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Shane Richardson Calls for Overhaul of British Rugby League


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6 hours ago, Mark S said:

We are the only sport in the world that seems to hate money. We purposely aim to pay people on the game as little as possible. 
 

The RFL is run no better than a Working Men’s Club committee and is in serious need of an overhaul. There are too many people who have power over the RFL, with Hetherington being one of them.
 

 

Going back to the WMC theme, I used to do a lot of gigs on that circuit and it really was like RL in this country. I’ll probably go off on one a bit but here goes.....
 

The best clubs were up in the North East (Newcastle/Sunderland), they welcomed everyone, drinks maybe weren’t the cheapest but they reinvested the money they took behind the bar back into the club. The clubs were actually places you wanted to spend a Friday/Saturday or Sunday night in. Some clubs people would be queuing outside the door to get in, and no my band weren’t that good! Honestly on a Sunday night there could be 200+ in there and another 20 queued up waiting for a seat. They paid top money and took care of the bands.
 

On the flip side, particularly in clubs in South Yorkshire you’d be tutted at for sitting in old Tommy’s seat, if any young people dared to come in they’d be given daggers all night and the place wouldn’t have even seen a lick of paint since the 60s. You’d usually be playing in these run down clubs to crowds of 20 or 30. But the members were happy because it was their club and they were voting to keep beer prices down and outsiders out. They couldn’t see the long term picture that every year a few more old timers would pass away and left right and centre other clubs in the area were shutting. But they were getting their pint of fosters for £2.50 so it didn’t matter. 
 

Too many clubs are the second type of working men’s club. 

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13 minutes ago, AB Knight said:

Going back to the WMC theme, I used to do a lot of gigs on that circuit and it really was like RL in this country. I’ll probably go off on one a bit but here goes.....
 

The best clubs were up in the North East (Newcastle/Sunderland), they welcomed everyone, drinks maybe weren’t the cheapest but they reinvested the money they took behind the bar back into the club. The clubs were actually places you wanted to spend a Friday/Saturday or Sunday night in. Some clubs people would be queuing outside the door to get in, and no my band weren’t that good! Honestly on a Sunday night there could be 200+ in there and another 20 queued up waiting for a seat. They paid top money and took care of the bands.
 

On the flip side, particularly in clubs in South Yorkshire you’d be tutted at for sitting in old Tommy’s seat, if any young people dared to come in they’d be given daggers all night and the place wouldn’t have even seen a lick of paint since the 60s. You’d usually be playing in these run down clubs to crowds of 20 or 30. But the members were happy because it was their club and they were voting to keep beer prices down and outsiders out. They couldn’t see the long term picture that every year a few more old timers would pass away and left right and centre other clubs in the area were shutting. But they were getting their pint of fosters for £2.50 so it didn’t matter. 
 

Too many clubs are the second type of working men’s club. 

That's a very good analogy.

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The supporters who we depend upon for our future - mainly the future sponsors who will likely own or hold major roles in major companies - won’t even know what a working men’s club is.

I’m not suggesting we disown our past, but holding back from modernisation just results in us slowly withering, appearing unattractive to younger crowds and financial investors. I believe we are on the edge of the precipice. Covid has given us a big nudge towards the edge and only timely intervention will stop us falling to our end.

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20 hours ago, Cheshire Setter said:

I don’t think anything will change unfortunately. We seem to be destined to stay stuck in this slow spiral downwards, perpetuated by an unwavering old-school mindset. It’s almost like RL has become a parody of itself, the cliched ‘small-time game for small-minded Northern folk who eat their cheesy-peas and head for a pint on the way home after a hard day’s work at t’factory’… that’s how it feels when you look at the league, most of the stadia, and listen to the games on TV. 
 

Of course, a lot of us (hopefully most fans) know it doesn’t have to be this way. We want to see a renaissance of RL but in an updated and forward-looking way. Shane Richardson has been there and done that, the NRL leaders are also proven in that field. What is the legacy of the sport’s leading figures in this hemisphere? Have we actually changed in a positive way since the 1990s? We seemed to be heading that way in the early 2000s, but now we seemed destined to slowly fizzle out.

The least we could do is bring someone like Richardson on board to work with us.

