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What would you do if League One was no more?


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The growing shadow looming over L1 and many of the clubs currently in it, including my own team, has led me to ask my self this question and I am interested in what other think as there are a fair few L1 fans on this board. Obviously we don't know actually what the future of L1 will be (and its been debated extensively) but assuming the worse (i.e., your club is no more or goes amateur) what would you do?

If this happens a bit of me is going to be so hacked off that I would want to walk totally away from the sport and do something else with my time and money, but truth is I like it too much. I would certainly watch a lot fewer games but the question for me is who and where? I don't find the prospect of a part time London Broncos very enticing and have had enough experience of a struggling non heartland club but would probably give it a go for a match or two. Otherwise I am thinking of heading over to France a couple of times a season. Given rail fares and hotel costs here it probably wouldn't cost me much more than travelling up nort and the weather is a lot better than here!

I do fear though this will be the start of a terminal decline in my commitment to the game (friends of mine from Kent who used to be regular Bronco fans now only watch live RL at the CC or the ever rarer internationals down here - that could be where I end up).

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31 minutes ago, EssexRL said:

The growing shadow looming over L1 and many of the clubs currently in it, including my own team, has led me to ask my self this question and I am interested in what other think as there are a fair few L1 fans on this board. Obviously we don't know actually what the future of L1 will be (and its been debated extensively) but assuming the worse (i.e., your club is no more or goes amateur) what would you do?

Having been there and got that t-shirt (see profile picture) I was initially totally hacked off with the sport, but also scratched the itch by going to occasional SL matches every season. This takes planning, because every match is an overnight stay and the reluctance to play on Saturday afternoons can make it a mission for non heartlands fans to actually get there (especially on trains).*

anyway, I'm still hacked off at the sport, don't have sky, and haven't been to a live match since 2018 (got married in 2019, and obviously last/this year have not been normal) but have settled into being mostly a Trin fan, and otherwise a sort of itinerant neutral around the grounds.

 

*as an aside, the Sky money has kept the game alive, but Thursdays and Sundays along the M62 are no way to do outreach to the non-locals. I know Sunday has got historic reasons for a lot of clubs, but you can't tell me the same about Thursday nights...

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I have absolutely no affinity to any SL/Championship club. I’m born, raised and living outside of any ‘heartland’

I want to see RL thrive in Wales and I suppose that leads me to supporting West Wales and the Crusaders.

With that in mind, I’m not a massive fan of how West Wales operate (they come across shabby, amateur and have a poor reputation in the amateur game in south Wales) and Crusaders are full of players that travel over from England’s north west (I have no issue here as such but see ‘no affinity’)

If L1 was to disappear if still follow the game as I love it too much and have put too much of my own time (playing and coaching) into RL in South Wales and the midlands to give up over night.

As a previous poster alluded to, travelling up north is a logistical pain, so internationals aside, I’d very much remain an armchair fan. 

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seriously, if you can bear it (no pun intended) just pick another team. It sounds mental, and I had no intention of doing it. I told the story a long time ago on here somewhere but my first Super League match was just as Oxford were folding and me and some friends stuck a pin in a map and went to Wakefield v Wigan.

The welcome we got in the pubs around the ground, and on the terraces, was so good that even as my club collapsed and the taste in my mouth grew bitterer, I knew where I was going when the dust settled.

Which is how a southern public schoolboy with no connections that I know of to Yorkshire ended up as a Wakefield Trinity fan.

I chose Trin, in the same way I chose rugby league. I certainly wasn't born to either of them.

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As a Swinton fan for 43 years, I would be lost to the game. I do watch the odd SL game on Sky but mostly Aussie games but without Swinton I just wouldnt care about RL anymore. Would proably go watching cricket or play golf more often 

"When you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose; it's how drunk you get." -Homer Simpson

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1 hour ago, iffleyox said:

seriously, if you can bear it (no pun intended) just pick another team. It sounds mental, and I had no intention of doing it. I told the story a long time ago on here somewhere but my first Super League match was just as Oxford were folding and me and some friends stuck a pin in a map and went to Wakefield v Wigan.

The welcome we got in the pubs around the ground, and on the terraces, was so good that even as my club collapsed and the taste in my mouth grew bitterer, I knew where I was going when the dust settled.

Which is how a southern public schoolboy with no connections that I know of to Yorkshire ended up as a Wakefield Trinity fan.

I chose Trin, in the same way I chose rugby league. I certainly wasn't born to either of them.

