Rochdale Question

[Eddie]

Having asked this on the Rochdale v Dewsbury thread I was advised to ask here instead, so in case anyone has nothing better to do and can be bothered to respond, here goes ;

When I was a kid in the late 80s and early 90s I’m sure Rochdale were a decent sized team in the top flight, then I moved away from the NW and had 15-20 years not following RL that closely and now I’m back into it Rochdale are (if you don’t mind me saying it Hornets fans) not doing very well and your crowds are pretty small by Championship standards.   

What’s gone wrong, is there much interest in the town and is there any way back? It seems to me that a lot of people obsess about expanding into big cities where nobody cares about RL but fewer people care about existing struggling clubs, which is a shame. Same goes for Oldham, Keighley, Doncaster, the Cumbrian clubs etc. 

[Anita Bath]

Superleague ....always aimed at creating a protected elite group of FT professional clubs and loosely based on Maurice Lindsays fascination with everything Australian.

 

To fund it he had to sell out to the Devil which meant by and large nofree to air TV so we became a boutique sport.

[Athleticgrounds]

1 hour ago, Anita Bath said:

Superleague ....always aimed at creating a protected elite group of FT professional clubs and loosely based on Maurice Lindsays fascination with everything Australian.

 

To fund it he had to sell out to the Devil which meant by and large nofree to air TV so we became a boutique sport.

Totally agree

[clifford]

Nail on the head, teams under super league are on the breadline and with the new TV, looking like excluding anyone under super league many semi pro teams won't survive 

[Athleticgrounds]

53 minutes ago, clifford said:

Nail on the head, teams under super league are on the breadline and with the new TV, looking like excluding anyone under super league many semi pro teams won't survive 

Bottom line is that Rugby League has absolutely no interest in supporting anything beyond Super League and overseas franchises. Hornets/Oldham the embryo of Rugby League are now dust.

[Blind side johnny]

21 hours ago, Anita Bath said:

Superleague ....always aimed at creating a protected elite group of FT professional clubs and loosely based on Maurice Lindsays fascination with everything Australian.

 

To fund it he had to sell out to the Devil which meant by and large nofree to air TV so we became a boutique sport.

The game was dead on its feet before the Sky money came along.

Reason number one - the continuous growth of the soccer monster, pulling in support, media attention and money from many other sports.

Reason number two - RU going properly professional. League used to be the better paid of the codes but that was reversed alost overnight.

Reason number three - parochalism and a determination to stay exactly as we have always been, then blaming the rest of the world for changing.

[Anita Bath]

rugby union went professional following during the season following the 1995 rugby world cup...the same time as Superleague was formed. It was partly a battle between TV moguls about who got what.

 

As for parochialism.... rugby league has made many attempts at expansion over its history. Some were strangled at birth or soon after by Union interests and actions and general lack of interest from local communities. Two exceptions to this were expansions into France in the 1930s and Cumberland post WW2. 

 

[moorside roughyed]

If lower league rugby league exists after the next sky negotiation I'll eat my hat. 

[Blind side johnny]

3 hours ago, Anita Bath said:

rugby union went professional following during the season following the 1995 rugby world cup...the same time as Superleague was formed. It was partly a battle between TV moguls about who got what.

 

As for parochialism.... rugby league has made many attempts at expansion over its history. Some were strangled at birth or soon after by Union interests and actions and general lack of interest from local communities. Two exceptions to this were expansions into France in the 1930s and Cumberland post WW2. 

 

Those "local communities" were in West Yorkshire and Lancashire of course who refused to travel to South Wales or Cumberland.

 

And the "Union interests" were often those of the Northern Union. There are very few black and whites in life.

[Blind side johnny]

2 hours ago, moorside roughyed said:

If lower league rugby league exists after the next sky negotiation I'll eat my hat. 

You may well be right.

[moorside roughyed]

7 minutes ago, Blind side johnny said:

You may well be right.

I bet there's quite a few fans from various clubs that fear this. I hope to god none of this happens, years and years of history and traditions down the drain.

[Larry Jones]

Hornets are a great RL name who sadly have been close but never got the cigar. In the fifties they came within a whisker of the CC final only to fall to Wigan, that could have changed everything if they had got to Wembley.

Then the FIJI contingent which gave the game some glamour but not much success for Hornets to be honest.

Then the Myler/Coslett years when the crowds didn't match how good Hornets actually where  8-2 defeat in a floodlight final at Saints and good league positions.

Then the ground sale.  One way or the other and it could have gone either way.  8,500 at home to Oldham.  Johnny Woods and other good players bought and it looked as if it was onward Hornets onward.  Sadly it was 15 players and nothing beneath it only a refurbished stadium pushed by Hornets.

Now the stadium part ownership has gone and sadly I see nothing else for Hornets only eventually a top class amateur club in the town called Mayfield.  I dont really blame anyone for Hornets demise, unlike Oldham which is a scandal.  Hornets never had that one thing we all need that bit of luck.