Belgrade - Entry to League 1

[Lowdesert]

5 minutes ago, Moove said:

What do the lines on their pitch look like though?

People forget, some pitches in Winter - after 10 minutes you couldn’t see the lines.  Then we get too many lines.

What is Serbian for line?

[Oliver Clothesoff]

7 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

Good, I hope so and I sincerely hope they do succeed.

My point was less that they couldnt do it, but more that L1 as it is is failing to be a good L1 and im not sure its the best incubator for clubs like Belgrade.

But if they do have a plan and backing and the will to succeed I hope they are given every opportunity to do so and as much help as we can possibly give.

League One is a development league. Let’s be honest, it’s a joke that Hemel and WWR are in it still but London and Coventry are competitive more often than not, Newcastle are aiming for the big time and North Wales are going relatively well. It’s more of a success than some would believe, purely because of one team and lesser so, a second team who represent that town in name only. 

It shouldn’t be easy to join League One or Rugby League in the UK in general. 

[DavidM]

4 minutes ago, Lowdesert said:

People forget, some pitches in Winter - after 10 minutes you couldn’t see the lines.  Then we get too many lines.

What is Serbian for line?

Linovic 

[deluded pom?]

 

[deluded pom?]

https://www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/serbia/3498-red-star-belgrade-launches-partnership-with-dev-inno-ltd

[Lowdesert]

Doesn’t the obvious link seem to be Italian RL?

[deluded pom?]

1 minute ago, Lowdesert said:

Doesn’t the obvious link seem to be Italian RL?

Serbian RL would be a better standard than Italian RL. 

[Oliver Clothesoff]

4 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

L1 should be a development league but it isnt. And it is for clubs like North Wales or Hemel, clubs who don't really have a realistic alternative.

It should be very easy to join Rugby League in the UK.

It is a development league though. Barring three or four yo-yo sides and a big club, as we’ve had for the past three years, it’s a development league. Games in the last few years between League One sides have taken place in Wood Green, Cheltenham, Abingdon, Neath, Llanelli, Blackpool, Coventry, Wrexham, Newcastle, Toronto, Toulouse and Oxford. 

It shouldn’t be easy. It was too easy for Andrew Thorne to get West Wales in and look where we are now. Nearly two thousand points conceded and 22/23 straight defeats. It must be difficult, or at the very least relatively difficult. We need any teams wanting to come in to be competitive. 

[Lowdesert]

2 minutes ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

It is a development league though. Barring three or four yo-yo sides and a big club, as we’ve had for the past three years, it’s a development league. Games in the last few years between League One sides have taken place in Wood Green, Cheltenham, Abingdon, Neath, Llanelli, Blackpool, Coventry, Wrexham, Newcastle, Toronto, Toulouse and Oxford. 

It shouldn’t be easy. It was too easy for Andrew Thorne to get West Wales in and look where we are now. Nearly two thousand points conceded and 22/23 straight defeats. It must be difficult, or at the very least relatively difficult. We need any teams wanting to come in to be competitive. 

They would be......with West Wales.

[Wellsy4HullFC]

15 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

It isnt a development league, Bradford, Hunslet, Whitehaven, Workington, Oldham are by no measure development clubs.

West wales arent finished. Had they not  been in L1 they would have been. A development league are exactly where West Wales need to be.

Aren't some "older heads" often needed to aid development of new clubs? Learn from them, experience them, aim to be better than them.

[Copa]

A Toronto - Belgrade flight would be interesting.

[Derwent]

I thought they were partnering with Whitehaven ? It was announced in June that they were...

http://www.whitehavenrl.co.uk/article/54478/haven-secure-huge-partnership

[Lounge Room Lizard]

1 hour ago, dixiedean said:

Hope it isn't Red Star. A combined Belgrade yes. The bitterness and rivalry between them and Partizan would mean several Serbs unable or unwilling to play for the enemy.

Still. Would advance the cause of Toronto as a traditional heartland club no end.

