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A Manchester club ?


gandalf

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6 minutes ago, Damien said:

For some strange reason he completely ignored this point I had made in his reply.

Hi Damien, seeing as your gagging for a reply. Go and find me some evidence that Manchester is the missing link and we’re crying out for a side with that when 8.5 miles from Manchester Piccadilly, there is a side that is potentially three games from the biggest game this side of the equator. 

I will say bye now because you won’t be back. 

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6 minutes ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

Hi Damien, seeing as your gagging for a reply. Go and find me some evidence that Manchester is the missing link and we’re crying out for a side with that when 8.5 miles from Manchester Piccadilly, there is a side that is potentially three games from the biggest game this side of the equator. 

I will say bye now because you won’t be back. 

It doesn't work like that. If you bother to provide evidence then so will I.

What I do know for certainty is that those in Manchester, as well as other major cities, don't give two hoots about teams and sports from outside which they see as nothing to do with that city. A 12 year old has no interest in traveling to watch Wigan. He very possibly may have no awareness of Rugby League at all and just some vague generic awareness of 'Rugby'. A Manchester team in their doorstep and maybe a visit from the club/a development officer and it's a different story.

Manchester Rangers got decent crowds for an amateur club. I'm for a Rugby League presence in all areas, not dismissing them because of a club 14 miles away or because a failing club, that doesn't even want to play in the city, may want to change their name.

Other sports fans don't pick and choose where they want their sports to be played. It's nonsensical that some RL fans on here do 

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2 minutes ago, Damien said:

It doesn't work like that. If you bother to provide evidence then so will I.

What I do know for certainty is that those in Manchester, as well as other major cities, don't give two hoots about teams and sports from outside which they see as nothing to do with that city. A 12 year old has no interest in traveling to watch Wigan. He very possibly may have no awareness of Rugby League at all and just some vague generic awareness of 'Rugby'. A Manchester team in their doorstep and maybe a visit from the club/a development officer and it's a different story.

Manchester Rangers got decent crowds for an amateur club. I'm for a Rugby League presence in all areas, not dismissing them because of a club 14 miles away or because a failing club, that doesn't even want to play in the city, may want to change their name.

Other sports fans don't pick and choose where they want their sports to be played. It's nonsensical that some RL fans on here do 

So your grand idea is to drop a team into a city without any interest in the sport and hope it does well? Do you work in Rugby League? With that sound knowledge, you should do. 

If people in Manchester like Rugby League and want to attend Rugby League, the chances are, they probably will already. Whether that’s regularly in the form of a season ticket or they just pick and choose games, it doesn’t matter. 

As for this Manchester Rangers attendance thing, can you provide evidence of such great attendances over a sustained period? A quick look at their website provides no figures for crowds in 2018 or 2017. 

The only nonsensical thing is people believing a side dropped into the third tier of Rugby League based in a city with no interest in the sport is going to have any effect on the game as a whole. 

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19 minutes ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

The only nonsensical thing is people believing a side dropped into the third tier of Rugby League based in a city with no interest in the sport is going to have any effect on the game as a whole. 

Toronto?

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31 minutes ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

So your grand idea is to drop a team into a city without any interest in the sport and hope it does well? Do you work in Rugby League? With that sound knowledge, you should do. 

If people in Manchester like Rugby League and want to attend Rugby League, the chances are, they probably will already. Whether that’s regularly in the form of a season ticket or they just pick and choose games, it doesn’t matter. 

As for this Manchester Rangers attendance thing, can you provide evidence of such great attendances over a sustained period? A quick look at their website provides no figures for crowds in 2018 or 2017. 

The only nonsensical thing is people believing a side dropped into the third tier of Rugby League based in a city with no interest in the sport is going to have any effect on the game as a whole. 

I agree Manchester Rangers attendance tells us nothing about the appetite for professional RL in Manchester, but I also disagree that you can't "drop a team in" a place and see it do well. 

As Toronto and Wasps in Coventry have proved, you can if you do it right. True, it involves lots of money, lots of research into the market, and skilled administrators to implement. Huge doubts about whether rugby league has any of that.

But in principle, it can be done, and I completely reject the idea that some geographies and some groups of people are intrinsically incapable of supporting a team. They can, if you give them something they want, whether that be a good day out with kids/lads/friends, some local pride and identity, hunky players to look at, or some Instagram opportunities. Whatever. The 80 minutes is only part of that, and, for a new team, not the most important. 

Sport, like life, isn't fixed in stone. Interest rises and falls, supporters come and go, sports' images and reputations change. Football never used to have the middle class support it has now, and I can tell you from personal experience that in the 80s people from minority backgrounds rarely dared attend a game. All that's changed. 

And you have to engage with these trends. But British rugby league seems to think none of this applies to it, which is why the world is passing it by. 

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31 minutes ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

So your grand idea is to drop a team into a city without any interest in the sport and hope it does well? Do you work in Rugby League? With that sound knowledge, you should do. 

If people in Manchester like Rugby League and want to attend Rugby League, the chances are, they probably will already. Whether that’s regularly in the form of a season ticket or they just pick and choose games, it doesn’t matter. 

As for this Manchester Rangers attendance thing, can you provide evidence of such great attendances over a sustained period? A quick look at their website provides no figures for crowds in 2018 or 2017. 

The only nonsensical thing is people believing a side dropped into the third tier of Rugby League based in a city with no interest in the sport is going to have any effect on the game as a whole. 

