League One

[Eddie]

8 minutes ago, David Shepherd said:

If it was to be split into Northern and Southern/Welsh divisions, is there anything that says all teams have to be professional?

The only way I see there being a worthwhile number of teams is if the top amateur sides compete with the semi-pro teams.

Even if the 2 x 10 idea at the top of the tree goes through, there still won't be enough Southern/Welsh clubs to make a meaningful competition.

A split like that would mean Northern teams just have to travel a few miles along the M62 to play their games whereas Southern / Welsh teams would have absurd trips for amateur away games such as Devon to Wymondham or North Wales to Essex. Not that I have a solution to this issue myself. 

[Jughead]

1,153 at Cornwall v West Wales, which is a great attendance. 

[OriginalMrC]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

So it’s fine to have a team getting whacked 100-0 every single week if the people involved in that club want it to happen? 

Newcastle got thumped week in week out when they first joined the league 

[Rach]

7 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

Newcastle got thumped week in week out when they first joined the league 

Not so long ago that York were in a similar position as well ,never saw any calls for them to be chucked out of the league ....

[headtackle]

5 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

Dont see how adding teams from NCL would help if aim is to get players from that area playing.

What is League 1 for? If it is a place to get new clubs playing local players than realistically you need a southern and northern conference because we´ve seen you either get pumped playing locals (a great way to kill any interest from players or supporters) or you flood your team with northerners and unless there´s a long term plan for academies in those places noone is coming through. 

No french team would blow their money on League 1 unless they were aiming for SL in a few years as costs are crazy, the need for french teams to have to play in England to reach SL is why I think we dont see more come through. 

Post re-organisation, I think we are going to see a northern and southern conference regardless but that´s probably how I would do it now so that teams like Gloucester maybe come back in the knowledge they won´t get battered every game. 

 

Below the Championship a Northern and Southern conference makes the most sense

Minimise travel costs and allow new clubs time to develop and strengthen before travelling north to play the more established northern clubs. 

play league season against teams in your conference with top 2 in each playing off to determine promotion.  Depending on who goes up and comes down may occasionally need for a team on the border to switch conferences but they do that in non league football without problems 

Would obviously need a few more clubs to provide enough games but if achieved would provide a structure similar to that of football at the top of the non league game

[Jughead]

7 minutes ago, headtackle said:

Below the Championship a Northern and Southern conference makes the most sense

Minimise travel costs and allow new clubs time to develop and strengthen before travelling north to play the more established northern clubs. 

play league season against teams in your conference with top 2 in each playing off to determine promotion.  Depending on who goes up and comes down may occasionally need for a team on the border to switch conferences but they do that in non league football without problems 

Would obviously need a few more clubs to provide enough games but if achieved would provide a structure similar to that of football at the top of the non league game

A five team league and a twenty-odd team league with huge disparity, makes sense, does it?

[Hemi4561]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

So it’s fine to have a team getting whacked 100-0 every single week if the people involved in that club want it to happen? 

Where have I said that they "want" to get hammered every week? I have said that they want to exist and those of us who have a broad experience of the lower league teams ,and those that have come to it and only have seen their club say Cornwall play 7 games in their short existence want them exist. Only a fool would deny that the learning curve is very step and may in the first season involve not winning a game.

[gingerjon]

11 minutes ago, headtackle said:

Below the Championship a Northern and Southern conference makes the most sense

It's 210 miles from London to Llanelli.

Doncaster is closer.

[glemiln]

1 hour ago, David Shepherd said:

Even if the 2 x 10 idea at the top of the tree goes through

Any details of this idea?

[David Shepherd]

1 minute ago, glemiln said:

Any details of this idea?

Only what I’ve read on this forum. 

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Rach said:

Not so long ago that York were in a similar position as well ,never saw any calls for them to be chucked out of the league ....

I’m not calling for anyone to be chucked out of the league. 

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, headtackle said:

Below the Championship a Northern and Southern conference makes the most sense

Minimise travel costs and allow new clubs time to develop and strengthen before travelling north to play the more established northern clubs. 

play league season against teams in your conference with top 2 in each playing off to determine promotion.  Depending on who goes up and comes down may occasionally need for a team on the border to switch conferences but they do that in non league football without problems 

Would obviously need a few more clubs to provide enough games but if achieved would provide a structure similar to that of football at the top of the non league game

It wouldn’t minimise travel costs for the southern clubs if they had to go from say Norfolk to Devon or Pembrokeshire instead of West Yorkshire. 

[Bearman]

Contributers to this forum often put forward the idea of bringing in some new clubs. Funny thing is there doesn't seem to be a queue of actual clubs throwing in their hats.

Perhaps that's because there is or was when Coventry joined a huge bond to accompany their application. Add that there is hardly any central contribution to defray costs and a load of hoops to jump through to meet minimum standards.

