Newcastle Thunder

[Gomersall]

1 minute ago, Griff said:

The money's not split equally in the Championship now, so I don't see why that will change.

Apologies, I didn’t realise that. How do they work out who gets what?

[Griff]

2 minutes ago, Barley Mow said:

Yes, I've been trying it myself.

Overwhelmed, no doubt.

[Blind side johnny]

1 hour ago, Gomersall said:

I’m not agreeing or disagreeing but you then have to persuade the Championship clubs to take a cut in their central funding.

Even though they don't yet know exactly how much that will be.

[Rovers13]

1 minute ago, Barley Mow said:

Unfortunately the link to their website (and the site in general) isn't loading.

Could you give us a summary?

Lots of things tbh but the 2 main points were what Mathew shaw posted and the way the sport is run, also they’re in limbo now with only 8 teams etc. 

[Limmertime]

Shame....academy, Reserves and Great pathways in NE to the game....gone!

Northumbria University arguably best RL uni for past 5 years also with many players going on to play for Thunder.

RFL don't have a magic money pit, but the way they have handled champ/l1 last few years has been amateurish...in fact the NCL seem to be a more professional governing body. 

Where now tho? 

As a Town fan, concerned for them and all other L1 clubs

[Griff]

Just now, Gomersall said:

Apologies, I didn’t realise that. How do they work out who gets what?

Depends on your final position in the previous season.   In effect, you don't play for prize money, you play for next year's funding.

[Treize Hombres]

1 minute ago, Barley Mow said:

Unfortunately the link to their website (and the site in general) isn't loading.

Could you give us a summary?

It's on their Facebook page. I'm not sure how to link it but they make some salient points about the so called Rugby League Family and failed expansionism. Every credit to Hunslet for making the statement 

[Griff]

Just now, Limmertime said:

Shame....academy, Reserves and Great pathways in NE to the game....gone!

No reason why development work shouldn't continue, of course.

[Jeff Stein]

6 minutes ago, Eddie said:

There’s no end of stuff they could do, as you know. 

Show some interest would be a start. I understand that since he took over, the present Skolars' chairman asked for a meeting or a telephone conference with Ralph Rimmer (until his departure) on a number of occasions and was rebuffed every time.

[Hopping Mad]

10 minutes ago, Barley Mow said:

Unfortunately the link to their website (and the site in general) isn't loading.

Could you give us a summary?

Hunslet have now 'Musked' the full statement:

Friday the 13th has long been a date that brought fear to people, and today is no different. The
news from Newcastle Thunder this morning is a tragedy for the sport coming so quickly as it does
after the withdrawal of London Skolars. Our hearts go out to the loyal Thunder fans, many of
whom have been there since the Gateshead days, and the Board, who we know have tried their
best to avoid this sad outcome.

As a sport, we often talk about "The Rugby League Family". Well, if ever there was a time for that
family to come together for the good of the sport it's now. It's little secret that Hunslet has
consistently pushed for a merged Championship and League 1 division, split into two conferences,
for a number of years. Unfortunately, at last week's Championship and League 1 Forum, a number
of Championship Clubs made it clear that they had no interest in that option. We understand
protectionism, but the simple fact is that a third tier in the professional game is now
unsustainable, especially with only 8 Clubs. We would now urge the RFL, and all Championship
Clubs, to reconsider the Conference proposal. League 1 Clubs need to be given a fighting chance of
surviving in the new IMG grading era. We accept there is limited central funding, and none of us
are looking for a bigger slice of that pie. What we do need though is the opportunity to grow our
businesses and that's best done through playing derbies, and having the opportunity to play
games against the biggest Clubs outside Super League. That will, in turn, help to increase our
existing fanbase. It will also allow us to drive additional sponsorship and investment into our Clubs
and start the financial "levelling up" process that can only benefit the competitiveness of the
whole sport. After all, IMG's key driver is to create jeopardy in every single fixture, and without
financial "levelling up" that just won't happen.