I'd also like to add, he's blaming the fans! Not the RFL, I.e the Greater Manchester Clubs, for Manchester Rangers or any other Manchester application getting a rejection! 

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3 hours ago, TboneFromTO said:

Sorry Tommy, but the story is Manchester Rangers applied for the Hemel licence and lost out to Ottawa

I don't have the specifics, but I believe had Ottawa applied for expansion instead of buying the licence then we would have both.

I think MCR could support a league team!  Someone should get on the phone the Sheikh and see if he wants to expand his portfolio (not much happens at city's academy stadium)

I don't think that is the case TBone but am happy to be proven otherwise. AFAIK Rangers applied to join the League like any other team.

They had investors and were based at the baby Etihad. That they were knocked back and 4 months later Swinton announce they are rebranding to Manchester is no coincidence imo.

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1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

I don't think that is the case TBone but am happy to be proven otherwise. AFAIK Rangers applied to join the League like any other team.

They had investors and were based at the baby Etihad. That they were knocked back and 4 months later Swinton announce they are rebranding to Manchester is no coincidence imo.

https://www.totalrl.com/manchester-rangers-made-play-for-hemel-licence-before-reported-eric-perez-interest/

They may have applied after though.  I think if Ottawa applied and rangers bought it would have gone threw

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6 hours ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

Is it? Provide me with some evidence of this. 

It's more likely than the idea that people from Manchester are genetically predisposed to an inability to appreciate rugby league, or that there's a cultural boundary between Salford and Manchester which is so distinct and significant that the sport can gain a foothold in one city but not the other.

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I was one of those who used to watch the Storm. Yes location was important - I'd no interest once it moved out from the centre. 

I also went to see the Storm for the buzz, the game day experience and not always for the hockey. A major city team can deliver that but not one out in the hinterland 

There is nothing to stop the RL game day experience being as exciting. I fear we don't have that spirit though... A relative of mine once said to me ' Rugby League isn't for enjoying yourself.. it's for being miserable in the rain' 

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15 hours ago, gandalf said:

I was one of those who used to watch the Storm. Yes location was important - I'd no interest once it moved out from the centre. 

I also went to see the Storm for the buzz, the game day experience and not always for the hockey. A major city team can deliver that but not one out in the hinterland 

There is nothing to stop the RL game day experience being as exciting. I fear we don't have that spirit though... A relative of mine once said to me ' Rugby League isn't for enjoying yourself.. it's for being miserable in the rain' 

The regional arena is pretty much a mirror in some ways of the MEN Arena or whatever its called now.

Its central and has excellent transport links.  Manchester's road system has ruined by "improvements".

Something that gets overlooked when people talk about Salford's attendances.

Put anything in a satellite town and nobody will even make an attempt to go.

Its going to be a long time now before a serious attempt for a club in Manchester can be made again.

Better to work on the amateur game and prove we have interest in the hope we can find some investors the RFL has not upset in Manchester.

 

 

 

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Manchester has had RL on its doorstep for 100 years and not massively taken to it. 

Any casual RL fans in the city which I think are quite numerous already support Wigan, Salford, Saints, Warrington etc.. Dumping a semi-pro club in league 1 called Manchester is not going to work. Unless you have a mega rich benefactor who is ready to plough in tens of millions like the Toronto ownership. Even then you may only end up with a club similar in size to Salford. 

I do remember Elstone calling TWP spurious but he thought a non existant Manchester club was a great example of expansion. 

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9 minutes ago, Mattrhino said:

Manchester has had RL on its doorstep for 100 years and not massively taken to it. 

Any casual RL fans in the city which I think are quite numerous already support Wigan, Salford, Saints, Warrington etc.. Dumping a semi-pro club in league 1 called Manchester is not going to work. Unless you have a mega rich benefactor who is ready to plough in tens of millions like the Toronto ownership. Even then you may only end up with a club similar in size to Salford. 

I do remember Elstone calling TWP spurious but he thought a non existant Manchester club was a great example of expansion. 

This. 

A part-time club isn’t going to do anything. 

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One more Semi Pro Club to add to the 4 Semi Pro & 2 Pro Clubs in Greater Manchester, even if based in the 'City' or otherwise is not going to develop the game in the 'City' to any worthwhile extent. Not when it's competition is City & United and Lancashire Cricket, plus those other 6 RL Clubs. 

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4 minutes ago, Smudger06 said:

One more Semi Pro Club to add to the 4 Semi Pro & 2 Pro Clubs in Greater Manchester, even if based in the 'City' or otherwise is not going to develop the game in the 'City' to any worthwhile extent. Not when it's competition is City & United and Lancashire Cricket, plus those other 6 RL Clubs. 

Let's just give up then eh?

A Manchester club would not be in competition with those other RL club. There is an entirely largely untapped market to look at.

I despair at the attitude of some RL fans on here. It's like they won't be happy until the game just gives up and just retreats to an ever shrinking status quo. As long as their club is okay and a big fish in a small pond they'll be happy I suppose.

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1 hour ago, Damien said:

Let's just give up then eh?

A Manchester club would not be in competition with those other RL club. There is an entirely largely untapped market to look at.

I despair at the attitude of some RL fans on here. It's like they won't be happy until the game just gives up and just retreats to an ever shrinking status quo. As long as their club is okay and a big fish in a small pond they'll be happy I suppose.

No, we need to stabilize the current system (structure/ format) and 38 members we currently have.......which includes getting the 38th membership up and running fulfilling fixtures (The Stags membership which was approved to relocate to Ottawa.) 

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