Maybe the case in Football, but there is a respectful and healthy rivalry between the two in Rugby League as far as I know as they are more interested in growing the game and beating Dorcol. Rugby League is a minority sport, the idiots that go to Football to cause trouble, know a big crowd will be, there tend to either not know or care about the Rugby League game thankfully. http://www.seriousaboutrl.com/belgrade-rugby-league-5149/

[Angelic Cynic]

35 minutes ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

It is a development league though. Barring three or four yo-yo sides and a big club, as we’ve had for the past three years, it’s a development league. Games in the last few years between League One sides have taken place in Wood Green, Cheltenham, Abingdon, Neath, Llanelli, Blackpool, Coventry, Wrexham, Newcastle, Toronto, Toulouse and Oxford. 

It shouldn’t be easy. It was too easy for Andrew Thorne to get West Wales in and look where we are now. Nearly two thousand points conceded and 22/23 straight defeats. It must be difficult, or at the very least relatively difficult. We need any teams wanting to come in to be competitive. 

   I don't think spending money to have one club - South Wales Ironmen - complete their fixtures,and pay off their debts,as well as start another club and give that club a 5 years plan,with the intention of developing young Welsh players,could ever be considered easy.

    Please let us know when there is someone else in the British game about to do likewise.Or,has done.

    Sometimes,fate has it that some clubs have a year where they suffer more injuries than unsual.Or circumstances change,without warning,

   No surprise Dr Koukash and others back out of the sport.

    No surprise that multi-millionaires are still queuing up to enter the sport.

     

[Yakkers]

2 hours ago, dixiedean said:

Hope it isn't Red Star. A combined Belgrade yes. The bitterness and rivalry between them and Partizan would mean several Serbs unable or unwilling to play for the enemy.

Still. Would advance the cause of Toronto as a traditional heartland club no end.

Good point that, I just saw Belgrade, thought nice one, and sort of glossed over the Red Star thing.

Certainly a Belgrade side the whole city can unite behind would make it easier to get things off the ground.

That said, if it ever takes off enough to support 2 Belgrade clubs then a bit of Partizan v Red Star rivalry in a sport where you can actually smash in to one another without breaking the rules sounds like mouthwatering entertainment!

If it draws anything like a crowd it'll make Saints v Wigan look like a love-in.

[fevtom]

I’m quite excited about this is theory but there are plenty of questions at the moment. Have they even hinted at what kind of time frame they’re looking at?

Are they going to have a wealthy investor and sign some foreign players or are they going for a mainly Serbian effort?

If they do go down the local players route what kind of level are they? 

If they are a League One level side is that financially sustainable?

As well as Toronto have done to attract a new audience, i’m actually more excited about the potential of these European teams as I feel in the medium term they could produce players quicker.

This might open a whole new can of worms and I know the Super League restructure discussion has been done to death but if we’re really serious about this then we may need to look at the way lower league rugby is organised, but before that we need to know what our objectives actually are.

[iangidds]

7 hours ago, fevtom said:

I’m quite excited about this is theory but there are plenty of questions at the moment. Have they even hinted at what kind of time frame they’re looking at?

Are they going to have a wealthy investor and sign some foreign players or are they going for a mainly Serbian effort?

If they do go down the local players route what kind of level are they? 

If they are a League One level side is that financially sustainable?

As well as Toronto have done to attract a new audience, i’m actually more excited about the potential of these European teams as I feel in the medium term they could produce players quicker.

This might open a whole new can of worms and I know the Super League restructure discussion has been done to death but if we’re really serious about this then we may need to look at the way lower league rugby is organised, but before that we need to know what our objectives actually are.

To be totally honest you are right to be excited about this project , they have first class business people in place and a desire for Rugby league to succeed here that is so deeeply rooted in them all; i used to think my passion for thr game was unhelthy but these people are machines ! But they are not blindly walking into disaster im sure.

There full plan will come pretty soon and i have a great feeling that the RL community will get behind the club, anyone wishing to come over and have a look at a game and the beautiful city are more than welcome; there is many willing guides to show you what Belgrade has to offer

0

[deluded pom?]

https://www.ffr13.fr/actualite-a-la-une/belgrade-se-rapproche-de-la-league-one/

After clubs Welsh, French (Toulouse), Canadian (Toronto), the British League One could accommodate a Serbian team in 2020 or 2021.