Outside of France, as a sport, we need to accept that expansion simply hasn't worked well. It's not
that long ago that Northampton were heralded as the way forward for the sport but dropped out
without even playing a game. Since then we've welcomed, and lost, Oxford, Gloucester, Hemel,
Toronto, West Wales, and now the longer serving London Skolars and Newcastle. All of those
incomings and departures have impacted on League 1 in one way or another, and it's unfair for
League 1 to continue to bear the brunt of what is becoming an expansionism burden. We would
encourage a fundamental root and branch review of the FL's expansion policy, including full
consultation with all member Clubs, before any further expansion is considered. Let us be clear
that we are not against expansion per se. It's more about how we support the interests and
growth of both new and existing Clubs, and clearly understand the benefits to the wider sport
when we look to expand. That way we can all have a significant level of surety and confidence.
League 1 needs help. If there really is a "Rugby League Family" then now's the time

Edited October 13, 2023 by Hopping Mad

[Barley Mow]

8 minutes ago, Hopping Mad said:

Hunslet have now 'Musked' the full statement:

Friday the 13th has long been a date that brought fear to people, and today is no different. The
news from Newcastle Thunder this morning is a tragedy for the sport coming so quickly as it does
after the withdrawal of London Skolars. Our hearts go out to the loyal Thunder fans, many of
whom have been there since the Gateshead days, and the Board, who we know have tried their
best to avoid this sad outcome.

As a sport, we often talk about "The Rugby League Family". Well, if ever there was a time for that
family to come together for the good of the sport it's now. It's little secret that Hunslet has
consistently pushed for a merged Championship and League 1 division, split into two conferences,
for a number of years. Unfortunately, at last week's Championship and League 1 Forum, a number
of Championship Clubs made it clear that they had no interest in that option. We understand
protectionism, but the simple fact is that a third tier in the professional game is now
unsustainable, especially with only 8 Clubs. We would now urge the RFL, and all Championship
Clubs, to reconsider the Conference proposal. League 1 Clubs need to be given a fighting chance of
surviving in the new IMG grading era. We accept there is limited central funding, and none of us
are looking for a bigger slice of that pie. What we do need though is the opportunity to grow our
businesses and that's best done through playing derbies, and having the opportunity to play
games against the biggest Clubs outside Super League. That will, in turn, help to increase our
existing fanbase. It will also allow us to drive additional sponsorship and investment into our Clubs
and start the financial "levelling up" process that can only benefit the competitiveness of the
whole sport. After all, IMG's key driver is to create jeopardy in every single fixture, and without
financial "levelling up" that just won't happen.

Outside of France, as a sport, we need to accept that expansion simply hasn't worked well. It's not
that long ago that Northampton were heralded as the way forward for the sport but dropped out
without even playing a game. Since then we've welcomed, and lost, Oxford, Gloucester, Hemel,
Toronto, West Wales, and now the longer serving London Skolars and Newcastle. All of those
incomings and departures have impacted on League 1 in one way or another, and it's unfair for
League 1 to continue to bear the brunt of what is becoming an expansionism burden. We would
encourage a fundamental root and branch review of the FL's expansion policy, including full
consultation with all member Clubs, before any further expansion is considered. Let us be clear
that we are not against expansion per se. It's more about how we support the interests and
growth of both new and existing Clubs, and clearly understand the benefits to the wider sport
when we look to expand. That way we can all have a significant level of surety and confidence.
League 1 needs help. If there really is a "Rugby League Family" then now's the time

Thanks.

Most of that seems a sensible and well thought out position.

Edited October 13, 2023 by Barley Mow

[gingerjon]

Hunslet remain embarrassing then.

[Limmertime]

8 minutes ago, Griff said:

No reason why development work shouldn't continue, of course.

Hope it continues but alot driven by Thunder...and what would be the youngsters aiming for?

[Griff]

1 minute ago, Limmertime said:

Hope it continues but alot driven by Thunder...and what would be the youngsters aiming for?

Lots of sportspeople work away from home.  David Beckham didn't commute from Essex every day.