If that’s in reply to me mate, I’ve already identified a championship club (or two) that I’ll be visiting next year. Cheers nonetheless 😊 

Happy to here you’ve been welcomed so openly. 

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1 hour ago, welshmagpie said:

If that’s in reply to me mate, I’ve already identified a championship club (or two) that I’ll be visiting next year. Cheers nonetheless 😊 

Happy to here you’ve been welcomed so openly. 

Was actually replying to Bearman but you got in ahead of me - anyway the advice stands, hopefully you won’t need it but some club somewhere will make you welcome if you do. 

It helped that the first few matches we /I wore Oxford polo shirts etc because it’s a good ice breaker when people know you’re not from round there and ask you what on Earth you’re doing in a backstreet Wakefield pub*
 

*although that might just have been Wakefield…

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3 hours ago, iffleyox said:

seriously, if you can bear it (no pun intended) just pick another team. It sounds mental, and I had no intention of doing it. I told the story a long time ago on here somewhere but my first Super League match was just as Oxford were folding and me and some friends stuck a pin in a map and went to Wakefield v Wigan.

The welcome we got in the pubs around the ground, and on the terraces, was so good that even as my club collapsed and the taste in my mouth grew bitterer, I knew where I was going when the dust settled.

Which is how a southern public schoolboy with no connections that I know of to Yorkshire ended up as a Wakefield Trinity fan.

I chose Trin, in the same way I chose rugby league. I certainly wasn't born to either of them.

A clue in my signature at the foot of this post will tell you which I would ( and do) support. Hence the remark about train trips. I already travel up by train when Bears fixtures don't coincide.

Ron Banks

Midlands Hurricanes and Barrow

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24 minutes ago, Bearman said:

A clue in my signature at the foot of this post will tell you which I would ( and do) support. Hence the remark about train trips. I already travel up by train when Bears fixtures don't coincide.

Ah - fair enough, no signatures on phones!

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Whatever happens to Coventry Bears I'd like to think I'll still be there to cheer them on. Going back to amateur rugby wouldn't change that. And I'd expect to see Bearman there too. Both of us fuming at the injustice of it all but still loyal to the club.

Were there no more Coventry Bears, I might join Bearman on a day trip to Barrow occasionally or maybe the odd game at Doncaster (next nearest to Cov?). Parents live in York so there's them too. 

Would stil watch SL & NRL games on Sky & CC on BBC and internationals wherever.

Point I'm trynig to make is that I wouldn't adopt another club but wouldn't give up the game at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, iffleyox said:

Having been there and got that t-shirt (see profile picture) I was initially totally hacked off with the sport, but also scratched the itch by going to occasional SL matches every season. This takes planning, because every match is an overnight stay and the reluctance to play on Saturday afternoons can make it a mission for non heartlands fans to actually get there (especially on trains).*

anyway, I'm still hacked off at the sport, don't have sky, and haven't been to a live match since 2018 (got married in 2019, and obviously last/this year have not been normal) but have settled into being mostly a Trin fan, and otherwise a sort of itinerant neutral around the grounds.

 

*as an aside, the Sky money has kept the game alive, but Thursdays and Sundays along the M62 are no way to do outreach to the non-locals. I know Sunday has got historic reasons for a lot of clubs, but you can't tell me the same about Thursday nights...

Totally agree. If there were more Saturday SL games I'd definitely make more trips up north. It's the only day which I can guarantee trains, and not to have to take a day off work. I did see Salford play on a Saturday about 3 years ago and then had a cracking night out in Manchester after, now that's a trip I'd love to repeat! 

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7 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

Totally agree. If there were more Saturday SL games I'd definitely make more trips up north. It's the only day which I can guarantee trains, and not to have to take a day off work. I did see Salford play on a Saturday about 3 years ago and then had a cracking night out in Manchester after, now that's a trip I'd love to repeat! 

I think you might have really hit on something here.

I wonder if it ever occurred to the SL clubs that more people might come and watch the game, (and have a great night afterwards) if only they played on Saturday!

Holy cow man, you should write to them and tell them, they might be missing a trick here by playing on Thursday night!

I mean Thursday night???? It's likely that the only people who go to watch on a Thursday night, live in the same street as the ground.

No wonder crowds are down, compared to the old days, when everyone played on a Saturday.

Do you think, it would help swell the coffers, if all the games were played on a Saturday? 

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I honestly think I'd be done with the sport, and I say that as someone who watches most of the games on sky without fail, and in a normal year would attend the challenge cup final, magic weekend and the grand final plus any home England games, on top of every Keighley home game and any away game that isn't so far away it would require an overnight stay.

