Tubby Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 18 hours ago, gingerjon said: That's a lot of words to say you hate the idea of rugby league being popular. But this is the exact kind of nonsense that is thrown around if you dare to have the temerity to challenge the 'expand at all costs' attitide of the more optimistic of our brethren (for that is what we are). I (and I'm sure Steve is the same) would love to see RL played in a truly national & international competion, with wealthy owners throwing money in hand over fist to make Edinburgh, for arguments sake, successful. Unfortunately, as we've seen many times over, it is extremely difficult to achieve and investment in the heartlands, whilst not always successful, seems to work sometimes (Hull KR for example. This attitude of 'I'm right and if you don't agree you hate Rugby League' is petty an does you no favours. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve oates Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 4 hours ago, Phil W said: For me to grow the profile of the game expansion has to happen. Now this is where I put my tin hat on. If I was in the RFL I'd be speaking to Premiership Rugby clubs around would they be interested in having league teams. Rugby league and union under the same umbrella gives year round income. T So the idea is died in the wool Rugby Union supporters will take to league? Doubt that.... Your assuming that rugby fans will support both sides. Didn't work for Hetherington at Leeds..... Stick RL sides with big union clubs and they will poach the best League lads. It's like putting Sheep and Wolves inn the same paddock. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve oates Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 20 hours ago, gingerjon said: To make it personal to you, he’s saying, as he always does, that there is no point offering any support to Anglian Vipers. It's like a Mantra isn't it Problem for you is you can't show league is successful outside south Lancashire and East and West Yorkshire despite the scores of attempts to make it do so since 1896. Even the Cumbrian coast is now struggling. I'm all for allowing anyone to throw their own ££Millions at RL clubs anywhere they want to. Great novelty value. But the real business sense is for the game's income to be 100% poured into keeping alive the bit of the Rugby League business that does actually work. Anyway maybe you can point to somewhere outside the Northern heartlands where RL does work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil W Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 24 minutes ago, steve oates said: So the idea is died in the wool Rugby Union supporters will take to league? Doubt that.... Your assuming that rugby fans will support both sides. Didn't work for Hetherington at Leeds..... Stick RL sides with big union clubs and they will poach the best League lads. It's like putting Sheep and Wolves inn the same paddock. Well I'm an example of a union supporter taking to league. Had a season ticket at Gloucester for a few years would do a seven hour round trip for matches. Out of interest why wouldn't union supporters take to league? I now live in Newcastle and have a Thunder season ticket. Get the Leeds point but union needs money and league needs money clubs like Gloucester and Worcester who have artificial pitches could make use of that further to provide income. You could have let's say a Gloucester rugby season ticket for union and league. The player point, that's a risk but it could happen now anyway. Like I said i'd be having conversations with the union clubs and sell the idea. I'd rather try things like this and have a conversation. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave T Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 32 minutes ago, steve oates said: It's like putting Sheep and Wolves inn the same paddock. We'd even lose to them this season. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerjon Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 19 minutes ago, steve oates said: It's like a Mantra isn't it Problem for you is you can't show league is successful outside south Lancashire and East and West Yorkshire despite the scores of attempts to make it do so since 1896. Even the Cumbrian coast is now struggling. I'm all for allowing anyone to throw their own ££Millions at RL clubs anywhere they want to. Great novelty value. But the real business sense is for the game's income to be 100% poured into keeping alive the bit of the Rugby League business that does actually work. Anyway maybe you can point to somewhere outside the Northern heartlands where RL does work? France Australia New Zealand Papua New Guinea 3 Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedfordshire Bronco Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 39 minutes ago, steve oates said: So the idea is died in the wool Rugby Union supporters will take to league? Doubt that.... Your assuming that rugby fans will support both sides. Didn't work for Hetherington at Leeds..... Stick RL sides with big union clubs and they will poach the best League lads. It's like putting Sheep and Wolves inn the same paddock. Opposite at Broncos....we nicked Guy Armitage from Ealing and injury aside he is a SL player now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jughead Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 Beyond the first game, the whole London Broncos/Harlequins thing never really worked and it was really the start of the decline for Broncos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerjon Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 Just now, Jughead said: Beyond the first game, the whole London Broncos/Harlequins thing never really worked and it was really the start of the decline for Broncos. Botched delivery on the RL side, TBH Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toby Chopra Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 It would only ever work if the two sports were equal partners and the owner/owners treated them as such. But there's almost nowhere where that could happen because the host club - union or league - is so well established in the local market, that the addition just becomes a revenue provider. The only places I could see it working are Newcastle, where the union club isn't that strong, or (gulp, dons hard hat) Sale/Salford. Everywhere else, even if fans are open minded and are looking for another summer/winter interest, the imbalance would be too big and someone would come off worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 2 hours ago, gingerjon said: France Australia New Zealand Papua New Guinea France and NZ aren’t shining lights tbf, but I applaud your excellent pedantry there 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meast Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 16 hours ago, ShropshireBull said: Because it was the first ever all french derby and many people from across the southern belt of france and would have gone. Tanking your own product to then say "Ha! Told you it wouldnt work! " is what someone who worked as a