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Bedfordshire Bronco

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Eddie

Eddie

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Posted

I never hear anyone complain that some seasons the vast majority of premier league clubs have been from London and the North West either. There were a few years when there wasn’t even a team from Yorkshire or the West Midlands in the top flight. 

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The Hallucinating Goose

The Hallucinating Goose

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Posted
1 hour ago, Eddie said:

I never hear anyone complain that some seasons the vast majority of premier league clubs have been from London and the North West either. There were a few years when there wasn’t even a team from Yorkshire or the West Midlands in the top flight. 

Funnily enough I was thinking this exact same thing a couple of days ago. In the early noughties there was even a couple of seasons where 19 of the 20 teams came from only London, West Midlands, North-West and North-East. The only team from outside those 4 areas was Portsmouth. Quite often there has been seasons where there has been 6 teams from London and 6 or 7 from the North-West. I think the most ever, in the Premier League anyway, from just London was 7. A third of the leagues teams coming from one city and no one ever goes on about football being poorly spread out.

I don't know why we do so much in RL. These towns are just where our teams are based and the league will naturally sort itself out within the rules that we set for promotion and relegation and I'm totally fine with that. 

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Jughead

Jughead

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1 minute ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Funnily enough I was thinking this exact same thing a couple of days ago. In the early noughties there was even a couple of seasons where 19 of the 20 teams came from only London, West Midlands, North-West and North-East. The only team from outside those 4 areas was Portsmouth. Quite often there has been seasons where there has been 6 teams from London and 6 or 7 from the North-West. I think the most ever, in the Premier League anyway, from just London was 7. A third of the leagues teams coming from one city and no one ever goes on about football being poorly spread out.

I don't know why we do so much in RL. These towns are just where our teams are based and the league will naturally sort itself out within the rules that we set for promotion and relegation and I'm totally fine with that. 

I suppose the argument to that is that professional football’s ninety-two are spread as far south as Plymouth and as far north as Carlisle, with large areas of the country having representation. The poorest representation is probably somewhere like Kent with one team whereas our spread is much thinner due to the number of clubs we have and the many large areas without clubs. 

I do think we get too hung up on the geography of Rugby League. Rugby League’s history is a belt across the northern part of country stretching from St Helens to Hull, with a few off shoots not too far away from that belt and a handful of clubs from elsewhere. I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all or something we should be using to discredit certain clubs (mainly because of stadia rather than geography, I’d say) either.

I think I’m bordering into another discussion here but is a bigger geographical spread possible or achievable through widening the top of the game to include more clubs at the summit?

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ATLANTISMAN

ATLANTISMAN

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32 minutes ago, Jughead said:

I suppose the argument to that is that professional football’s ninety-two are spread as far south as Plymouth and as far north as Carlisle, with large areas of the country having representation. The poorest representation is probably somewhere like Kent with one team whereas our spread is much thinner due to the number of clubs we have and the many large areas without clubs. 

I do think we get too hung up on the geography of Rugby League. Rugby League’s history is a belt across the northern part of country stretching from St Helens to Hull, with a few off shoots not too far away from that belt and a handful of clubs from elsewhere. I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all or something we should be using to discredit certain clubs (mainly because of stadia rather than geography, I’d say) either.

I think I’m bordering into another discussion here but is a bigger geographical spread possible or achievable through widening the top of the game to include more clubs at the summit?

1 league team in Kent however the strongest county for non league football by far in the UK.

The other week between National League/Isthmian/SECL (Kent League) total attendance around 17000:)

 

Paul

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Cw25

Cw25

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Posted
59 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

1 league team in Kent however the strongest county for non league football by far in the UK.

The other week between National League/Isthmian/SECL (Kent League) total attendance around 17000:)

 

Paul

Eh though, Geordie teams have done really well in the Vase.

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TheFlash

TheFlash

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Posted
3 hours ago, Jughead said:

I do think we get too hung up on the geography of Rugby League. Rugby League’s history is a belt across the northern part of country stretching from St Helens to Hull, with a few off shoots not too far away from that belt and a handful of clubs from elsewhere. I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all or something we should be using to discredit certain clubs (mainly because of stadia rather than geography, I’d say) either.

I see your point,but the problem is that a 12 team top division with 3 teams from Wakefield (where?) will simply become more and more obsolete in terms of visibility, mainstream media coverage, public conscience, and of course finances.

A pro sport on the way to becoming semi professional, is what we would be left with. 

 

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Jughead

Jughead

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Posted
10 minutes ago, TheFlash said:

I see your point,but the problem is that a 12 team top division with 3 teams from Wakefield (where?) will simply become more and more obsolete in terms of visibility, mainstream media coverage, public conscience, and of course finances.

A pro sport on the way to becoming semi professional, is what we would be left with. 

 

Three clubs with a WA postcode (Widnes, Warrington and Saints) for years never seemed to be an issue. I don’t get why the Wakefield area is a problem. I know Cas and Wakefield’s grounds are dated and not aesthetically pleasing for a television audience (though the atmosphere at Cas always comes across well) and it’s an easy stick to beat them with but I don’t necessarily agree with Featherstone being the ones to tip the scale over the edge of acceptable. 

The three being in Super League would create at least six derby games in the calendar, which is only a good thing. Crowds would likely swell for these games that actually have a bit more riding on them than just the two points. It also creates a story about Featherstone surely being the smallest place to host a Super League team and quite possibly the smallest place to host elite sport in the UK. For years, Bournemouth were heralded in the Premier League for being small and punching above their weight in a small stadium. I don’t really see why that wouldn’t be the case for Rovers. I think it would be a shot in the arm for that area if Featherstone got promoted, there would be a buzz around the area and an anticipation for those games.

While it’s important to grow the game away from our roots, the roots need to be strong. It’s a balancing act that I don’t think we’ve ever mastered, for various reasons. 

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GUBRATS

GUBRATS

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, TheFlash said:

I see your point,but the problem is that a 12 team top division with 3 teams from Wakefield (where?) will simply become more and more obsolete in terms of visibility, mainstream media coverage, public conscience, and of course finances.

A pro sport on the way to becoming semi professional, is what we would be left with. 

 

That's providing all those teams stay in SL 

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