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Officially Kicking off the off-season silliness early


Tosh

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22 hours ago, Tosh said:

Canterbury bulldogs investing in Birmingham bulldogs.

I've still got some Barking Bulldogs kit.  It's green and black though, not blue and white.

"I'm a traditionalist and I don"t think you'd ever see me coaching an Australian national side!"  Lee Radford, RLW March 2016

Proud to be a member of the TRL woke claque

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16 hours ago, Damien said:

Not in London they are not. Hughes has spent over £20 million for the end result of a part time team and a club barely holding its head above water in the Championship. Still with no permanent ground or assets of note either.

You also forget that the operational costs of a NRL club get covered and then some by the TV deal. That will not be the case for any English club an NRL club sets up.

David Hughes has dropped approximately £1.7 million a year between 2007 and 2019 (incl). He again bankrolled the club during Covid 19 (to a lesser extent) and has now slashed his level of investment considerably this year. All in, it's probably nearer £25,000,000 that he's thrown away, but remember, 9 of those years since 2007 he also flushed £1.8 million of Sky money away, + whatever funding and parachute payments they got when in the Championship....it could be close to £60,000,000 spent in 15 years to achieve part-time status in another rented stadium with fewer than 900 fans. 

London suit the Championship and stand a better chance of survival if they can try and put down some permanent roots. I've no desire to see us promoted AGAIN just to struggle every year.  AFC Wimbledon are hovering at the wrong end of League 2 and have a fair amount of debt to service for their stadium, so there could be an opportunity for an "investor" to step in and buy London a share of the stadium. But not with David Hughes anywhere near the club. He is proof of what happens when enthusiastic amateurs with cash buy sports clubs. He ignored the need to attract fans, who in turn attract investors and sponsors for 15 years and he has learnt the hard way that he really should have listened to the RFL, who warned and offered help multiple times.

As for the NRL? It's taken them nearly a decade to grow and even then, Brisbane getting another side is hardly expansion, so I reckon they'll be more interested in opening up other METRO areas for ANZAC TV partners rather than running a reserve grade experiment a 30 hour flight away. Perth, NZ2, Adelaide even are all far more key to the NRL business model.
 

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On 18/09/2022 at 22:58, Tosh said:

Back in the day when the London broncos were owned by the Brisbane broncos has got me wondering whether both NRL’s clubs and British RL aren’t missing a trick with Aussie teams not currently investing in UK teams.

For example Melbourne storm could potentially invest in a south London based team to be called the south London storm.

The parramatta eels could invest in a potential East London based team to be called the East London eels.

The Sydney roosters formerly known as eastern suburbs or East’s could invest in a potential team based in East anglia to be called the eastern roosters or East Anglia roosters.

etc, etc.

South Sydney could invest just south of the humber so they could be South Humber Rabbitohs.. 

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On 19/09/2022 at 09:34, Wellsy4HullFC said:

Think the Sydney/NSW clubs could crack London if they all went in together. They could even create their own league.

East London Roosters, based in Leyton.

South London Rabbitohs, based in Croydon.

West London Magpies, based in Brentford.

North London Bears, based in Haringey.

Dartford Dragons, Wimbledon Eels, Slough Bulldogs, Reading Panthers, Watford Tigers, Crawley Sharks, Southend Sea Eagles, Milton Keynes Knights.

12-team New South England Rugby League. Easy.

does that then mean the Queensland teams have to invest in Edinburgh? 

I suppose the Grim Coast Titans has a certain ring to it.. 

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