double agent for the RFU would do,not someone who cared about the sport. If it was giants first ever game vs Leeds I wouldnt shove it thursday night. When toulouse have 20 plus years in SL like Huddersfield and Wakey your disengenuous comparisons would be valid. But they havent so they arent. You don't know that "many people across the South of France would have gone", you're surmising and guessing again. I am going by the actual figures, bit what people think or hoped would have happened. The fact is that regardless of what day, night, venue, traffic, weather etc, there wasn't enough interest in the game to pull in even 10,000 people across the South of France. When it comes down to fact, figures and history it shows that less than 9,000 people went to the first ever all French super league game, it won't say (but it was a Thursday night so we can assume thousands more would have attended had it not been a Thursday nights) will it? https://www.facebook.com/HuddersfieldSA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jughead Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 4 hours ago, gingerjon said: Botched delivery on the RL side, TBH Botched idea across the board, tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerjon Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 17 minutes ago, Jughead said: Botched idea across the board, tbh. I'm not saying it definitely would have worked - I think it could have but would have taken effort that wasn't there in the end - but the way it was done pretty much guaranteed its failure from the off. Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommygilf Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 2 hours ago, Eddie said: France and NZ aren’t shining lights tbf, but I applaud your excellent pedantry there New Zealand won a World Cup which was a French idea in the first place! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 54 minutes ago, Tommygilf said: New Zealand won a World Cup which was a French idea in the first place! True, but you’d be hard pressed to make a case that RL is thriving in either country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EggFace Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 12 hours ago, Phil W said: For me to grow the profile of the game expansion has to happen. Now this is where I put my tin hat on. At Newcastle we share facilities with Newcastle Falcons and are under the banner of Newcastle Rugby. If I was in the RFL I'd be speaking to Premiership Rugby clubs around would they be interested in having league teams. Steve Lansdowne for example has loads of money and Bristol would be a great location. Rugby league and union under the same umbrella gives year round income. This could also work the other way, what's to stop the RFU approaching say St Helens and seeing if they want to get into union, again year round income generator. I said before but if I had the coin I have League 1 team in the Scottish Borders and the Welsh Valleys. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShropshireBull Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 3 hours ago, meast said: You don't know that "many people across the South of France would have gone", you're surmising and guessing again. I am going by the actual figures, bit what people think or hoped would have happened. The fact is that regardless of what day, night, venue, traffic, weather etc, there wasn't enough interest in the game to pull in even 10,000 people across the South of France. When it comes down to fact, figures and history it shows that less than 9,000 people went to the first ever all French super league game, it won't say (but it was a Thursday night so we can assume thousands more would have attended had it not been a Thursday nights) will it? More people would have gone on a weekend than a thursday night, people who believe otherwise are not intellectually capable. I don´t think Giant fans after a decade of woeful crowds should be lecturing any other club tbh. The status quo of clubs like Huddersfield has clearly failedthe sport. The lesson is not to tank your own product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommygilf Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 54 minutes ago, Eddie said: True, but you’d be hard pressed to make a case that RL is thriving in either country. Not that hard pressed really though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommygilf Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 Very decent crowd* at Salford tonight *relatively 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShropshireBull Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 10 minutes ago, Tommygilf said: Very decent crowd* at Salford tonight *relatively Looks good on the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave T Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 19 minutes ago, Tommygilf said: Very decent crowd* at Salford tonight *relatively That post started so well and then you seemed to lose all confidence I must admit, the last few times I've watched Salford the ground has looked less of an issue. Not sure if they've just worked out how to spread them around better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommygilf Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 7 minutes ago, Dave T said: That post started so well and then you seemed to lose all confidence I must admit, the last few times I've watched Salford the ground has looked less of an issue. Not sure if they've just worked out how to spread them around better Well you don't see that massive stand, and the stand opposite the camera whilst "tactically filled" is still pretty sparse. Probably a mixture of spreading the crowd around better and a genuinely bigger crowd. Its a 12k capacity ground after all with 2 standing terraces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 2 hours ago, Tommygilf said: Not that hard pressed really though I have a lot of time for your comments Tommy, and would be interested to hear in what way you think RL Is thriving in France and NZ? I know there are pockets in both countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommygilf Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 8 hours ago, Eddie said: I have a lot of time for your comments Tommy, and would be interested to hear in what way you think RL Is thriving in France and NZ? I know there are pockets in both countries. Thank you. France is due to host a World Cup in the next 3 years which will be massive for RL in the country. To even be at that stage represents a massive amount of growth in the past 25 years. To now have 2 super league quality clubs is also massive. NZ for its part has produced a player base and audience that is massive for the NRL. Because of the growth of RL within the Pacific diaspora within NZ, it is also the source of so much of the international game in the region too. Obviously the sport isn't as strong as it is in Australia in either, but the same could be said for the vast majority of the UK too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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