]

Just now, Spidey said:

London Skolars would disagree

But others would

[Route66]

22 minutes ago, yipyee said:

 

As said it's not the current support that is needed it's the stayaways/new supporters that's needed. 

Would have to class myself as one of those stayaways,I still follow the results of the local teams but believe the time is right to take a chance on change.I personally know a lot more rugby fans who don't go than do.

[thebigbopper]

I'm a Swinton Season Ticket holder living in South Cumbria, its easier for me to get to Swinton than all other clubs in Cumbria apart from Barrow (where I work).

Building a club in Cumbria and then expecting lots of fans to support from all over Cumbria is not realistic, too big a county, too few people.

For people who don't know the area look at the map, physically Cumbria is huge and public travel on a Sunday is non existent.

What I have found though is the passion for the game is wonderful here though, far greater than anywhere else I have lived.

[yanto]

22 minutes ago, thebigbopper said:

Building a club in Cumbria and then expecting lots of fans to support from all over Cumbria is not realistic, too big a county, too few people.

Yet Scotland,or Tonga ,or Italy or New Zealand with NO connection to Cumbria can attract 7,000 + LOCAL crowds with very little away support

So being REALISTIC fans from all over Cumbria do support the game at a higher level. .

Now a Cumbria United (I like that) playing out of a new stadium on the outskirts of the Lake District just of the main A66 half an hour from the M6 motorway could attract 5-6000 local supporters. Then add on the travelling support we are told all the SL clubs have and gates of 6,7,8000 are realistic .

Forget Workington Town in SL era,forget the Haven and Town gates while playing in Championship one, base your crowds on what a regional side could attract when comparing gates with the WC and 4 Nations game .

People don't want to pay 12,15,16 quid to watch championship 1 standard when they can watch Wath Brow ,Egremont or Kells for 3 or 4 quid,but have shown in the past they WILL support big events.

The last three big games played in the area have proved there is a fan base crying out for a higher level of footy to support.

 

 

[Derwent]

3 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

If it were the price of securing investment from Sellafield, I could live with it.

Nothing will be forthcoming from Sellafield, that horse has long since bolted. The old BNFL had money to burn for local investment and sponsorship but now it’s all private companies seeking to maximise profit. 

[Derwent]

13 minutes ago, yanto said:

Yet Scotland,or Tonga ,or Italy or New Zealand with NO connection to Cumbria can attract 7,000 + LOCAL crowds with very little away support

So being REALISTIC fans from all over Cumbria do support the game at a higher level. .

Now a Cumbria United (I like that) playing out of a new stadium on the outskirts of the Lake District just of the main A66 half an hour from the M6 motorway could attract 5-6000 local supporters. Then add on the travelling support we are told all the SL clubs have and gates of 6,7,8000 are realistic .

Forget Workington Town in SL era,forget the Haven and Town gates while playing in Championship one, base your crowds on what a regional side could attract when comparing gates with the WC and 4 Nations game .

People don't want to pay 12,15,16 quid to watch championship 1 standard when they can watch Wath Brow ,Egremont or Kells for 3 or 4 quid,but have shown in the past they WILL support big events.

The last three big games played in the area have proved there is a fan base crying out for a higher level of footy to support.

 

 

Getting people to turn out for one-off big games is one thing, getting them to do it week after week is another thing altogether especially if it’s not a successful team. You know how fickle people are around here, if it was a team that was bumping along in the bottom 4 you’d be lucky to get 3,000 there. A team in the top 8 might get double that but only if it was winning the majority of its home games.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

Cumbria Atoms? West Coast Atoms? Go very nicely with some investment from Sellafield.

I’ve posted on this thread and others before it that the Cumbria merger ship has long since left port but hypothetically if it was to happen it would have to be a west Cumbria club with a potential fan catchment area of egremont to the south and maryport to the north with cleator moor, whitehaven and Workington in between. At a stretch you could go as far south as Millom and as far north as Wigton in which both towns fall in the Copeland and Allerdale Boroughs.

As for a stadium the ideal location for me geographically would be lillyhall but it isn’t served by a train station but has decent bus links. 

Also the name I would go for would be the “west Cumbria mariners” focusing on the areas sea links and history. Plus you could also have “marra the mariner” as club mascot for obvious reasons ?

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Derwent said:

Getting people to turn out for one-off big games is one thing, getting them to do it week after week is another thing altogether especially if it’s not a successful team. You know how fickle people are around here, if it was a team that was bumping along in the bottom 4 you’d be lucky to get 3,000 there. A team in the top 8 might get double that but only if it was winning the majority of its home games.

