What's happening at 'Haven?

[Davo5]

8 minutes ago, Griff said:

If he did research it, what would he find?

Or is it a secret?

You mean the Cumbrian clubs winning major honours,attracting good crowds & supplying players that were integral in some of the greatest GB teams to leave these shores or even the thriving vibrant amateur game with numerous highly really competitive leagues & numerous teams in Carlisle,nah it’s no secret it’s also not “relatively” as strong now as it was in those days.

[Mr Frisky]

8 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Yeah,we have no steel industry,I’m not even sure Mr Confused even lives in the area.

I've got a car marra so can travel to and live in more than one place.... so the old British Steel Engineering plant in Workington isn't open anymore under its new name TSP Engineering? - same plant, same Engineering jobs and people as British Steel?? - do you even live in the area?

 

[LeeF]

15 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

That is happening everywhere, so relatively, it is as strong as it ever has been in the past 40/50 years.

How RL fans in Cumbria are interacting with the game is changing. Poor semi pro sides playing out of poor facilities against teams that are going to whollop you and/or are full of no marks anyway might not be what the RL fans in the general populace want. If they had a decent ground up there, I could see Wigan taking a home game there during the summer pitch relaying and getting 10x the average crowds of Workington and Whitehaven. By all reports, attendances at amateur clubs are more than healthy.

It isn’t as relatively strong as it ever as been. It’s actually the weakest, in both relative and actual terms, in the past 50 years.

The second paragraph is just fantasy. 8/9000 attendance just would never happen even with a brand spanking new stadium. 

[Griff]

1 hour ago, Davo5 said:

You mean the Cumbrian clubs winning major honours,attracting good crowds & supplying players that were integral in some of the greatest GB teams to leave these shores ....

50 years would take us back to 1972.  Who are you thinking of ?

[dkw]

1 hour ago, Mr Frisky said:

I've got a car marra so can travel to and live in more than one place.... so the old British Steel Engineering plant in Workington isn't open anymore under its new name TSP Engineering? - same plant, same Engineering jobs and people as British Steel?? - do you even live in the area?

 

There is no steel industry in Workington, TSP are almost entirely nuclear now. 

[Derwent]

1 hour ago, Mr Frisky said:

I've got a car marra so can travel to and live in more than one place.... so the old British Steel Engineering plant in Workington isn't open anymore under its new name TSP Engineering? - same plant, same Engineering jobs and people as British Steel?? - do you even live in the area?

 

TSP only employ about 150 people, its hardly a major employer these days. A lot of what was the actual steelworks is now a housing estate.

[Davo5]

26 minutes ago, dkw said:

There is no steel industry in Workington, TSP are almost entirely nuclear now. 

 

25 minutes ago, Derwent said:

TSP only employ about 150 people, its hardly a major employer these days. A lot of what was the actual steelworks is now a housing estate.

Prepare for the confused emojis

Yeah a specialised engineering company that offers a range of services & seem to have moved into the nuclear industry,I don’t think they’ll be knocking out rail tracks anytime soon.

[Blind side johnny]

On 29/12/2022 at 08:59, Davo5 said:

Yes but I’m guessing you haven’t any knowledge of the game & it’s problems in this county.

Are they significantly greater problems than those in other post-industrial parts of the North Davo? There are a host of C1 and lower Championship clubs who are also struggling to attract spectators and I think the background to all of their problems are similar.

Edited December 30, 2022 by Blind side johnny

[Blind side johnny]

23 hours ago, Cumbrian Fanatic said:

And don't put it on a Thursday night

Saturday Night's Alright. no doubt?

[steve oates]

1 hour ago, dkw said:

There is no steel industry in Workington, TSP are almost entirely nuclear now. 

Thanks for correcting the correction.........

[steve oates]

1 hour ago, Derwent said:

TSP only employ about 150 people, its hardly a major employer these days. A lot of what was the actual steelworks is now a housing estate.

And thank you too...........

However wait until the mine opens, it will be just like it used to be at Featherstone when you could whistle down the shaft for a prop forward at any time and half a dozen would appear...........

[Spike]

On 29/12/2022 at 11:01, steve oates said:

The game on the Cumbria coast was born out of the coastal industries, mining and steelworks.  Firstly that has all gone and secondly the demographic has changed from families to many retirees who can't afford to retire to the lakes so they retire to the Cumbrian coast.

Places like Oldham and Rochdale are literally 10 times bigger than Workington and Whitehaven yet Rugby League struggles there, where travel to games is easy thanks to the M62.  That there is still Amateur and Junior RL in the county of Cumbria is impressive, but it is continuing to shrink. It maybe a matter of time before that disappears.

Union retains a significant foothold in Cumbria, especially in Whitehaven and Workington so I would guess this creates a further and significant pressure for the survival of our game there.  I seem to remember the idea Workington and Whitehaven were encouraged to merge some years back, that they held onto tradition, probably stopped them from  collapse then. 

