West Wales Raiders - laughing stock

[wilsontown]

Yep, I keep saying this but York is the heartlands - there are community clubs in Acorn, Heworth and New Earswick and right now we have a relatively successful semi-pro side. The Knights and their predecessors have not always been as successful as they are now but the game here is strong.

[burnleywelsh]

6 minutes ago, DEANO said:

Totally agree about the bust bit but there is a demand for the game in York whereas there isn’t in wales

https://wrl.wales/27-tries-in-two-games-as-junior-origins-thrill-large-crowd

[ShropshireBull]

3 hours ago, burnleywelsh said:

https://wrl.wales/27-tries-in-two-games-as-junior-origins-thrill-large-crowd

Also did this before but I encourage people to look at the attendances NWC were getting in SL first season and even second season in oversized box with money pulled out. Plus some good ones at Champ level. There is demand there with (and this is true for everyone) the right infrastructure and organisation. 

[Smudger06]

3 hours ago, DEANO said:

Totally agree about the bust bit but there is a demand for the game in York whereas there isn’t in wales

Understand the point but the sport and its clubs, can't be thinking like that. Need to be thinking there is demand everywhere, the rules are shorter and simpler than another sport and the on field product, cleaner and crisper for the viewer. 

[DEANO]

There is no demand. It’s been tried and better tried. They don’t know what they’re missing same as Kent Southend Oxford Gloucester………..and soon to be Cornwall 

[yanto]

9 minutes ago, DEANO said:

There is no demand. It’s been tried and better tried. They don’t know what they’re missing same as Kent Southend Oxford Gloucester………..and soon to be Cornwall 

Off course not ...never been a demand in Wales for rugby league ...erm...Vetch Field Swansea...rocking to Rugby League....think if money had been available to leave a lasting legacy....Plenty of Welsh support v England at Old Trafford in the semi finals also .

 

[DEANO]

3 minutes ago, yanto said:

Off course not ...never been a demand in Wales for rugby league ...erm...Vetch Field Swansea...rocking to Rugby League....think if money had been available to leave a lasting legacy....Plenty of Welsh support v England at Old Trafford in the semi finals also .

 

But there wasn’t enough money was there

[sgorpioncaerdyddrob]

It is easy for someone in the North of England to say there is no interest here in Wales. Welsh sport is always being run on a tight budget and has to punch above its weight to get recognition. As we have seen, when suitable resources and political conditions allow, certain sports can thrive,

Welsh football was in a terrible state in the mid 80s to early 2000s, no separate organised league system till 1993, international side a joke, Cardiff/Swansea/Wrexham scrapping between themselves in the bottom division, Newport went bust and started again etc... 

WRL will rise again. 

[JonT]

3 hours ago, yanto said:

Off course not ...never been a demand in Wales for rugby league ...erm...Vetch Field Swansea...rocking to Rugby League....think if money had been available to leave a lasting legacy....Plenty of Welsh support v England at Old Trafford in the semi finals also .

 

Enjoyed every second of that. The fitness level of that Welsh team is incredible. Flat out for 80 minutes playing total rugby. Thank you for posting.

[Eddie]

3 hours ago, DEANO said:

There is no demand. It’s been tried and better tried. They don’t know what they’re missing same as Kent Southend Oxford Gloucester………..and soon to be Cornwall 

With your last comment there are you parodying the TRL forum? 

[Jughead]

3 hours ago, DEANO said:

But there wasn’t enough money was there

Bradford (numerous times), Widnes, York, Oldham, Swinton, Oldham, all three Cumbrian clubs, Keighley, Sheffield, Wakefield. I’m probably missing clubs that I’ve forgotten have had financial problems. All of them “heartland” clubs. There’s no interest across the north of England in a minor sport. 

[DEANO]

34 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Bradford (numerous times), Widnes, York, Oldham, Swinton, Oldham, all three Cumbrian clubs, Keighley, Sheffield, Wakefield. I’m probably missing clubs that I’ve forgotten have had financial problems. All of them “heartland” clubs. There’s no interest across the north of England in a minor sport. 

They all bounce back because there I a demand 

[ShropshireBull]

I would say Oldham Bradford and Swinton arent bouncing back. We are shadows of what We were because of poor infrastructure or no home.  

York back as new stadium makes them commercially viable and attractive. Sheffield hope so but again that would be because new ground. 

Its infrastructure,  thats it.

[theswanmcr]

4 hours ago, DEANO said:

But there wasn’t enough money was there

There’s no money in half the clubs in Super League. They are only there because of TV money and an audience built up over 100 years and they’re not starting from scratch.

 

[DEANO]

27 minutes ago, theswanmcr said:

There’s no money in half the clubs in Super League. They are only there because of TV money and an audience built up over 100 years and they’re not starting from scratch.

 

Exactly my point. That’s why there is no hope of spreading the game whilst the traditional areas are struggling. I’m just being realistic. I want it to work but I know it won’t 

[yanto]

37 minutes ago, DEANO said:

Exactly my point. That’s why there is no hope of spreading the game whilst the traditional areas are struggling. I’m just being realistic. I want it to work but I know it won’t 

So Newcastle is not working  ??

