24 Clubs Outside Super League

[Smudger06]

11 minutes ago, Butch said:

Work is being done on the ground it actually looks the best it has done for a lot of years. But what ever state the ground is it is our asset that most rl clubs no longer have. 

Yeah good point. 

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

18 minutes ago, Butch said:

Work is being done on the ground it actually looks the best it has done for a lot of years. But what ever state the ground is it is our asset that most rl clubs no longer have. 

As an Oldham fan I concur with that. Watersheddings was a dump, but it was our dump with over a century of history. Now it's gone. Appreciate your stadium and never ever sell it for a pipe dream.

[Butch]

29 minutes ago, The Art of Hand and Foot said:

As an Oldham fan I concur with that. Watersheddings was a dump, but it was our dump with over a century of history. Now it's gone. Appreciate your stadium and never ever sell it for a pipe dream.

Well said bud 

[Bring back GB]

2 hours ago, Smudger06 said:

Craven Park seems to be rapidly deteriorating though, hasn't it got a reduced capacity of only 3k these days? And the clubs digital profile seems to be going backwards, a lot of work seems needed to be done on digital and on Stadium.......

3200 is the Covid capacity 

[Bleep1673]

18 hours ago, moorside roughyed said:

Oldham will be knackered, no ground, playing outside the town and an aged, dwindling fan base. I think more clubs will go bump and we'll lose a truckload of history and heritage. 

Substitute Oldham for Swinton, same post

[moorside roughyed]

Just now, Bleep1673 said:

Substitute Oldham for Swinton, same post

There will probably be more than these two. 

[Bleep1673]

3 minutes ago, moorside roughyed said:

There will probably be more than these two. 

I know, but don't want to list them.

Rochdale, Hunslet & Donny are too close to my heart.

[Butch]

Keep hearing about ageing fan base. I have been watching barrow for over 30 years now and can honestly say I have never seen so many younger folks in. Clubs should look at what barrows board are doing and copy it 

[moorside roughyed]

Just now, Bleep1673 said:

I know, but don't want to list them.

If it does come to this it will be a travesty. All that history and heritage down the drain. People will have supported they're chosen clubs often for years for nothing. It will be a really sad moment if it does happen. 

[Bleep1673]

3 minutes ago, Bleep1673 said:

I know, but don't want to list them.

Rochdale, Hunslet & Donny are too close to my heart.

 

1 minute ago, Butch said:

Keep hearing about ageing fan base. I have been watching barrow for over 30 years now and can honestly say I have never seen so many younger folks in. Clubs should look at what barrows board are doing and copy it 

Add all Cumbrian Clubs to the list.

[Eddie]

3 minutes ago, Butch said:

Keep hearing about ageing fan base. I have been watching barrow for over 30 years now and can honestly say I have never seen so many younger folks in. Clubs should look at what barrows board are doing and copy it 

At last, something positive on probably the bleakest thread on this forum for one time (which is saying something!). 

[Bleep1673]

6 minutes ago, moorside roughyed said:

If it does come to this it will be a travesty. All that history and heritage down the drain. People will have supported they're chosen clubs often for years for nothing. It will be a really sad moment if it does happen. 

I'm too far away, and too old & poor, to have a fighting interest in this, but when they demolished Station Road, about a month after I came for a visit, I sat on the step behind the "Squash Club" and cried, and cried, and cried. My wife at the time who had been there a few times just left me alone for an hour, and I knew that was the semi death of a once great club & game.

[moorside roughyed]

1 minute ago, Bleep1673 said:

I'm too far away, and too old & poor, to have a fighting interest in this, but when they demolished Station Road, about a month after I came for a visit, I sat on the step behind the "Squash Club" and cried, and cried, and cried. My wife at the time who had been there a few times just left me, and I knew that was the semi death of a once great club & game.

I cried like a baby when we lost Watersheddings. 

[Bleep1673]

3 minutes ago, moorside roughyed said:

I cried like a baby when we lost Watersheddings. 

All the grounds I listed above, I visited, and I miss, especially here on the south coast. I even miss Alt Park, Wilderspool, Knowsley Rd, Central Park, H20Shedds was a great place, even the willows North Stand, from the top, I could see my house.

Living in London for 20 years I saw Broncos/Crusaders/Quins RL play in some weird places.

Saw Lions in Bridgend, S. Wales, all lost.

[Harry Stottle]

I posed this question on another thread about how funding should be shared out and would teams below SL be void of funding.

Does Catalan recieve the full funding as other SL clubs do? If the answer to that is yes and supposing Toulouse get promotion, I propose the £4 million or so they would jointly recieve is put to any 'pot' for clubs below SL, for no other reason that looking after our own and charity begins at home.

In desperate times radical action needs to be taken, let the French look after the French, for if we forsake the Championship and L1 clubs and consequently the game suffers in those areas that produce professional player's that will have a far greater impact on it's own in this country other than losing two French teams from SL if it came to that, but it shouldn't have to come to that if Toulouse is the sleeping giant people keep describing 'Big City' club enticing large crowds and massive sponsership potential they should be OK, and Catalan have been around long enough to push on forward.

[Blind side johnny]

47 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

I posed this question on another thread about how funding should be shared out and would teams below SL be void of funding.

