Cumbria

[Cumbrian Mackem]

Can’t honestly see a merged Cumbrian team happening. That ship has long since sailed.

[GUBRATS]

23 minutes ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Can’t honestly see a merged Cumbrian team happening. That ship has long since sailed.

I think ' merged ' sailed long ago , that's why nobody is suggesting it , stand alone club is the only other suggestion , and you still have the same issues 

Ultimately all 3 clubs have the potential to be competitive Championship clubs , competition between the 3 is the way to drive growth IMO

[Cumbrian Mackem]

1 minute ago, GUBRATS said:

I think ' merged ' sailed long ago , that's why nobody is suggesting it , stand alone club is the only other suggestion , and you still have the same issues 

Ultimately all 3 clubs have the potential to be competitive Championship clubs , competition between the 3 is the way to drive growth IMO

Not many people will like this but west Cumbria should just be a breeding ground for super clubs in terms of playing talent.

[GUBRATS]

1 minute ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Not many people will like this but west Cumbria should just be a breeding ground for super clubs in terms of playing talent.

' Should ' ? 

[Cumbrian Mackem]

3 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

' Should ' ? 

In terms of this and this alone. No standalone teams in the top flight either.

[Mr Frisky]

1 hour ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Yet people are calling for them to be in Super League, why?

I dont think they are marra - especially Cumbrians. Just read through this thread and that will become evident.

Town more or less get the biggest or joint biggest crowds in Lg1 - never a SL club but a mid size championship club.... if they can get promoted of course.

[Route66]

I still think the first thing we should be looking at is getting at least one county representative game each season, criminal how it's been overlooked by the sport. A team with a pack containing Amor,Moore, Singleton, Knowles and Donaldson should bring a decent crowd 

[dkw]

1 minute ago, Route66 said:

I still think the first thing we should be looking at is getting at least one county representative game each season, criminal how it's been overlooked by the sport. A team with a pack containing Amor,Moore, Singleton, Knowles and Donaldson should bring a decent crowd 

Rep games have been well attended at both Workington with World Cup games and Whitehaven with a Cumbria v England game. They would have had excellent crowds again for the next World Cup if it wasn't for our wazzock of an MP.

[Cumbrian Mackem]

4 minutes ago, Route66 said:

I still think the first thing we should be looking at is getting at least one county representative game each season, criminal how it's been overlooked by the sport. A team with a pack containing Amor,Moore, Singleton, Knowles and Donaldson should bring a decent crowd 

Limited to touring kiwi and Aussie sides and poor quality stadiums.

[Neutralfan7]

The only way for a Cumbria SL team is a new club. Needs to have an investor who will start from the bottom and build up. So things like scholarships and academy need to be a must to get the player development going (Whitehaven done this very well when they were competing at the top of the Championship some years ago, and I believe Workington had a scholarship system at the same time ) . Saying that, I can only see it working IF licensing comes in and we go to a no promotion/relegation competition like the NRL. But, this would sadly mean the end for the current clubs as although the Amateur game is really strong, they won't be able to provide the numbers for players. I think should a SL team happen then it would attract a lot more fans to travel from around the county. 

[Route66]

30 minutes ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Limited to touring kiwi and Aussie sides and poor quality stadiums.

Hopefully the stadium problems can be sorted but that shouldn't be a hindrance stopping one off games.My first county game was against Yorkshire in 1979 at derwent park, first international county game beating the 1980 kiwis at whitehaven and last one against England for the Garry Purdham memorial in 2010 .In between watched Australia, new Zealand, the Maoris, PNG,Tonga,the anzacs and France all over the county,some great games and watched close up some of the greatest ever players 

[ATLANTISMAN]

I think the best way forward for Cumbria is the current teams in a strong championship + touring matches/World Cup.

 

P 

[Cumbrian Mackem]

Whitehaven and Workington should have merged in 1996 and have been known as the west Cumbria mariners playing in a brand new stadium built in lillyhall.

mascot could have been “marra” the mariner. Stadium could have also been shared with the Workington reds football team and financed by the sale of derwent Park, recreation ground and borough park.

[shaun mc]

1 hour ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Whitehaven and Workington should have merged in 1996 and have been known as the west Cumbria mariners playing in a brand new stadium built in lillyhall.

mascot could have been “marra” the mariner. Stadium could have also been shared with the Workington reds football team and financed by the sale of derwent Park, recreation ground and borough park.