[yanto]

3 hours ago, sgorpioncaerdyddrob said:

It is easy for someone in the North of England to say there is no interest here in Wales. Welsh sport is always being run on a tight budget and has to punch above its weight to get recognition. As we have seen, when suitable resources and political conditions allow, certain sports can thrive,

Welsh football was in a terrible state in the mid 80s to early 2000s, no separate organised league system till 1993, international side a joke, Cardiff/Swansea/Wrexham scrapping between themselves in the bottom division, Newport went bust and started again etc... 

WRL will rise again. 

I set up North Wales Coasters in Llandudno around 1998 with a guy called Bernard Duffy who had retired to Kinmel Bay .

Rochdale supporters may know his name and his son Andy Duffy played for the Hornets.

Even as amateurs we had a nomadic existence and played out of  Llandudno, Abergele and ended up at Bodelwyddan Hospital on a great little field playing in the North Wales Counties League.

Pleased to see the game back on the coast again.

Eirias Park is an ideal ground to kick off another Welsh effort in getting the game established.

[yanto]

6 hours ago, DEANO said:

But there wasn’t enough money was there

No you said there was no demand for it !!!

Have you watched the video I posted ?

Ok maybe not ...just go to 28 minutes and listen to the support the crowd are giving the Welsh team..."Bread of heaven" ringing out around  a FULL Vetch Field. ...yes  money plays a massive part but your argument of "no demand " may be a little off target.

 

[yanto]

3 hours ago, JonT said:

Enjoyed every second of that. The fitness level of that Welsh team is incredible. Flat out for 80 minutes playing total rugby. Thank you for posting.

Enjoy this then  ...semi final....just think if Wales had won how it would have set the game up .

Great team back then.

[TheFlash]

6 hours ago, yanto said:

Off course not ...never been a demand in Wales for rugby league ...erm...Vetch Field Swansea...rocking to Rugby League....think if money had been available to leave a lasting legacy....Plenty of Welsh support v England at Old Trafford in the semi finals also .

 

Sorry but your post kind of proves his point. To find a time when there was "demand" in Wales you have needed to go back 27 years, to a time when their team was littered with top class union talent, captained by Jonathan Davies, and packed with top professionals.

Nowadays, with a team of part timers and fringe Super League players, they play in a field in Merthyr Tydfil in front of about 340 people. Like he said.... There is no demand these days.

(Most of the current target market were not even born when that match was played). 

[welshmagpie]

6 hours ago, TheFlash said:

Sorry but your post kind of proves his point. To find a time when there was "demand" in Wales you have needed to go back 27 years, to a time when their team was littered with top class union talent, captained by Jonathan Davies, and packed with top professionals.

Nowadays, with a team of part timers and fringe Super League players, they play in a field in Merthyr Tydfil in front of about 340 people. Like he said.... There is no demand these days.

(Most of the current target market were not even born when that match was played). 

Show some respect please mate. The last time Welsh rugby league drew a home international crowd less than 4 figures (the infamous Llanelli international aside) was in 1999

[Phil W]

For me the lack of international matches is an issue. If England were to play Wales in Wales would that draw interest? I think it would. They should look at a six nations style tournament but stick with it. It'll grow over time.

[zylya]

9 hours ago, TheFlash said:

Sorry but your post kind of proves his point. To find a time when there was "demand" in Wales you have needed to go back 27 years, to a time when their team was littered with top class union talent, captained by Jonathan Davies, and packed with top professionals.

Nowadays, with a team of part timers and fringe Super League players, they play in a field in Merthyr Tydfil in front of about 340 people. Like he said.... There is no demand these days.

(Most of the current target market were not even born when that match was played). 

The original point was that there was never demand in Wales. The video shows that this original point is demonstrably false.

If we've gone from those scenes in 1995 to 2022 is that because Welsh people genetically just can't enjoy Rugby League? Or is it because the game has been poor at capitalising on its opportunities? How many Welsh kids would have been able to find a club local to them in 1995? How many opportunities to play did the RFL create to cater for this?

When England won the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup, my local rugby club had a huge and immediate uptick in membership. If England (or Wales for that matter) win the World Cup this year, how are kids outside of the Heartlands going to get involved in the sport and stay involved? Have the RFL or WRL thought about this and put anything in place? Did the RFL think about any of this back in 1995?

[dealwithit]

4 hours ago, Phil W said:

For me the lack of international matches is an issue. If England were to play Wales in Wales would that draw interest? I think it would. They should look at a six nations style tournament but stick with it. It'll grow over time.

Well they did a few years back and won 80-0 right? Or something like that. Was at Wrexham Rwcecourse ground. 

[tiffers]

17 hours ago, DEANO said:

There is no demand. It’s been tried and better tried. They don’t know what they’re missing same as Kent Southend Oxford Gloucester………..and soon to be Cornwall 

Bit presumptuous on the Cornwall front given they are yet to play a game.

What gives you such a concrete gauge on future Cornish demand at this point in time?

Out of interest, how are you defining "demand" to support your statements of "there is no demand"? It sounds like quite a binary concept reading above. I'd argue "demand" is far from a binary concept...