RL clubs with football clubs as rivals

[moorside roughyed]

I'll never like soccer,it's like watching a circus with all the players going down like they've been poleaxed. The games never done anything for me. However the introduction of VAR should put a stop to the cheating.

[hw88]

1 minute ago, moorside roughyed said:

I'll never like soccer,it's like watching a circus with all the players going down like they've been poleaxed. The games never done anything for me. However the introduction of VAR should put a stop to the cheating.

Never used to be like that.

I blame the influx of mamby-pamby foreigners!

[Human Punk]

5 minutes ago, moorside roughyed said:

I'll never like soccer,it's like watching a circus with all the players going down like they've been poleaxed. The games never done anything for me. However the introduction of VAR should put a stop to the cheating.

That's very optimistic

[Josef K]

2 hours ago, Dunbar said:

I don't think there is any value in wishing ill on another sport, it is pretty mean spirited and doesn't delivery any value to our spo

Oh, wait.  I forgot about Rugby Union.

I do have to admit if a town or city have a football and a u**** club I always want the footy club to do well. 

[Josef K]

Is there any bitter rivalry between pro football & u**** clubs around the U.K. ?. 

[RL Sutton Coldfield]

4 minutes ago, Josef K said:

Is there any bitter rivalry between pro football & u**** clubs around the U.K. ?. 

Wasps and Coventry City. 

[Josef K]

Just now, RL Sutton Coldfield said:

Wasps and Coventry City. 

Ah yes the Coventry fans are not keen on those pests. 

[moorside roughyed]

59 minutes ago, hw88 said:

Never used to be like that.

I blame the influx of mamby-pamby foreigners!

Jurgen Klinnsman

[moorside roughyed]

56 minutes ago, Human Punk said:

That's very optimistic

I know, I can't help it.

[The Masked Poster]

I'm not especially a football fan but one thing I've learned in life is that hoping for success due to others misfortune is not a healthy mindset and ultimately only damages yourself. 

I totally understand the point that the OP is making but RL should focus on being the best it can be and forget what other people are doing and focus on getting its own house in order first. 

[Josef K]

2 hours ago, hw88 said:

Never used to be like that.

I blame the influx of mamby-pamby foreigners!

Cummin ova ear. 

[Josef K]

1 hour ago, moorside roughyed said:

Jurgen Klinnsman

I believe Franny Lee used to be accused of diving but ive not a clue what year he played. 

[hw88]

12 minutes ago, Josef K said:

I believe Franny Lee used to be accused of diving but ive not a clue what year he played. 

Indeed he did - and with much justification.

'Simulation' has got much, much worse in the Premier League era.

I find much to detest about modern football - no proper tackling, diving, too many subs (2 is more than enough), squad numbers, ridiculous transfer fees, nylon shirts with weird designs on them (what's wrong with self-coloured/striped cotton?), I could go on but I'd be here all night!

[Hopping Mad]

2 hours ago, Josef K said:

I do have to admit if a town or city have a football and a u**** club I always want the footy club to do well. 

Can't think of an example. Usually, one of the clubs (the football, generally) is much bigger than the other. Different demographic, too, in the main.

[hw88]

2 hours ago, Josef K said:

Is there any bitter rivalry between pro football & u**** clubs around the U.K. ?. 

You'd have to ask the good people of Leicester or Bristol. They're about the only places with half-decent football and union clubs. No, I don't count Exeter or Newcastle!

Although it would be interesting to compare the attenances of the Cardiff and Swansea clubs.

[moorside roughyed]

25 minutes ago, Josef K said:

I believe Franny Lee used to be accused of diving but ive not a clue what year he played. 

Never heard of him.

[hw88]

6 minutes ago, hw88 said:

You'd have to ask the good people of Leicester or Bristol. They're about the only places with half-decent football and union clubs. No, I don't count Exeter or Newcastle!

Although it would be interesting to compare the attenances of the Cardiff and Swansea clubs.

Just had a quick google search.

Swansea City get 3 times the crowd of the Ospreys. I suspect the disparity in Cardiff will be even greater.

[roughyed8]

3 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

In some cases, sharing with the football club was the only way rugby league clubs could gain access to modern facilities (both sports offered grant aid for new stadia/stadium improvements).