[Eddie]

10 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Hunslet remain embarrassing then.

In what way?

[EssexRL]

Have not read the thread as too depressing (I really enjoyed away days to Newcastle), but how can the sport go from a push to grow the game (Oxford, Hemel etc) less than a decade to this?

Skolars resigning was shrugged off. If Thunder's decision is not reviewed so lessons can be learned I will give up - although frankly it looks like RL is only interested in playing in a small number of places in a small part of the country so maybe the sport has given up on me anyway.

[Eddie]

Here is the RFL’s ‘statement’. 
 

https://www.rugby-league.com/article/62227/rfl-statement-|-newcastle-thunder

[Eddie]

3 minutes ago, EssexRL said:

Have not read the thread as too depressing (I really enjoyed away days to Newcastle), but how can the sport go from a push to grow the game (Oxford, Hemel etc) less than a decade to this?

Skolars resigning was shrugged off. If Thunder's decision is not reviewed so lessons can be learned I will give up - although frankly it looks like RL is only interested in playing in a small number of places in a small part of the country so maybe the sport has given up on me anyway.

I feel a bit like that too mate. 

[Griff]

1 hour ago, sheddingswasus said:

This season there were 14 clubs making 27 fixtures. If each club played each other once there would be 22 fixtures. Add to that 6 derby matches for each club that would give 27 same as this year. 
 

I roughed this out when there were 23 clubs, so it'd need a bit of tweaking but the principle's the same.

Split your 23 clubs into top 8, middle 8, bottom 7.

Top eight play each other home and away + middle eight home or away.   22 games.

Mddle eight play everybody home or away.  22 games

Bottom seven play each other home and away + middle eight home or away.  20 games.

Separate league tables for each group.

Advantages  - Reduces possibility of "blow-out" scores, attractive fixture list for all clubs.

Disadvantages - Compromises the principle of everyone playing each other home and away.

 

[Archie Gordon]

3 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Here is the RFL’s ‘statement’. 
 

https://www.rugby-league.com/article/62227/rfl-statement-|-newcastle-thunder

Looks like £££ and resources are going to be spent on maintaining all the community/development/foundation work going on in the NE.

[Griff]

1 minute ago, Archie Gordon said:

Looks like £££ and resources are going to be spent on maintaining all the community/development/foundation work going on in the NE.

Development money is usually ringfenced and can't be spent on anything else.

No surprises here.

[EggFace]

16 hours ago, Havenwarrior2021 said:

Very sad news if true always loved playing Newcastle good supporters just a shame they haven’t got a thousand more. Good luck to them I hope it’s not true for their sake and also the other 8 clubs in league one.. 

Sadly Newcastle is not like Leeds, Leicester or even Munster and we are to oppsessed with the Magpies and Football and same for to Sunderland and sports like Rugby Union, Cricket and Boxing play a massive 2nd fiddle to the round game sadly and thats despite we have lots of local Rugby Union and Cricket clubs.

On a side note we also been poor area for producing bands compared to London, Liverpool and Mancester as we so tunneled vision so something like Rugby League was always going to be a hard sell

BTW I did notice no Thunder merchandise in the club shop when I was at Kingston Park on Sunday.

Edited October 13, 2023 by EggFace

[gingerjon]

24 minutes ago, Eddie said:

In what way?

Being right about the Championship clubs' self-interest vote doesn't stop the rest of it being self-serving BS.

Remember: they voted against even admitting London Skolars back in the day because it was too far for the delicate little flowers to be expected to travel once a year.

[EggFace]

4 hours ago, David Shepherd said:

This new IMG era is going well isn’t it? 3 clubs gone in a season, ###### TV deal and a 1/2 empty Grand Final. 
 

 

Should this be in the Rugby Union section ?

[gingerjon]

10 minutes ago, EggFace said:

Sadly Newcastle is not like Leeds, Leicester or even Munster and we are to oppsessed with the Magpies and Football

Newcastle basketball have managed to self fund and build a purpose built basketball arena in the past decade.