In any case, it is the wish of the Belgrade Red Star, a club supported financially by Colin Kleyweg, an Australian entrepreneur, of which he is the owner.

The record is now in the hands of the RFL, which will be led to rule, knowing that the candidacy of the last finalist of the Balkan Super League, seems serious.

Colin Kleyweg, a forty-year-old from Perth, and engineering consultant in Belgrade, has since January prepared a business plan, refined since then, and sent to the British rugby league.

"We first want to put in place a development plan for our coaches," Colin Kleyweg cautiously explains.

An operation that began last winter under the leadership of the Australian Troy Perkins, former before Toulouse, then became the coach of Hemel Stags, an English club League One.

Perkins led three training sessions in six days in Belgrade.

Other actions of this type are in the drawers, as well as in the direction of U19, whose national team participated in the European Championship category, this month in Belgrade, triumphing over Ireland. -24, in the match for 3rd place (Shield Final), with in its ranks many young people from basketball, the sport king in Serbia, with football.

We also wager that the test-match between Serbia and the XIII of France, on October 6th or 7th in Belgrade, will participate in the development of our sport in this Balkan country, and indirectly help the candidacy of the Star. Red at an upcoming entry in League One.

[Oliver Clothesoff]

9 hours ago, Angelic Cynic said:

   I don't think spending money to have one club - South Wales Ironmen - complete their fixtures,and pay off their debts,as well as start another club and give that club a 5 years plan,with the intention of developing young Welsh players,could ever be considered easy.

    Please let us know when there is someone else in the British game about to do likewise.Or,has done.

    Sometimes,fate has it that some clubs have a year where they suffer more injuries than unsual.Or circumstances change,without warning,

   No surprise Dr Koukash and others back out of the sport.

    No surprise that multi-millionaires are still queuing up to enter the sport.

     

Admirable that act may have been but it’s been an unmitigated disaster and it should be tougher than it was for him for any new side to come in. 

West Wales (and Hemel) have degraded the league, it’s as simple as that. We can’t have that again. We had the All Golds and the Oxford side who have vanished in only a few years. New sides can’t just be accepted at will. 

[Wellsy4HullFC]

3 hours ago, deluded pom? said:

https://www.ffr13.fr/actualite-a-la-une/belgrade-se-rapproche-de-la-league-one/

After clubs Welsh, French (Toulouse), Canadian (Toronto), the British League One could accommodate a Serbian team in 2020 or 2021.

In any case, it is the wish of the Belgrade Red Star, a club supported financially by Colin Kleyweg, an Australian entrepreneur, of which he is the owner.

The record is now in the hands of the RFL, which will be led to rule, knowing that the candidacy of the last finalist of the Balkan Super League, seems serious.

Colin Kleyweg, a forty-year-old from Perth, and engineering consultant in Belgrade, has since January prepared a business plan, refined since then, and sent to the British rugby league.

"We first want to put in place a development plan for our coaches," Colin Kleyweg cautiously explains.

An operation that began last winter under the leadership of the Australian Troy Perkins, former before Toulouse, then became the coach of Hemel Stags, an English club League One.

Perkins led three training sessions in six days in Belgrade.

Other actions of this type are in the drawers, as well as in the direction of U19, whose national team participated in the European Championship category, this month in Belgrade, triumphing over Ireland. -24, in the match for 3rd place (Shield Final), with in its ranks many young people from basketball, the sport king in Serbia, with football.

We also wager that the test-match between Serbia and the XIII of France, on October 6th or 7th in Belgrade, will participate in the development of our sport in this Balkan country, and indirectly help the candidacy of the Star. Red at an upcoming entry in League One.

Exciting times.

I'm guessing there isn't much scope for a TV deal in Serbia? They could certainly bring some players though if they've got a good system in place already.

[Angelic Cynic]

3 hours ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

Admirable that act may have been but it’s been an unmitigated disaster and it should be tougher than it was for him for any new side to come in. 