Anyone who stereotypes people from the north is bound to have other prejudices also, so why perpetuate this? 

Football fans from Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool never do this, they see their northern roots as a positive. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Niels said:

Anyone who stereotypes people from the north is bound to have other prejudices also, so why perpetuate this? 

Football fans from Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool never do this, they see their northern roots as a positive. 

 

 

I think that's the problem. Those involved in the RFL and SL seem to encapsulate those negative stereotypes.

You can see it in our game where the people behind the World Cup are putting a positive spin on the "Northern Powerhouse" I think they're calling it.

The difference is day and night.

new rise.jpg

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Some interesting stuff coming out of his press conference.

He wants 10 teams including Newcastle, a Welsh team, Toronto and Toulouse.

No League 1 or at least a full amateur League 1.

new rise.jpg

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10 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

Being northern is a positive, I'm certainly not embarrassed about it. It doesn't mean though that I wouldn't want anything to do with other people from a different location. I'll use the example of The Beatles or Coronation Street - northern as you can get but loved everywhere, that's the difference.

As a proud Cumbrian your all just North Midlanders anyway.😂

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28 minutes ago, Pulga said:

Some interesting stuff coming out of his press conference.

He wants 10 teams including Newcastle, a Welsh team, Toronto and Toulouse.

No League 1 or at least a full amateur League 1.

Where can we read that? I’ve not seen his ideas yet. 

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I think one area where funding and support is needed is youth development. Traditionalists may not like this but Newcastle, London, Coventry, West/South Wales, Sheffield need support from the RFL to help with youth development and funding of academies. I dont mean RFL run regional academies like before. I mean the RFL should work with the clubs mentioned to build the local game and help create strong self sufficient academies

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2 minutes ago, JM2010 said:

I think one area where funding and support is needed is youth development. Traditionalists may not like this but Newcastle, London, Coventry, West/South Wales, Sheffield need support from the RFL to help with youth development and funding of academies. I dont mean RFL run regional academies like before. I mean the RFL should work with the clubs mentioned to build the local game and help create strong self sufficient academies

Cumbria?

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10 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Cumbria?

I'm not sure if Cumbria needs an academy as all the best young players head to SL academies anyway and there isn't a club in Cumbria that has the potential to be in SL. 

I do think that support with the junior game in Cumbria is important though as they provide plenty of players for the professional game

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The RFL was the independent authority - albeit with relatively limited powers. They and the league's general manager should have been empowered but instead the SL clubs, at great expense, took a large chunk of that power away.

Everyone knows what a disaster that was but the next step is difficult.

The RFL has to be the primary independent power in the professional game. That's not negotiable as the UK government only recognises them for funding purposes. They should control the overall season calendar to tie in with the international game, specify international weekend(s) and run disciplinary, referees, laws etc.

Richardson is right a powerful independent commission is probably the way to go to administer the top flight. Yes you'll need a boss or general manager but a group of people will at least mitigate the typical Rugby League lightening rod approach where one person gets blamed for everything that happens. And also hopefully provide for more considered decision making.

What is critical now after all these years is that clubs shouldn't have any direct or sole voting power on game-wide strategic decisions. This is a view backed in the past by both Mcmanus and Hetherington so we have a starting point there at least if the other club bosses can come on board.

I agree less with Richardson on future league structures and creating new clubs which are pie in the sky comments which don't help much at this stage.

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6 minutes ago, JM2010 said:

I'm not sure if Cumbria needs an academy as all the best young players head to SL academies anyway and there isn't a club in Cumbria that has the potential to be in SL. 

I do think that support with the junior game in Cumbria is important though as they provide plenty of players for the professional game

A fraction of the players migrate to Superleague,there are countless numbers of talented young players who either choose to stay amateur or are lost to the game due to the lack of support.

The game up here is propped up by a handful of amateur clubs who do a great job but we are crying out for support.

Does west/South Wales,Coventry,Sheffield have more potential to be Superleague clubs ??

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48 minutes ago, JM2010 said:

I think one area where funding and support is needed is youth development. Traditionalists may not like this but Newcastle, London, Coventry, West/South Wales, Sheffield need support from the RFL to help with youth development and funding of academies. I dont mean RFL run regional academies like before. I mean the RFL should work with the clubs mentioned to build the local game and help create strong self sufficient academies

Why do you suggest ' traditionalists ' wouldn't like what you are suggesting ? 