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11 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

I think you might have really hit on something here.

I wonder if it ever occurred to the SL clubs that more people might come and watch the game, (and have a great night afterwards) if only they played on Saturday!

Holy cow man, you should write to them and tell them, they might be missing a trick here by playing on Thursday night!

I mean Thursday night???? It's likely that the only people who go to watch on a Thursday night, live in the same street as the ground.

No wonder crowds are down, compared to the old days, when everyone played on a Saturday.

Do you think, it would help swell the coffers, if all the games were played on a Saturday? 

As I suggested, Thursday nights are a function of the Sky money. I would however suggest that more coffers would be swelled if more matches were played on more Saturdays. Not all of them.

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53 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

Totally agree. If there were more Saturday SL games I'd definitely make more trips up north. It's the only day which I can guarantee trains, and not to have to take a day off work. I did see Salford play on a Saturday about 3 years ago and then had a cracking night out in Manchester after, now that's a trip I'd love to repeat! 

2023

A. Direct train from Oxford and Coventry - three hours.

B. Bus or taxi up from Manchester city centre - 10 minutes. 20 minutes tops

C. Alight at Moor Lane, watch SRD being drubbed heavily and dismally by Wigan again, but hey the atmosphere from the Salford end. - 2 hours plus

D. Repeat B in opposite direction. 20 minutes bottom

E. Drink, dance and be merry in the happy holes of Manchester.🥃 Hours and hours.

F. Repeat A. Last train at 2207 and (erm) first train at 5am. 😯

Sorted.

 

10 x 10 is a crude revenue protection mechanism to ensure that the diminished TV money remains going to the Big Six at the expense everyone else, especially the likes of Coventry, Keighley and Swinton.

If L1 goes then so do the majority of those running, investing in, playing and supporting them. 

A small levy on SL match day ticket revenue could easily support L!. Likewise so could bi-lateral development agreement between the professional and the semi professional clubs. We are really talking of choosing whether say Wigan wants to fund a couple of months of a Marquee signing or North Wales's entire season.

 

 

 

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I don't support a SL team, I guess I have a soft spot for Leeds and follow the Broncos. If L1 was gone I'd likely support a local amateur team, but how involved I'd be I don't know. The Midlands absolutely needs a pro/semi pro team to bridge the gap between the north and London. Whether that team would be in Coventry or somewhere else they'd have my full support. 

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7 hours ago, EssexRL said:

The growing shadow looming over L1 and many of the clubs currently in it, including my own team, has led me to ask my self this question and I am interested in what other think as there are a fair few L1 fans on this board. Obviously we don't know actually what the future of L1 will be (and its been debated extensively) but assuming the worse (i.e., your club is no more or goes amateur) what would you do?

If this happens a bit of me is going to be so hacked off that I would want to walk totally away from the sport and do something else with my time and money, but truth is I like it too much. I would certainly watch a lot fewer games but the question for me is who and where? I don't find the prospect of a part time London Broncos very enticing and have had enough experience of a struggling non heartland club but would probably give it a go for a match or two. Otherwise I am thinking of heading over to France a couple of times a season. Given rail fares and hotel costs here it probably wouldn't cost me much more than travelling up nort and the weather is a lot better than here!

I do fear though this will be the start of a terminal decline in my commitment to the game (friends of mine from Kent who used to be regular Bronco fans now only watch live RL at the CC or the ever rarer internationals down here - that could be where I end up).

Besides me a general SL fan like I seem to have morphed into this season

I'm closer to the SL grounds than you I think but I still think a once a month sojourn up there is very doable for a Friday- Sunday 

We combine a nice hotel and coupley stuff with at least one but sometimes two games up there (second game often Broncos away game)...plenty to see up there outside of RL and coz it's the North its cheap. English is very widely spoken too 

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L1 won't be exterminated, the club's won't be vaporized by some RFL equivalent of a Vogan construction fleet. They will still exist, they will just operate in a different structure.

For a tough sport we do really harbour a lot of drama queens.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Padge said:

L1 won't be exterminated, the club's won't be vaporized by some RFL equivalent of a Vogan construction fleet. They will still exist, they will just operate in a different structure.

For a tough sport we do really harbour a lot of drama queens.

 

 

Oh well in which case Super League fans won’t mind if their teams are replaced with big city franchises - Wigan, Saints etc will still exist, they will just operate in a  different structure…

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