West Wales (and Hemel) have degraded the league, it’s as simple as that. We can’t have that again. We had the All Golds and the Oxford side who have vanished in only a few years. New sides can’t just be accepted at will. 

   It has NOT been an unmitigated disaster.

    Hemel have produced players for Super League and their new head coach,Jack Howieson has won 2 Grand finals with Sheffield Eagles.

   All Golds and Oxford did NOT disappear because of their playing standard.

   Andrew Thorne has had his Wales Dragonhearts not only play against Serbia - and tour Germany - but they play against Serbia,again,very shortly.

   Is there another owner,or CEO,at any British club,who spends as much time engaging with other rugby league enthusiasts and giving as much playing time to as many people of varying ages,as well as running a semi-professional side while taking the brickbats?

  ** 2 matches in Serbia - http://www.walesrugbyleague.co.uk/article/16434/finals-day-origin-and-dragonhearts-series-announced **

[Tommygilf]

2 hours ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

Exciting times.

I'm guessing there isn't much scope for a TV deal in Serbia? They could certainly bring some players though if they've got a good system in place already.

I definitely think that Serbia (and perhaps the wider Balkans) can be to RL what they are to football; a rich seam of talent for relatively little financial investment. Another comparison could be what Georgia and Romania are to RU. Plenty of Georgians in the French League for example. 

Its one place that we should absolutely be pushing hard. We have the jump on RU and have a real opportunity to be the 3rd sport after Football and basketball.

[RP London]

2 hours ago, Angelic Cynic said:

   It has NOT been an unmitigated disaster.

    Hemel have produced players for Super League and their new head coach,Jack Howieson has won 2 Grand finals with Sheffield Eagles.

   All Golds and Oxford did NOT disappear because of their playing standard.

   Andrew Thorne has had his Wales Dragonhearts not only play against Serbia - and tour Germany - but they play against Serbia,again,very shortly.

   Is there another owner,or CEO,at any British club,who spends as much time engaging with other rugby league enthusiasts and giving as much playing time to as many people of varying ages,as well as running a semi-professional side while taking the brickbats?

  ** 2 matches in Serbia - http://www.walesrugbyleague.co.uk/article/16434/finals-day-origin-and-dragonhearts-series-announced **

Whilst not disagreeing with you Jack, and the others came through pre League one if memory serves.. I remember playing against hemel in the old Nat 3 and they were a fantastic CLUB at that time.. my understanding is that the step up has damaged that CLUB.. I hope Jack can bring back some of that but with the team based up in Sheffield (and Jack is quite settled up here afaik with a business and family) I am not sure this is the way we should be going with an "Expansion" club... and before anyone says anything I 100% hope that it works for them as am a big fan of hemel ever since playing against west Herts college there while at Uni.. 

[Tommygilf]

17 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

How do you push it though? As a game we havent done an awful lot to help the Balkans and don't really seem to have much plan to help them.

Id love to see more effort going in to help them but there doesnt seem to be much if any format or structure for doing that.

The same with Jamaica Italy and Lebanon really. Even Ireland.

I totally agree Jamaica is another one. The easiest way is test matches. We've had the European u19s there which seems to have been a success. Another way could be club pre season tours, new player pathways, coaching/intel sharing etc.

A lot of the ideas could equally be applied to France, Wales, Ireland to be honest.

I don't think the game is in a position to go to the Serbian govt and propose 4G RL grounds in every town from Belgrade to Nis (only two I knew off the top of my head) but we could do other things.

[Wellsy4HullFC]

53 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

How do you push it though? As a game we havent done an awful lot to help the Balkans and don't really seem to have much plan to help them.

Id love to see more effort going in to help them but there doesnt seem to be much if any format or structure for doing that.

The same with Jamaica Italy and Lebanon really. Even Ireland.

I think the difference here though it's someone is coming in and offering to fund a club. Just by letting them in (if they meet minimum standards) they'd be helping them. A higher level to compete in, put in the "shop window" so to speak. Wouldn't cost us anything.