Schoey’s not a fan of Belgrade’s League 1 ambition

[Total Rugby League]

Red Star Belgrade playing in League One? Do me a favour. Please can someone at the Rugby Football League explain exactly what they will bring...

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[Tommygilf]

Shock!

[CanadianRugger]

3 hours ago, Total Rugby League said:

Red Star Belgrade playing in League One? Do me a favour. Please can someone at the Rugby Football League explain exactly what they will bring...

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Hemel Stags?  Don't  you mean Ottawa Stags?

Funny that the three most successful new clubs in the past twenty years to join the RFL system are all from outside England

[Tommygilf]

1 minute ago, CanadianRugger said:

Hemel Stags?  Don't  you mean Ottawa Stags?

Funny that the three most successful new clubs in the past twenty years to join the RFL system are all from outside England

I think that is a very salient point and demonstrates the lack of support the RFL and fellow clubs have actually given to domestic expansion markets.

[Eddie]

7 minutes ago, CanadianRugger said:

Hemel Stags?  Don't  you mean Ottawa Stags?

Funny that the three most successful new clubs in the past twenty years to join the RFL system are all from outside England

Catalans (well the clubs that merged) and Toulouse were already established clubs who moved across.

[Phil]

4 hours ago, Total Rugby League said:

Red Star Belgrade playing in League One? Do me a favour. Please can someone at the Rugby Football League explain exactly what they will bring...

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Schofield in glass completely empty shock  

[Eddie]

26 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I think that is a very salient point and demonstrates the lack of support the RFL and fellow clubs have actually given to domestic expansion markets.

What support can they give though? They don’t have any money or resources. 

[Tommygilf]

10 minutes ago, Eddie said:

What support can they give though? They don’t have any money or resources. 

Perhaps you allocate resources differently then. Leagues such as the AFL and NHL have expanded by supporting teams in strategic areas at an initial (and indeed ongoing) cost to the league as a whole. 

You definitely don't make it more difficult than it needs to be. So London for example should have a far higher salary cap than the Northern based teams. By extension with expansion teams full stop the salary cap should be far more flexible as they establish themselves in new markets.

The very lack of money indicates at least that they should be wanting to stage more England games to generate revenue.

[Eddie]

42 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Perhaps you allocate resources differently then. Leagues such as the AFL and NHL have expanded by supporting teams in strategic areas at an initial (and indeed ongoing) cost to the league as a whole. 

You definitely don't make it more difficult than it needs to be. So London for example should have a far higher salary cap than the Northern based teams. By extension with expansion teams full stop the salary cap should be far more flexible as they establish themselves in new markets.

The very lack of money indicates at least that they should be wanting to stage more England games to generate revenue.

AFL and NHL have shed loads more money than the RFL, there’s no comparison. Anyway, as much as I crave extension giving a team an advantage based on geographical location is unfair to the existing clubs imho. 

[JohnM]

Who is this Schofield ? Is he some sort of professional Yorkshireman? If he wants someone to do him a favour, what might be the best favour? 

[Toby Chopra]

32 minutes ago, Eddie said:

AFL and NHL have shed loads more money than the RFL, there’s no comparison. Anyway, as much as I crave extension giving a team an advantage based on geographical location is unfair to the existing clubs imho. 

This is the nub of it. If you think "existing clubs" are in competition with new ones, then any expansion is destined to fail as it's literally not in the existing clubs' interests for the new ones to succeed. 

We need a leap of imagination that sees the sport as a single whole, with clubs just being one of the stakeholders. The only compeption we should be worrying about is the competition for the attention of the public between Rugby League - and literally everything else.

That's what the North American sports do: they view the league, even the sport, as a whole as the product. The clubs are just a way of accessing it. And if they can expand it to new markets, they'll do whatever it takes to do it. 

[Eddie]

1 minute ago, Toby Chopra said:

This is the nub of it. If you think "existing clubs" are in competition with new ones, then any expansion is destined to fail as it's literally not in the existing clubs' interests for the new ones to succeed. 

We need a leap of imagination that sees the sport as a single whole, with clubs just being one of the stakeholders. The only compeption we should be worrying about is the competition for the attention of the public between Rugby League - and literally everything else.

That's what the North American sports do: they view the league, even the sport, as a whole as the product. The clubs are just a way of accessing it. And if they can expand it to new markets, they'll do whatever it takes to do it. 

That’s all very well from an idealistic point of view, but if you were say Wakefield’s owners, or a fan, and you finished 9th but went down because TWP, Catalans and Toulouse were all protected you might change your mind. If I were someone keeping an English team afloat I might think differently if there was unfair competition loaded against me like that. 

[Damien]

I'm amazed.

[The Future is League]

Does anyway pay this dinosaur for his views?

He was a fine player, but he has become a figure of ridicule with views.

[The Future is League]

29 minutes ago, JohnM said:

Who is this Schofield ? Is he some sort of professional Yorkshireman? If he wants someone to do him a favour, what might be the best favour? 

He's a figure of fun.

He really shouldn't be paid for his views on Rugby League because he's clueless .

He would make a good advert for selling pies that's for sure

[Pudsey]

He is 100% correct .they and Valencia are miles away from making the grade at league one level . Difficult to see how semi pro players will get time off to do Ottawa, new York, red star and Valencia 

[DEANO]

2 hours ago, CanadianRugger said:

Hemel Stags?  Don't  you mean Ottawa Stags?

Funny that the three most successful new clubs in the past twenty years to join the RFL system are all from outside England

Ok. Using Hemel as an example. If they had a billionaire owner they would have been a success like Toronto. If they were fast tracked into super greed and I think exempt from relegation they would have been a success like Catalan. Jury is out on Toulouse don’t know if they’ve reached their peak

[Moove]

Stopped reading as soon as he brought out the 'they wont bring any away fans so there's no financial benefit to existing clubs' argument. Clown

[Wollongong]

It’s a funny juxtaposition... we argue that Toronto NY Ottawa etc who have no local players but bags of money shouldn’t be allowed.

Yet the Serbian and other Balkan teams are almost totally local players. But shouldn’t be allowed. 
 

what is the criteria, by which, we should grow the footprint of the game? 

[Ackroman]

1 hour ago, JohnM said:

Who is this Schofield ? Is he some sort of professional Yorkshireman? If he wants someone to do him a favour, what might be the best favour? 

Absolutely, he eats leftover Yorkshire puddings with jam on.

[Ackroman]

We as a sport in the UK have a duty to bring credibility to expansion abroad, so there's more at stake than just pounds and pence. The fact Red Star are looking for endorsement is both flattering and challenging.....and worth the risk.

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Moove said:

Stopped reading as soon as he brought out the 'they wont bring any away fans so there's no financial benefit to existing clubs' argument. Clown

Actually there are a lot of Serbs living in this country, many of whom are Red Star football fans and who might go to Red Star RL games if they’re local. 

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, DEANO said:

Ok. Using Hemel as an example. If they had a billionaire owner they would have been a success like Toronto. If they were fast tracked into super greed and I think exempt from relegation they would have been a success like Catalan. Jury is out on Toulouse don’t know if they’ve reached their peak

You could say that about any club though, Thatto Heath for example, or Beverley. 

[DEANO]

Correct. My point in a nutshell. Invest or fast tracked will generate success

[Eddie]

2 minutes ago, DEANO said:

Correct. My point in a nutshell. Invest or fast tracked will generate success

Well no ######. However they’re not the only way to success.