 

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22 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

A fraction of the players migrate to Superleague,there are countless numbers of talented young players who either choose to stay amateur or are lost to the game due to the lack of support.

The game up here is propped up by a handful of amateur clubs who do a great job but we are crying out for support.

Does west/South Wales,Coventry,Sheffield have more potential to be Superleague clubs ??

Do you think having a Cumbrian Academy would help produce more Cumbrian SL players? Wouldn't the better players still sign for SL clubs anyway?

Would a Cumbrian Academy work if it fed into the Cumbrian clubs so that any players who are late developers or didn't want to move south at a young age still had a pathway.  

Are there enough players to support an academy without if having a detrimental effect on the local game?

I completely agree that the amateur game in Cumbria needs support as it's a heartland of the sport.

As far as potential SL clubs go I do think the clubs I mentioned have more long term potential but that's not saying any will fulfil that.

Every time a combined Cumbrian SL team is brought up a lot of people don't think it would work. What do you think would be the best route for potentially getting a Cumbrian team in SL?

 

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6 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Why do you suggest ' traditionalists ' wouldn't like what you are suggesting ? 

 

I just think some don't think that the game should be spending money on areas outside of the heartlands

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3 minutes ago, JM2010 said:

I just think some don't think that the game should be spending money on areas outside of the heartlands

The RFL should support all and everybody willing to play the sport , however as we all know , our resources are limited , which is probably our biggest problem , as has been suggested , the biggest impact the sport in Britain can has is for the SH teams to send their best teams to this year's WC , maybe that's where he should be using his influence 

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18 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

The RFL should support all and everybody willing to play the sport , however as we all know , our resources are limited , which is probably our biggest problem , as has been suggested , the biggest impact the sport in Britain can has is for the SH teams to send their best teams to this year's WC , maybe that's where he should be using his influence 

I completely agree

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I wet myself at a 10 team comp that had 2 new teams, 2 from france and 6 current English SL teams - Wigan, Saints, Hull, Leeds, Warrington and Bradford/London would offer the most potential. Look at the new division Leigh, KR, Cas, Wakey, Huddersfield, Salford, Fev, Widnes, York, London/Bradford, Fax, Barrow and Sheffield  - all with no way into the elite comp (the Aussie way). Do they accept that for the good of the game or break away? 

You cannot get rid of 125 years of history from a nation that has a history so rich. Change is needed desperately, and that change is driven by capable leaders at the top table not pen pushers, but solutions must embrace not isolate. 

SL needs cash, lets open up the sale of shares, say £5m per club and grow through the strength of having cash in the bank.

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59 minutes ago, sweaty craiq said:

I wet myself at a 10 team comp that had 2 new teams, 2 from france and 6 current English SL teams - Wigan, Saints, Hull, Leeds, Warrington and Bradford/London would offer the most potential. Look at the new division Leigh, KR, Cas, Wakey, Huddersfield, Salford, Fev, Widnes, York, London/Bradford, Fax, Barrow and Sheffield  - all with no way into the elite comp (the Aussie way). Do they accept that for the good of the game or break away? 

You cannot get rid of 125 years of history from a nation that has a history so rich. Change is needed desperately, and that change is driven by capable leaders at the top table not pen pushers, but solutions must embrace not isolate. 

SL needs cash, lets open up the sale of shares, say £5m per club and grow through the strength of having cash in the bank.

Sorry mate, the game is nearly as old in Australia. You are shackled to tradition. Letting these one-horse towns believe they should be in the top flight is helping nobody. P&R is killing the English game 

new rise.jpg

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36 minutes ago, Pulga said:

Sorry mate, the game is nearly as old in Australia. You are shackled to tradition. Letting these one-horse towns believe they should be in the top flight is helping nobody. P&R is killing the English game 

Sorry mate Australias entire history excluding the indigenous peoples is less than a few hundred years old. There is a reason our sports retain P&R, not just RL, and that the biggest sporting league in the world retains it - making the NRL look like a sunday pub league in comparison. 

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