This. A merged team would have to play in super league and no where else otherwise what would be the point of supporting a merged team in the lower leagues when you’ve already got whitehaven and Workington in the same leagues.

[Hopping Mad]

17 minutes ago, Derwent said:

Nothing will be forthcoming from Sellafield, that horse has long since bolted. The old BNFL had money to burn for local investment and sponsorship but now it’s all private companies seeking to maximise profit. 

Maybe a west coast 'super club' should have happened in the 1980s, when BNFL couldn't wait to chuck money at Cumbria rugby league. I recall BNFL sponsoring Whitehaven's strip, underwriting the £60,000 Rob Ackerman signing, paying for the Recreation Ground's new changing rooms/boardroom, backing the GB BARLA open age and youth teams (then usually brimming with Cumbrians), sponsoring the BARLA National Cup (open age and youth) etc etc.

[paulwalker71]

3 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

Cumbria Atoms? West Coast Atoms? Go very nicely with some investment from Sellafield.

Cumbria Isotopes

#simpsonsreference

[Hopping Mad]

9 minutes ago, walter sobchak said:

I’ve posted on this thread and others before it that the Cumbria merger ship has long since left port but hypothetically if it was to happen it would have to be a west Cumbria club with a potential fan catchment area of egremont to the south and maryport to the north with cleator moor, whitehaven and Workington in between. At a stretch you could go as far south as Millom and as far north as Wigton in which both towns fall in the Copeland and Allerdale Boroughs.

As for a stadium the ideal location for me geographically would be lillyhall but it isn’t served by a train station but has decent bus links. 

Also the name I would go for would be the “west Cumbria mariners” focusing on the areas sea links and history. Plus you could also have “marra the mariner” as club mascot for obvious reasons ?

Liking the irony of the Cumbria merger ship having long since left port and a possible 'super club' being called Mariners!

[Derwent]

5 minutes ago, Hopping Mad said:

Maybe a west coast 'super club' should have happened in the 1980s, when BNFL couldn't wait to chuck money at Cumbria rugby league. I recall BNFL sponsoring Whitehaven's strip, underwriting the £60,000 Rob Ackerman signing, paying for the Recreation Ground's new changing rooms/boardroom, backing the GB BARLA open age and youth teams (then usually brimming with Cumbrians), sponsoring the BARLA National Cup (open age and youth) etc etc.

Yep, and now Haven can’t even get a decent sponsor after Aecom didn’t renew their deal. Times have changed.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Hopping Mad said:

Liking the irony of the Cumbria merger ship having long since left port and a possible 'super club' being called Mariners!

Honestly Not intended. lol

[Derwent]

11 minutes ago, walter sobchak said:

I’ve posted on this thread and others before it that the Cumbria merger ship has long since left port but hypothetically if it was to happen it would have to be a west Cumbria club with a potential fan catchment area of egremont to the south and maryport to the north with cleator moor, whitehaven and Workington in between. At a stretch you could go as far south as Millom and as far north as Wigton in which both towns fall in the Copeland and Allerdale Boroughs.

As for a stadium the ideal location for me geographically would be lillyhall but it isn’t served by a train station but has decent bus links. 

Also the name I would go for would be the “west Cumbria mariners” focusing on the areas sea links and history. Plus you could also have “marra the mariner” as club mascot for obvious reasons ?

The problem with a stadium is which borough it would fall under. Build it in Allerdale and Copeland Council would not get involved, and vice versa. 

[yipyee]

1 hour ago, thebigbopper said:

I'm a Swinton Season Ticket holder living in South Cumbria, its easier for me to get to Swinton than all other clubs in Cumbria apart from Barrow (where I work).

Building a club in Cumbria and then expecting lots of fans to support from all over Cumbria is not realistic, too big a county, too few people.

For people who don't know the area look at the map, physically Cumbria is huge and public travel on a Sunday is non existent.

What I have found though is the passion for the game is wonderful here though, far greater than anywhere else I have lived.

Most SL games are Thursday and Friday night's....

Catalans play home on Saturdays.

There is no reason to think one dimensional relating to Sundays...

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Derwent said:

The problem with a stadium is which borough it would fall under. Build it in Allerdale and Copeland Council would not get involved, and vice versa. 

And I can’t see either councils having that sort of money so it would you presume have to be a private investment.

[yipyee]

16 minutes ago, walter sobchak said:

This. A merged team would have to play in super league and no where else otherwise what would be the point of supporting a merged team in the lower leagues when you’ve already got whitehaven and Workington in the same leagues.

Thought the thread was no merger...

Cumbria could play all over Cumbria and therefore limiting how many games in one area... if they played in east Cumbria there might be new support in the borders or west Yorkshire??