1995/96 season ended in January, the new SL season 1 started 2 months later in March 96

There was no time to even consider merging teams, or building a stadium

I still have the details somewhere of the plans Town had to bring in temporary stands to Derwent Park to both increase the capacity and bring the fans closer to the play on the field. It was a good option at the time. That was when it was thought the game was going to have games with thousands of extra fans in every stadium. In reality, it was and only could be the same teams as 95/96 plus Paris with a bit of temporary razzamatazz thrown in

A stadium for 2 or 3 teams you mention is great in hindsight only 

[Saint Toppy]

21 hours ago, Davo5 said:

Absolute rubbish,the lack of a decent road network is one of the major reasons the region can't attract economic investment and has to rely on being propped up by the nuclear industry.

Its funny how Google maps doesn't allow for the numerous tractors,coaches and caravans that often bring the road speeds down to a crawl especially during the summer months.

The business case has never stacked up for Highways England to fully dual the entire length of the A66 westwards all the way to the coast. I know of at least 2 previous studies into the feasibility of it (one of which I was part of) and on both occasions the BCR (Benefit Cost Ratio) was considerably less than 1. Only schemes deemed as being of strategic national importance will be progressed if they have a BCR of less than 1. 

The only feasible way to increase the BCR is for the local council (CCC) to contribute financially (or for there to be a significant increase in the number of deaths or serious injuries along the single carriageway sections as these factors has a high weighting on the BCR formula)

[Davo5]

49 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

The business case has never stacked up for Highways England to fully dual the entire length of the A66 westwards all the way to the coast. I know of at least 2 previous studies into the feasibility of it (one of which I was part of) and on both occasions the BCR (Benefit Cost Ratio) was considerably less than 1. Only schemes deemed as being of strategic national importance will be progressed if they have a BCR of less than 1. 

The only feasible way to increase the BCR is for the local council (CCC) to contribute financially (or for there to be a significant increase in the number of deaths or serious injuries along the single carriageway sections as these factors has a high weighting on the BCR formula)

Good old highways England,could give Superleague a lesson in ineptitude.

[dkw]

1 hour ago, Saint Toppy said:

The business case has never stacked up for Highways England to fully dual the entire length of the A66 westwards all the way to the coast. I know of at least 2 previous studies into the feasibility of it (one of which I was part of) and on both occasions the BCR (Benefit Cost Ratio) was considerably less than 1. Only schemes deemed as being of strategic national importance will be progressed if they have a BCR of less than 1. 

The only feasible way to increase the BCR is for the local council (CCC) to contribute financially (or for there to be a significant increase in the number of deaths or serious injuries along the single carriageway sections as these factors has a high weighting on the BCR formula)

Those feasibility studies are erm...."weighted" in favour of the outcome Highways England want.

[shaun mc]

The last study I read around the transport connectivity issues for Cumbria was from 2016. 

38 road projects were classed a priority across the county. Around another 45 were given a lesser status than priority

For the section from Keswick to Penrith (i.e the A66) there was one project in the 38, which was to create a crawler lane between Troutbeck and Scales - can't disagree with that one, it can be an area where traffic flow slows

For the section Workington to Keswick there 7 projects. Most importance was given to a road from the port of Workington to the main network. Again, can't disagree. 5 projects were around improving junctions and roundabouts - a couple of which may have already been done e.g at Cockermouth

The final one was to dual the section along Bassenthwaite Lake, that is currently single track, about 2 miles, and is currently subject to a 50 mph limit. Been mentioned previously on this thread.

So, no full-dualling recommended. And then only a 2 mile stretch that would be the most difficult and expensive 2 miles to dual of the whole A66 to Penrith.

Currently, the A66 east of Penrith is getting all the money and improvements, including an underpass at junction 40 to improve the bottleneck at Kemplay roundabout, and 6 smallish sections that will either be dualled, or bypassed and dualled such as at Kirkby Thore

 

[Saint Toppy]

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Those feasibility studies are erm...."weighted" in favour of the outcome Highways England want.

Actually they're all based on criteria set nationally by DfT.

HE would actually like to dual it all, hence why they've commissioned numerous studies over the years into its feasibility, but the numbers just never stack up to justify the funding over other projects around the country.

[Live after death]

On 15/11/2020 at 12:07, Celt said:

It left Lanashire in the early 1970s. Are you really sure that there are still "many" people who want it to move back???

Sounds like an exaggeration to me - the guts of half a century later.

Only based it on my co workers up at Barrow, nearly all if them want to be Lancashire. Only basing it on 30-40 staff, don't get me wrong its not a huge topic if conversation, (much bigger things going on in the world/country) but definitely a pro Lancashire consensus. 

[Eddie]

On 16/11/2020 at 13:48, Saint Toppy said:

Actually they're all based on criteria set nationally by DfT.

HE would actually like to dual it all, hence why they've commissioned numerous studies over the years into its feasibility, but the numbers just never stack up to justify the funding over other projects around the country.

Your last sentence is so true. The peripheral areas of the country are always last when it comes to funding for road improvements etc, in Norfolk it’s dismal too.