You have this right Davo......

Wouldn't say rugby union is strong, sadly Zebras struggle to raise a team. Absolutely awful situation for what is a vital sporting team in Workington alongside Town, Cricket and Reds. Workington needs all 4 teams to be strong for them all to thrive.

 

Another thing Town (and haven) need to improve is having kids involved. Zebras, Reds and the cricket all have thriving youth sections which is something Town lacks. Having kids playing and training during the week leads to them coming down on a Saturday or Sunday to support the senior teams. Clubs won't survive without a youth section and support

Edited January 4, 2023 by Spike

[steve oates]

3 hours ago, Spike said:

Town (and haven) need to improve is having kids involved. Zebras, Reds and the cricket all have thriving youth sections which is something Town lacks. Having kids playing and training during the week leads to them coming down on a Saturday or Sunday to support the senior teams. Clubs won't survive without a youth section and support

Hi Spike -and all other Cumbrians, why aren't the two RL clubs and local RL not getting kids involved. 

Is it a change in demographics over the years, is it the two "pro" clubs inability to be competitive even in the championship

[iffleyox]

16 minutes ago, steve oates said:

Hi Spike -and all other Cumbrians, why aren't the two RL clubs and local RL not getting kids involved. 

Is it a change in demographics over the years, is it the two "pro" clubs inability to be competitive even in the championship

Or is it secret option C - which is the same in RU - bigger clubs that have historically not bothered with M&J because they could just have the players from the amateur clubs in the locality, then a few decades on still not bothering with M&J because they didn't want to torpedo what was left of the youth set ups at the local amateur sides as they struggled, then, er, just basically not doing M&J because they don't do M&J? 

Even from a ground-utilisation/clubhouse turnover pov, one-team semi-pro set-ups are a luxury that increasingly neither code should be indulging. Except in a very few locations where there's still a wealth of thriving amateur sides.

 

 

 

 

[Spike]

6 hours ago, steve oates said:

Hi Spike -and all other Cumbrians, why aren't the two RL clubs and local RL not getting kids involved. 

Is it a change in demographics over the years, is it the two "pro" clubs inability to be competitive even in the championship

Im not sure tbh and I don’t have many solutions either. However I look at why barrow are doing with there initiatives to get kids down and wonder what town and haven aren’t doing that. Free tickets and great fan parks etc with entertainment.

 

we need to be honest and look and the demographic of most RL fans in west Cumbria and realise that if we don’t target the youth then in the not too distance future, there will be even less (if any) interstest. We need to get them hooked from the start!

Edited January 4, 2023 by Spike

[Marrafan]

16 hours ago, Spike said:

Im not sure tbh and I don’t have many solutions either. However I look at why barrow are doing with there initiatives to get kids down and wonder what town and haven aren’t doing that. Free tickets and great fan parks etc with entertainment.

 

we need to be honest and look and the demographic of most RL fans in west Cumbria and realise that if we don’t target the youth then in the not too distance future, there will be even less (if any) interstest. We need to get them hooked from the start!

Kids have been free at Haven for a number of years. The only condition being they are accompanied by an adult. Haven have a Young Peoples Champion who works hard to get more kids to the games. The club is trying to attract kids. The problem is there is a sizeable number of people in the area who would rather whinge about/do the club down than turn up to games or even fetch their kids encouraging to follow SL clubs. It seems as if they want the club to fold. 

[Butch]

6 hours ago, Marrafan said:

Kids have been free at Haven for a number of years. The only condition being they are accompanied by an adult. Haven have a Young Peoples Champion who works hard to get more kids to the games. The club is trying to attract kids. The problem is there is a sizeable number of people in the area who would rather whinge about/do the club down than turn up to games or even fetch their kids encouraging to follow SL clubs. It seems as if they want the club to fold. 

Don’t no weather haven have a community team that go in to schools mate but barrow have one with ritson and Gillam going in to them. From a personal experience my youngest loved it gets the kids on a personal level with the players. 

[Spike]

On 05/01/2023 at 13:21, Marrafan said:

Kids have been free at Haven for a number of years. The only condition being they are accompanied by an adult. Haven have a Young Peoples Champion who works hard to get more kids to the games. The club is trying to attract kids. The problem is there is a sizeable number of people in the area who would rather whinge about/do the club down than turn up to games or even fetch their kids encouraging to follow SL clubs. It seems as if they want the club to fold. 

That makes it even worse that town aren’t doing it then. Surely it’s common sense to let kids in for free! Instead kids season tickets have been increased from £10 to £25 which I can’t get my head around. 

[Griff]

Interesting letter in RL&LE from Tom Todd this morning.

Too long to quote, I'm afraid.