Wigan junior link to Blackburn Rovers

[Rupert Prince]

https://www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2019-07-24-warriors-and-rovers-join-forces-for-lancashire-school-sport

Seems a sensible link to give a wider opportunity to give exposure to RL for children. Possibly similar suggestion  for other clubs??  It would widen the catchment area for Wigan into Lancashire.    What appears to be interesting is that this applies to Blackburn but not the Latics (unless they have already something similar), maybe both teams have an antipathy for each other?

[Oliver Clothesoff]

Wigan Athletic fans, or at least a decent percentage, despise Wigan Warriors and it’s fans. From what I have seen there’s a lot of animosity between the two sets of fans. 

 

[WakefieldCityLoyal]

41 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

https://www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2019-07-24-warriors-and-rovers-join-forces-for-lancashire-school-sport

Seems a sensible link to give a wider opportunity to give exposure to RL for children. Possibly similar suggestion  for other clubs??  It would widen the catchment area for Wigan into Lancashire.    What appears to be interesting is that this applies to Blackburn but not the Latics (unless they have already something similar), maybe both teams have an antipathy for each other?

Wakefield Trinity have a community trust link with Leeds United started earlier in the year.

Up the Trin 

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

Wigan Athletic fans, or at least a decent percentage, despise Wigan Warriors and it’s fans. From what I have seen there’s a lot of animosity between the two sets of fans. 

 

If that’s right then it makes both clubs’ attendances even more remarkable, given the size of Wigan - I always assumed most of them would support both teams. 

[Oliver Clothesoff]

7 minutes ago, Eddie said:

If that’s right then it makes both clubs’ attendances even more remarkable, given the size of Wigan - I always assumed most of them would support both teams. 

I’m sure some do but there’s definitely animosity between the two sets of fans. 

The Wigan Athletic fanzine, Mudhutter, often pokes digs at the rugby team and I’ve heard a couple of chants in the past from a small section of the rugby fans. 

As strange as it may seem, there’s a few St Helens based Wigan Athletic fans, too. 

[HarrogateKnights]

My Dads side of the family are from Burnley just down the road and when it comes to Rugby League it is non-existence from Keighley/Halifax too Rochdale/Oldham. East Lancashire (Burnley/Blackburn etc) is not represented, I would probably say Burnley isn't big enough for a RL team as they are only a small town of 55,000 ish with a Premier League Football Club. This is great news by investing in Blackburn

[Leyther_Matt]

2 hours ago, Rupert Prince said:

https://www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2019-07-24-warriors-and-rovers-join-forces-for-lancashire-school-sport

Seems a sensible link to give a wider opportunity to give exposure to RL for children. Possibly similar suggestion  for other clubs??  It would widen the catchment area for Wigan into Lancashire.    What appears to be interesting is that this applies to Blackburn but not the Latics (unless they have already something similar), maybe both teams have an antipathy for each other?

Although it is fair to say that there is very little crossover between Latics & Warriors fans, I would suggest this link-up is more to do with giving access to schools that aren't ordinarily on Wigan's patch rather than deliberately avoiding working with Latics Community Trust, given they will both already work with schools in the Wigan area.

[Phil]

7 hours ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

Wigan Athletic fans, or at least a decent percentage, despise Wigan Warriors and it’s fans. From what I have seen there’s a lot of animosity between the two sets of fans. 

 

Very much the same in Halifax, eventually the nonsense from the football fans made me choose who to follow 

[Oliver Clothesoff]

13 minutes ago, Phil said:

Very much the same in Halifax, eventually the nonsense from the football fans made me choose who to follow 

Really? Never knew that? Is there any reason why there is such animosity between the two?

[Damien]

Many Wigan Athletic fans absolutely despise Wigan Rugby. Much of this is pure jealousy and envy from when they, and Football generally, very much played second fiddle for a century. As others have said there are also a surprising number of Latics fans that are from St Helens.

[CadleyX]

When I worked in Wigan, there was a surprisingly lack of crossover between Warriors and Latics fans, so this doesn't surprise me. 

This is a good move from Wigan. East Lancashire is football and cricket with no room for anything else (to the point where England winning the Union World Cup would be less likely to be noticed than Church playing Rishton), so it could provide access to a lot of young talent. 

