Total Rugby League 303 Report post Posted January 15 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... View the full article Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tommygilf 3,320 Report post Posted January 15 Shock! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CanadianRugger 1,280 Report post Posted January 15 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... View the full article 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 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tommygilf 3,320 Report post Posted January 15 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. 4 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eddie 1,412 Report post Posted January 15 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. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Phil 3,102 Report post Posted January 15 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... View the full article Schofield in glass completely empty shock 3 Quote "Freedom without socialism is privilege and injustice, socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality" - Mikhail Bakunin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eddie 1,412 Report post Posted January 15 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. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tommygilf 3,320 Report post Posted January 15 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. 6 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eddie 1,412 Report post Posted January 15 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. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnM 6,157 Report post Posted January 15 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? 1 Quote Four legs good - two legs bad Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toby Chopra 800 Report post Posted January 15 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. 9 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eddie 1,412 Report post Posted January 15 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. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Damien 7,675 Report post Posted January 15 I'm amazed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Future is League 2,222 Report post Posted January 15 Does anyway pay this dinosaur for his views? He was a fine player, but he has become a figure of ridicule with views. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Future is League 2,222 Report post Posted January 15 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 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pudsey 9 Report post Posted January 15 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 3 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DEANO 1,095 Report post Posted January 15 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 Quote sometimes you have to take a step backwards to move forward Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Moove 696 Report post Posted January 15 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 5 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wollongong 126 Report post Posted January 15 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? 10 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ackroman 590 Report post Posted January 15 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. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ackroman 590 Report post Posted January 15 (edited) 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. Edited January 15 by Ackroman 5 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Celt 717 Report post Posted January 15 (edited) The problem is, 'Belgrade' could eventually progress as fas as SuperLeague, and that could leave us with a Super League composed of London, Leeds, Toronto, Toulouse, Hull, Belgrade, Manchester etc etc. This is clearly the LASTthing the sport needs in order to thrive. Gary simply wants what is best for the game as a whole.... that is, a league composed of Wakefield, Castleford, Featherstone, Batley, and a few other assorted dumps that absolutely nobody outside Yorkshire has ever heard of. That will really help us to attract the sponsors in. It is probably still the 1970s inside his house. Edited January 15 by Celt 5 Quote Rugby League: Alive and Handling Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eddie 1,412 Report post Posted January 15 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. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eddie 1,412 Report post Posted January 15 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. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DEANO 1,095 Report post Posted January 15 Correct. My point in a nutshell. Invest or fast tracked will generate success Quote sometimes you have to take a step backwards to move forward Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