Oldham RLFC must hold some sort of record for sharing with football clubs (OAFC, Ashton United, Stalybridge Celtic, Oldham Town, Avro). For Roughyeds, selling Watersheddings to a housing developer, whilst apparently relying on continuing good relations with OAFC, was indeed the first step on the road to oblivion (or, at least, to attendances shrinking by nine-tenths).

In my experience, in a lot of places, few spectators watch both football and rugby league teams. My family relocated to Calderdale in 1973. The local rivalries meant nothing to us, so we'd go to The Shay and to Thrum Hall (and, for that matter, to Leeds Road and to Fartown). Didn't see many of the same faces at both sports. Given the poor - some might say toxic - relationship between the Halifax clubs since the rugby league started sharing the football ground, that's become even more apparent. 

As a spectator sport, rugby union in Yorkshire barely exists. On a good day, Doncaster will get a thousand. After that, you're down to 350 at Otley, 250 at Huddersfield and Wharfedale, 150 at Harrogate and York etc. Don't know what Leeds Tykes get now they've fled to the city's outermost suburb because I ain't been.

Oldham RL sold watersheddings to the local council on the promise of a brand new joint use stadium for both the towns clubs. The plans were kyboshed when activists got Lib dem councillors elected on the single issue of saving the fields where the stadium was planned to go, the elected changed the make up of the council and the plans were scrapped.

[Josef K]

11 minutes ago, hw88 said:

You'd have to ask the good people of Leicester or Bristol. They're about the only places with half-decent football and union clubs. No, I don't count Exeter or Newcastle!

Although it would be interesting to compare the attenances of the Cardiff and Swansea clubs.

I know the other code in Wales is bigger than football but how do their gates compare to the Welsh professional football clubs. 

[Tommygilf]

As others have said, different demographics apply to RU to an extent. Wales would be interesting as the demographics between footie and Rugby are generally closer.

I think what is evident is that most "towns" can support about 1 pro "football club", cities can often get 2. So Warrington, St Helens and Castleford for example have football clubs that play Rugby League Football, Leeds and Leicester have 2 major "football" clubs, one just plays a code of Rugby Football in each respectively. 

What you find with football however is that because of its ubiquitous popularity, support can come from a very broad area. Leeds United will be supported, indeed be the main club supported, in towns and cities where we have no fewer than 7 or 8 pro rugby league clubs for example. Hull City draw from all over East Yorkshire. Liverpool, Everton and the 2 Manchester clubs are the best supported sporting outfits on the t'other side of the Pennines across RL land. Huddersfield Town and Bradford City are the only other 2 football league outfits in West Yorkshire because its so difficult to establish.

Then there is the other grouping of clubs who have previously had a successful rugby and/or football team, but now don't have either. Oldham is the obvious example, but Halifax, Widnes, even Salford and depending on Degsy's mood Leigh could all fall into this category. If the WMDC clubs don't get their grounds sorted they could well find themselves in this position too. Do these towns just lose identity as they become amalgamated into the bigger urban sprawl? Has that already happened and pretending otherwise is delusional?

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Josef K said:

I know the other code in Wales is bigger than football but how do their gates compare to the Welsh professional football clubs. 

It isn't bigger, its a bit of an RU calculator style myth. Football has always been more popular in the most populous areas of Wales, and that's especially true now.

The 4 RU regions aren't doing too great tbh - Super League isn't a terrible example of an equivalent come to think of it, without the wage bill. Things are that bad in Wales that they have considered cutting 1 and even 2 teams in the past 2 or 3 years (these would be Dragons and Scarlets). Comparing the crowds of the Blues and Cardiff city or Ospreys and Swansea City is a bit like comparing Leeds Rhinos and Leeds United.

[hw88]

5 minutes ago, Josef K said:

I know the other code in Wales is bigger than football but how do their gates compare to the Welsh professional football clubs. 

The football team get 3x the gate of the rugby team - in Swansea anyway.

[Hopping Mad]

31 minutes ago, Josef K said:

I know the other code in Wales is bigger than football but how do their gates compare to the Welsh professional football clubs. 

1,500 football clubs in Wales; only 320 rugby union clubs. Union is only really popular in South Wales.

[Welshleaguelover]

Rugby Union is nowhere near as big as football in Wales.

Anybody that thinks it is has not spent enough time in the country or are living in a bubble.

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Hopping Mad said:

Can't think of an example. Usually, one of the clubs (the football, generally) is much bigger than the other. Different demographic, too, in the main.

Bristol City, Rovers and the Yawnion team?