Does Catalan recieve the full funding as other SL clubs do? If the answer to that is yes and supposing Toulouse get promotion, I propose the £4 million or so they would jointly recieve is put to any 'pot' for clubs below SL, for no other reason that looking after our own and charity begins at home.

In desperate times radical action needs to be taken, let the French look after the French, for if we forsake the Championship and L1 clubs and consequently the game suffers in those areas that produce professional player's that will have a far greater impact on it's own in this country other than losing two French teams from SL if it came to that, but it shouldn't have to come to that if Toulouse is the sleeping giant people keep describing 'Big City' club enticing large crowds and massive sponsership potential they should be OK, and Catalan have been around long enough to push on forward.

Is it not called Super League Europe?

[The Blues Ox]

I will go out on a limb and say that if Halifax went out of business it would have no effect what so ever on the amateur game in the area and nor would it affect the amount of professional players that are produced by the area. Its sad but its true and its just another reason on a long list of why SL simply do not need Championship clubs. That may be different if some sort of draft system were in place for players from each area and it meant SL clubs had to negotiate with the pro/semi pro team in that area to take the best talent.

[Smudger06]

1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

I posed this question on another thread about how funding should be shared out and would teams below SL be void of funding.

Does Catalan recieve the full funding as other SL clubs do? If the answer to that is yes and supposing Toulouse get promotion, I propose the £4 million or so they would jointly recieve is put to any 'pot' for clubs below SL, for no other reason that looking after our own and charity begins at home.

In desperate times radical action needs to be taken, let the French look after the French, for if we forsake the Championship and L1 clubs and consequently the game suffers in those areas that produce professional player's that will have a far greater impact on it's own in this country other than losing two French teams from SL if it came to that, but it shouldn't have to come to that if Toulouse is the sleeping giant people keep describing 'Big City' club enticing large crowds and massive sponsership potential they should be OK, and Catalan have been around long enough to push on forward.

French could then secure their own TV deal, keep the 1st £4m and any extra is then split equally within SL. 

[Cardypaul]

The big winners will be the clubs with rich owners, what should be introduced is a cap on the amount owners are allowed to put into a club to make a level playing field.

[Toby Chopra]

40 minutes ago, Cardypaul said:

The big winners will be the clubs with rich owners, what should be introduced is a cap on the amount owners are allowed to put into a club to make a level playing field.

Nobody is a winner from a reduced TV deal, it just speeds up the day the English game dies, however you share the funds.  And as for proposing that rugby league be the only sport in the world to refuse investment from rich people, it's ...well...words fail me. 

[fighting irish]

Get the second french club in to Super League, give them their fare share of the Sky money.

Make the competition more cosmopolitan and as such more attractive, get more Our League members as a result and/or a french/european tv deal to increase the total amount of money coming into the game.

If you do what Harry says, the game is doomed. 

[Cardypaul]

4 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

Nobody is a winner from a reduced TV deal, it just speeds up the day the English game dies, however you share the funds.  And as for proposing that rugby league be the only sport in the world to refuse investment from rich people, it's ...well...words fail me. 

The problem is clubs are spending money they don’t have, would you really have a business where you just keep pouring money in with no chance of ever recouping it is total madness.

[Wakefield Ram]

5 minutes ago, Cardypaul said:

The problem is clubs are spending money they don’t have, would you really have a business where you just keep pouring money in with no chance of ever recouping it is total madness.

They have Financial Fair Play however flawed in football. The problem with the "rich backer" approach is with few exceptions, they leave at some point and leave a financial mess behind. It is not a sustainable model.

The more the professional game shrinks, the fewer who will support the game, the poorer the game is all round. 

If my team Dewsbury folded, would I go and watch another team? No. Would I be less likely to attend international games? Yes. Watch SL on TV? To be honest, I stopped a few years ago, but watch the NRL instead.

And my son comes with me, he's in his 20s. Would he watch another side? No.

 

[Barley Mow]

2 hours ago, Wakefield Ram said:

They have Financial Fair Play however flawed in football. The problem with the "rich backer" approach is with few exceptions, they leave at some point and leave a financial mess behind. It is not a sustainable model.

The more the professional game shrinks, the fewer who will support the game, the poorer the game is all round. 

If my team Dewsbury folded, would I go and watch another team? No. Would I be less likely to attend international games? Yes. Watch SL on TV? To be honest, I stopped a few years ago, but watch the NRL instead.

And my son comes with me, he's in his 20s. Would he watch another side? No.

 

It's something I have direct experience of.

Since Bramley folded I've been more just a fan of the game in general: I go to the odd Leeds, Bradford or Hunslet match but I'm not a supporter of any of those clubs, they aren't "my team". I've watched the amateur Bramley side that replaced the original club from time to time.

As I say, I'm now just a fan of the sport. I still enjoy matches live or on tele, but there isn't the same passion or intensity as following your club.

It's a great shame if any club folds. Hopefully all will be able to ride out any cuts in funding - time will tell. 

[Blind side johnny]

27 minutes ago, Cardypaul said:

The problem is clubs are spending money they don’t have, would you really have a business where you just keep pouring money in with no chance of ever recouping it is total madness.

In reality most sports have little real concern with viability. When sports become businesses is the time that they cease to be sport in its purest form and simply money making ventures. Maybe that is what most "fans" of these sports thrive on but I have always, naively I guess, believed that RL is just a little different.