 

[ChristianB]

We in Cornwall were never under any illusion that our first season would be challenging, and especially the first half of it. Please bear with the players and coaches because they *will* make giant strides over the next two months.

To address the apparent issue with heartland players drafted in to broaden the squad, a few points. First, the stated aim of the club is to bring through as many local players as possible over the coming years, but that also requires the expertise of established League players to guide them in the learning process. Second, we are currently experiencing a bit of an injury problem (and that was before the West Wales game which saw one of our lads badly dislocate his elbow).

So far we're averaging gates over 1000, and that will hopefully increase further over the summer. There's a lot to be optimistic about with Cornwall RLFC both on and off the pitch.

[clwydianrange]

Keep doing what you’re doing mate, you’ll get there.

[OriginalMrC]

2 hours ago, gingerjon said:

It's 210 miles from London to Llanelli.

Doncaster is closer.

Doncaster is the closest away trip for Midlands Hurricanes. Begs the question, which league would Doncaster and Hurricanes be in 

[Jughead]

About time we looked at the Championship. 52-0 tonight. Terrible. 

[Hello]

It feels a shame that Cornwall are getting such good attendances at this level and yet are total whipping boys.  Perez seems to have gone from one extreme to the other in terms of investing in the actual squad.  If there isn't more investment soon in said squad then I fear it will just become another appeared and then disappeared story in the attempts to expand and ultimately survive as a sport that has credibility as a professional sport.

[OriginalMrC]

1 hour ago, Hello said:

It feels a shame that Cornwall are getting such good attendances at this level and yet are total whipping boys.  Perez seems to have gone from one extreme to the other in terms of investing in the actual squad.  If there isn't more investment soon in said squad then I fear it will just become another appeared and then disappeared story in the attempts to expand and ultimately survive as a sport that has credibility as a professional sport.

There's lots of good things about Cornwall but they were very naive with their recruitment. A focus on local players was admirable but lots of people said it wouldn't work and so far it hasn't. This season expectedly has been a struggle but they'll no doubt learn from it. 

[Mumby Magic]

For me the division should be our gradual expanding/expansion division and like said previously allow growth. We as a sport should be fully supportive of the division and be proactive in making it stronger and looking for potential clubs to join. 

[Eddie]

7 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

Depends if they actually have money to put in, if so, they know a crowd is there so we will find out next season if they are serious about being a challenger. If not, my worry is that they continue to get pumped until the crowds sink to levels that make it not worth it. 

They’ve said all along that they want to use a significant number of Cornish players, not just pay for Northern and Aussie players to play for them, which is an admirable stance but is obviously going to take longer than buying better players in. Hopefully as that is the case the local crowds will stick with them. 

[Eddie]

49 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

But as you said before they will just get pumped until noone watches. Unless they are going to shell out for an academy , which seems like an unwise investment when still in league 1, then you kind of half to pack your team with northerners with a few local players until your a decade down the line. 

I agree, it’s a tough one isn’t it. If they’re all Northern / Aussie they’ll get slated for it like TWP did for not having any Canadians, but if they pick a load of Cornish players they’ll get whacked every week. 

[Toby Chopra]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

They’ve said all along that they want to use a significant number of Cornish players, not just pay for Northern and Aussie players to play for them

Perez said the same about Toronto and the same about Ottawa. He didn't mean it then, and he doesn't mean it now. 

He just knows that if he says it he'll get some good vibes from a section of the rugby league community for his new venture. We fall for it each time. 

In reality, Toronto taught him all he needs to know about how to make a success of a team in virgin territory, and it ain't trying to convert a bunch of recreational level union players. 

[Eddie]

34 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

Perez said the same about Toronto and the same about Ottawa. He didn't mean it then, and he doesn't mean it now. 

He just knows that if he says it he'll get some good vibes from a section of the rugby league community for his new venture. We fall for it each time. 

In reality, Toronto taught him all he needs to know about how to make a success of a team in virgin territory, and it ain't trying to convert a bunch of recreational level union players. 

To be fair Cornwall have signed a number of local players and are struggling, while TWP didn’t and were instantly successful, so I’m prepared to give Perez the benefit of the doubt here. 

[Toby Chopra]

45 minutes ago, Eddie said:

To be fair Cornwall have signed a number of local players and are struggling, while TWP didn’t and were instantly successful, so I’m prepared to give Perez the benefit of the doubt here. 

I think that just reflects that Cornwall's current backers don't have the deep pockets that Toronto or even the nascent Ottawa did. Or they haven't wanted to dig too deep yet, until the prospects are clearer. 

It'll take years to develop even a handful of their own players and even then they might not be good enough. You don't even have to go as far as Toronto to see that, London and Newcastle have only ever kicked on when they've had a full time core. 

I see no reason why Cornwall would be any different. 

Now I don't have any problem with that. With Cornish Pirates winding down their full time status, there's potentially a huge opportunity for RL here if the owners are willing and able to seize it. But that will involve moving to a full time core sharpish.