While we wait, a philosophical debate: what does a club actually represent?

[Reverend Ram]

As I don’t have to compose any sermons for a while I thought I’d share some musings on a topic that has always vexed me - is your team truly representative of the moniker it sports? If I switch to the round ball code for a bit and look at Arsenal - who on average have 0 or 1 English players in their side - do they really represent a suburb of N London? Or are they just a bunch of mercenaries seeking the best £ and have no real affinity for the club? Taking my own club and the others nearby, are they just a bunch of the same blokes plying their trade to the highest bidder, according to their ability, and does it really matter if the blokes wearing your team’s shirt turn out the following season in another (usually Featherstone for us Rams players)? I did a bit of research t’other day looking at season 1973-4 and the % birthplace of squad members for some teams:

Dewsbury 26% Dewsbury born

Feath 37%

Halifax 4%

Hull 67%

Hull KR 65%

Leeds 40%

Leigh 26%

St Helens 52%

Salford 7%

Warrington 10%

Whitehaven 32% (though 90% Cumbrian)

Widnes 68%

Wigan 53%.

It would be very interesting to compare with today’s squads though I suspect the lower down the divisions you go the more locals appear. In season 73-74 Wire were the dominant team and yet had one of the fewer home town players - buying success perhaps is not a modern thing. I just think that playing for your home town team is an honour and with the emphasis on RL being a community sport (as recognised by HM Government to the tune of £16 million) and if a team is meant to represent a town or district then it should really have at least one player from that place in the team at all times. I remember  Halifax winning a title with almost 100% Antipodeans (apologies to Fax fans if the memory is playing up) but to me it is a bit hollow- at least a quarter of Dewsbury’s championship side were local. I am realistic enough to know that a return to truly representative sides won’t happen but I would not be averse to a “home town” rule whereby one of the starting 13 must be a local - thereby guaranteeing a place for one local lad. Then at least we would not fall foul of the trades descriptions act! Anyway something else for you all to chew over perhaps to while away a bit more before we reach the promised land of watching TGG live again (and my sermons are not as long, believe me!). Stay safe!

[silverback]

I know were this one will go within a page.

[Padge]

Home town rule great in theory, diabolical in practice.

Who decides the boundaries. What are they based on.

Why should a team be disadvantaged because the area they are based in is rubbish at producing top class players or is having a drought at a particular time.

Why should top class players have opportunities limited because a team has to have a bunch of no hopers in the side to make up a quota.

[Ackroman]

A club represents its investors, be it fans, speccies or owners. It also represents aspiration to succeed but success is measured in different ways for different clubs. Add in history, values and shared experiences and you have the essence of a club. However those who represent the club in competition can come from anywhere so long as they represent the above values.

Having been involved in grassroots RL and soccer, the values of RL clubs outshine soccer by a country mile because our opinions matter, and are often similar across the RL family. In soccer, even at grass roots, the desire to win outweighs everything, so if your club is a happy friendly little place, to compete, you have to copy other clubs behaviour and those values are eroded. It's the main reason I stopped coaching football and it's why RL is held in such high esteem.

[Man of Kent]

I imagine you’d have to factor in the part-time nature of RL back in the 1970s when comparing the number of local lads to the present day.  

A club represents many things but I’d say a professional club is fundamentally different to an amateur club. A pro club is, at base level, in the business of selling tickets like a theme park or museum or cinema. 

What’s different about a rugby club from a theme park, however, is the same ‘customers’ visit again and again and again, forging bonds and common goals and shared memories.

In summary, a pro club is largely about fans, an amateur club is largely about players.

[Tommygilf]

19 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

I imagine you’d have to factor in the part-time nature of RL back in the 1970s when comparing the number of local lads to the present day.  

A club represents many things but I’d say a professional club is fundamentally different to an amateur club. A pro club is, at base level, in the business of selling tickets like a theme park or museum or cinema. 

What’s different about a rugby club from a theme park, however, is the same ‘customers’ visit again and again and again, forging bonds and common goals and shared memories.

In summary, a pro club is largely about fans, an amateur club is largely about players.

Totally agree. 

It should especially be the case in a game set up to be professional as RL is that the players move more.

[Hela Wigmen]

A club isn't defined by the birthplaces of its players, nor should it be.

[Leyther_Matt]

Players and directors come and go. It is the supporters who remain the constant and, in effect, are ’the club’. 

[Tommygilf]

43 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

The fans. The fans. The fans. 

True, but some fans are morons and there's a reason they're not running the club.

[Tommygilf]

I can't remember which sports documentary or interview I was watching, it may well have been a rugby league one, which basically set out the 3 parts of what a club is, from a coaches perspective.

The Board

The Team

The fans

"Keep at least 2 of those onside and as a manager you'll keep your job" was the premise of the point. I think its an interesting way to look at what constitutes a club from the basic level. Nuances can be added as individuals and groups within those 3 basic facets but essentially I think thats it.

There's also my favourite Bill Shankly quote about football (but I suppose it applies to all team sports) that its "not a matter of life and death, its much more important than that". Which takes the meaning and value of what a club is to another level. It forges bonds between people that can be from all over the world nowadays like no other thing, besides religion.