Jump to content

Red Star Belgrade and League 1


Copa

Recommended Posts

39 minutes ago, North but south said:

Teams playing in European competitions don't Welsh and Northern Irish semi-pro teams like Linfield played all over Europe.

Linfield played in Faroe Island, Montenegro, and Azerbaijani.   

Linfield are bigger than any team in League One.

For my sins, I follow Welsh football very closely. Most clubs end up losing a whole bunch of money when playing in Europe. Only TNS qualify, can afford it, and then don't run into issues. And that's because they're fully professional and backed by enough money to keep going.

Those games, because teams from Wales and Northern Ireland get knocked out quickly, are essentially done and dusted in preseason as well.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 114
  • Created
  • Last Reply
8 minutes ago, CanadianRugger said:

 

League 1 is supposed to be a high performance environment, it is not a pure amateur competition and players and teams will need to adapt to that reality.

e.g. fly New York on Thursday, play game Saturday.  Take coach or train from New York to Ottawa, play game on Saturday, fly home Saturday night or Sunday.  

Similarly, you could fly to Valencia or Belgrade, play game Sunday.  Take couch or fly to Belgrade (couch would be considerably cheaper but longer), play match on Saturday and then fly back.

It would be almost exactly two work weeks away in total.  Certainly manageable for players aspiring to play in a high performance environment.

It is pretty far from full time professionalism as well hence asking people to take around half their annual holidays from their, likely better paying,  normal job is not on . It will just turn (UK) players off from signing to play League 1 hence a further dilution to an already very weak product.

In any event hardly any, if any,  of these "ventures" will see daylight or last any amount of time, although to be fair Belgrade are a much better chance than New York. Reality will hit home eventually. At least Belgrade are not spouting rubbish and do have some genuine people and roots to grow modestly from.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At that level is it not possible to fly out Friday, play late Saturday and either come back then or Sunday lunch. No need for time off for part time players and a great experience for all concerned.

As a game we should recognise the brand value of "Red Star" and should do what we can to make it work

As long as they are viable, properly organised and well funded bringing in the likes of Red Star could be the start of something big. Our game is a lot easier to pick up than the other code so who knows non traditional countries might take to it. If they do there is always the potential for regional conferences to be established to minimise travelling

Good luck to them 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, North but south said:

Teams playing in European competitions don't Welsh and Northern Irish semi-pro teams like Linfield played all over Europe.

Linfield played in Faroe Island, Montenegro, and Azerbaijani.   

European competitions are often very lucrative for Irish teams. Some figures for Linfield here:

Danske Bank Premiership champions Linfield will pocket at least £712,000* (€800k) as they are guaranteed a minimum of four matches. This comes from their appearance fees for two rounds and a bonus €260k that is paid to all domestic champions who fail to qualify for the group stages of either European competition.

If the Blues were to win their Champions League first qualifying round tie against Rosenborg, that figure would rise to £818,000 (€920k).

There could be a silver lining to defeat to the Norwegian champions, however, as that would lead to a more winnable Europa League tie, likely against Faroe Islands champions HB Torshavn. Now, if Linfield could win that tie, it would take their total European prize money to £960k (€1.08m).

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/irish-league/uefa-confirm-european-prize-money-as-linfield-can-pocket-over-1m-and-irish-league-set-for-huge-cash-bonus-38304119.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When Toulouse and Toronto entered they did so in different seasons , so L1 had just the one overseas trip ( Barrow had 2/3 was it ? ) , The Championship teams managed for 2 seasons with 2 trips , but potentially having 4 in one season for wholly part time teams along with as has been pointed out long domestic trips for many clubs that don't have large levels of income ( which could well be dropping soon ) IS an issue , and anybody saying it isn't doesn't understand both the sport itself and the competition we are discussing 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

When Toulouse and Toronto entered they did so in different seasons , so L1 had just the one overseas trip ( Barrow had 2/3 was it ? ) , The Championship teams managed for 2 seasons with 2 trips , but potentially having 4 in one season for wholly part time teams along with as has been pointed out long domestic trips for many clubs that don't have large levels of income ( which could well be dropping soon ) IS an issue , and anybody saying it isn't doesn't understand both the sport itself and the competition we are discussing 

This is an entirely reasonable viewpoint. I would agree that 4 trips abroad per season for the current L1 clubs and their part-time players is not a reasonable proposition.

FWIW, I don't believe Red Star or Valencia will be ready for L1 next year. I'm hopeful that the two NA teams already approved in principle will be. If all 4 overseas teams really do come in next season, something would have to be done to ensure that the UK teams only visit 2 overseas teams in the season (1 European and 1 NA team is probably fairest). You would have to do this by something like splitting the then 15-team L1 in two, with a few cross-conference games to make up the desired number of games. The devil is in the detail, of course, but the point is that it is not beyond the wit of man!

I look forward to both these continental European teams joining if/when they get all their ducks in a row & the relevant finances in place. I don't think it will be next season though (especially when you look at how we still don't have confirmation of the two NA teams yet!)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, mrfranco said:

This is an entirely reasonable viewpoint. I would agree that 4 trips abroad per season for the current L1 clubs and their part-time players is not a reasonable proposition.
 

 

Maybe the clubs and players will think differently. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Maybe the clubs and players will think differently. 

It's exciting times as a fan... looking forward to seeing where all this goes.

As I say though, I'd be very surprised if all 4 clubs are able to rock up in L1 next year!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, CanadianRugger said:

My personal opinion is Rugby League clubs in the UK, as well as the fans, are spoiled by geography.

I've had to drive up to 8 hours before just to play in an amateur rugby match here in Canada.  It was even further at times when I was playing ice hockey.

I played ice hockey competitively as a youth and weekends were usually spent on the road driving many hours to play games.  Play in a tournament that's 1200km away?  That's just the way it is over here.

You make it work and it's all for the love of the game. 

League 1 is supposed to be a high performance environment, it is not a pure amateur competition and players and teams will need to adapt to that reality.

The way you mitigate this all is with tours.  You could tour mainland Europe and North America each once per season.

e.g. fly New York on Thursday, play game Saturday.  Take coach or train from New York to Ottawa, play game on Saturday, fly home Saturday night or Sunday.  

Similarly, you could fly to Valencia or Belgrade, play game Sunday.  Take coach or fly to Belgrade (coach would be considerably cheaper but longer), play match on Saturday and then fly back.

It would be almost exactly two work weeks away in total.  Certainly manageable for players aspiring to play in a high performance environment.

Like it. ? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

If 3 overseas clubs is too many to have in League One, the strongest bid could go directly into the Championship 

So are you denying a L1 team a Championship spot , or are you increasing SL ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If the clubs vote in favour then the players have a choice. If you can’t get a couple days off work each year then don’t play League 1.

don’t forget most teams fly in/out of Perpignan same day. You could do the same with Valencia/Belgrade. No work missed. 

You could then do a week tour as mentioned above for Ottawa/NY.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

Their manager , who isn't a player , who had one visit one year to France , then the following year to Canada , not 4 in one season 

Stop trying to be clever , you aren't fooling anybody 

If he said he enjoyed the trip the point still stands 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.