[Leyther_Matt]

2 hours ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

Really? Never knew that? Is there any reason why there is such animosity between the two?

The football fans feel Fax muscled in when they moved in to The Shay and they blame the rugby for the regular problems with the pitch. 

 

2 hours ago, Damien said:

Many Wigan Athletic fans absolutely despise Wigan Rugby. Much of this is pure jealousy and envy from when they, and Football generally, very much played second fiddle for a century. As others have said there are also a surprising number of Latics fans that are from St Helens.

The theory that it stems from is that Latics  drew Liverpool in the League Cup and Springfield Park was deemed unsuitable to host the home leg. They had hoped to hire Central Park but Maurice Lindsay pretty much laughed them out of the place and instead both legs were played at Anfield. 

I used to work in Wigan and, with the football hating the rugby and the rugby hating the football, I always considered myself to be the most neutral person in the place - as a supporter of Leigh RL and Bolton Wanderers I was never likely to be keen on either of them!

[DoubleD]

Not just Wigan where there’s animosity between the 2 sets of fans, also applies in Hull, Bradford and Huddersfield to an extent

[Padge]

1 hour ago, Leyther_Matt said:

The football fans feel Fax muscled in when they moved in to The Shay and they blame the rugby for the regular problems with the pitch. 

 

The theory that it stems from is that Latics  drew Liverpool in the League Cup and Springfield Park was deemed unsuitable to host the home leg. They had hoped to hire Central Park but Maurice Lindsay pretty much laughed them out of the place and instead both legs were played at Anfield. 

I used to work in Wigan and, with the football hating the rugby and the rugby hating the football, I always considered myself to be the most neutral person in the place - as a supporter of Leigh RL and Bolton Wanderers I was never likely to be keen on either of them!

Urban myth, perpetuated by Latics fans.

It was Jack Robinson.

[Phil]

2 hours ago, Leyther_Matt said:

The football fans feel Fax muscled in when they moved in to The Shay and they blame the rugby for the regular problems with the pitch. 

That’s one of the reasons, another is that when Fax sold Thrum Hall they were supposed to sink the money into the development of the Shay, unfortunately Fax had to use it to pay off HMRC which meant the council had to pay to develop the ground.  FCHT fans still harp on about this. 

[Man of Kent]

Good news but the 18k salary for a development officer for the whole of Lancashire is surprisingly low 

[Leyther_Matt]

6 hours ago, TheConductor said:

A lot of Rugby fans I have met have some link to the sport either played in the amateur leagues or school and now with Touch/Tag but most Football's I know are just obsessed angry tunnel visioned slobs while others I suspect just follow Football as sheep so they don't feel left out ?

And others - indeed the vast majority - are just normal folk who don’t feel the need to belittle or pigeon hole people purely because they happen to follow a different sport. 

[Rupert Prince]

13 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

Good news but the 18k salary for a development officer for the whole of Lancashire is surprisingly low 

Correct.  There is no suggestion of it being part time either. Logic says both trusts are paying for it.

Given that it is partnered by Blackburn one would have thought the main area would be around Blackburn, and elsewhere it says East Lancashire. 

Let's hope it gets off the ground and gets coverage for the game. And for Wigan of course!!

 

[Whippet13]

Just getting kids aware of the game has its benefits, that's why RU is so big. Pretty much every school plays RU, come the money spinning 6 nations or RUWC x percent of the population will watch it as they recall playing and think they understand the game. They will have zero other interest in RU but it benefits the RU no end as those are their showpieces. The more RL can do the same thing the better. 

Wigan may pick up a few players from this but there is also a wider long term benefit to the game. Aware other clubs do similar things btw, but we need more so this is a good move.

£18k will probably get a graduate involved, it's a very good career development opportunty for someone in a "test the waters" scheme. If the results are positive and mutually beneficial both sides may invest more.

[ELBOWSEYE]

On 25/07/2019 at 10:10, Oliver Clothesoff said:

Wigan Athletic fans, or at least a decent percentage, despise Wigan Warriors and it’s fans. From what I have seen there’s a lot of animosity between the two sets of fans. 

 

Worked in wigan for ten years this is certainly true, it seemed based on pure jealously from the latics fans back in the Springfield park days, the rugby fan's were indifferent to football.