Liverpool St Helens

[The Rocket]

7 minutes ago, Bamboozle said:

RL in England isn’t going down the gurgler because teams on the outskirts of big cities like Liverpool or Manchester aren’t changing their names to said cities.

You talk a lot don`t you.

[Bamboozle]

2 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

You talk a lot don`t you.

I type even more.

especially on a forum.

[Damien]

17 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

Brave effort mate, but the reaction to your theoretical probably sums up exactly why Rugby League in England is going and will continue to go down the gurgler. 

Adding the Liverpool prefix to a club based in St Helens does nothing to encourage people from Liverpool to support that club but does everything to royally ###### off Saints fans. It is all negative for zero positives.

[Griff]

Given the history of Rugby League in Liverpool over the last century or so, I would suggest avoiding using the word "Liverpool" like the plague.

[The Daddy]

17 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

Brave effort mate, but the reaction to your theoretical probably sums up exactly why Rugby League in England is going and will continue to go down the gurgler. 

Thanks, unfortunately RL people in the UK are happy for things to stay as they are while the world changes around them and other sports continue to get more and more exposure in terms of coverage and column inches. Women's football, MMA, Boxing for example.

The Sky TV contract gets lesser and lesser and there doesn't seem to be any serious effort by other broadcasters to compete for the coverage. The sport is just too regional right now over here. That really needs to change and all I see are echo chamber comments.  

I think people on here and elements of the RL community would prefer to be right and win an argument and not have a problem with the sport becoming more and more irrelevant in the eyes of the joe public. 

[Griff]

1 minute ago, The Daddy said:

Thanks, unfortunately RL people in the UK are happy for things to stay as they are while the world changes around them and other sports continue to get more and more exposure in terms of coverage and column inches. Women's football, MMA, Boxing for example.

The Sky TV contract gets lesser and lesser and there doesn't seem to be any serious effort by other broadcasters to compete for the coverage. The sport is just too regional right now over here. That really needs to change and all I see are echo chamber comments.  

I think people on here and elements of the RL community would prefer to be right and win an argument and not have a problem with the sport becoming more and more irrelevant in the eyes of the joe public. 

And it would all be solved by adding Liverpool to an existing club's name.

Aye, right.

[Rovers13]

1 minute ago, The Daddy said:

Thanks, unfortunately RL people in the UK are happy for things to stay as they are while the world changes around them and other sports continue to get more and more exposure in terms of coverage and column inches. Women's football, MMA, Boxing for example.

The Sky TV contract gets lesser and lesser and there doesn't seem to be any serious effort by other broadcasters to compete for the coverage. The sport is just too regional right now over here. That really needs to change and all I see are echo chamber comments.  

I think people on here and elements of the RL community would prefer to be right and win an argument and not have a problem with the sport becoming more and more irrelevant in the eyes of the joe public. 

I’m all for growing the game but not wasting loads of money on tin pot ideas, ever thought this might be why where In the position were in, in the first place? 

[Gerrumonside ref]

2 minutes ago, Rovers13 said:

I’m all for growing the game but not wasting loads of money on tin pot ideas, ever thought this might be why where In the position were in, in the first place? 

I think he has a vision of a Liverpool St Helens vs Manchester Wigan Super Grand Final at the Leeds-Bradford-Castleford-Wakefield-Fev megadome!

[The Future is League]

3 hours ago, The Daddy said:

Why would people from Liverpool be against having a RL team, really exaggerating here. Saints and Widnes already have supporters in Liverpool. 

I thought Marwan Koukash was going to give Liverpool its own Rugby League team.

[Damien]

26 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

Thanks, unfortunately RL people in the UK are happy for things to stay as they are while the world changes around them and other sports continue to get more and more exposure in terms of coverage and column inches. Women's football, MMA, Boxing for example.

The Sky TV contract gets lesser and lesser and there doesn't seem to be any serious effort by other broadcasters to compete for the coverage. The sport is just too regional right now over here. That really needs to change and all I see are echo chamber comments.  

I think people on here and elements of the RL community would prefer to be right and win an argument and not have a problem with the sport becoming more and more irrelevant in the eyes of the joe public. 

How is adding Liverpool to the name of a club playing in St Helens changing anything?

It is precisely the kind of lip service token effort that has held the sport back and doesn't materially change anything.

[Waynebennettswinger]

4 hours ago, Bamboozle said:

St Helens should be targeting areas and suburbs on the outskirts of Liverpool by way of school visits and coaching clinics etc.

I live in Huyton, they used to have a Rugby League team here some time ago. We are very near to St Helens, Widnes and Warrington. My son came home one day to say they had been playing rugby in school, happy I asked him who ran the session - Liverpool FC Not Liverpool’s fault maybe but depressing.

Edited October 15, 2023 by Waynebennettswinger
Typos

[Gerrumonside ref]

Liverpool Lizards RLFC based in Mossley Hill play in North West Division 4.

They seem to have active social media accounts on Twitter/X and Facebook.

At least they’re giving it a go it would seem.

[Waynebennettswinger]

3 hours ago, The Daddy said:

As I said, there are f Widnes and Saints fans in Liverpool and I'm sure they wouldn't be against it. They are not as stuck in there ways as many on here. 

Can’t speak for everyone of course but my family and I have taken loads of scousers and people from Wirral over 20 odd years to watch Saints or England (at Anfield even) and I am certain that they identify with Saints and St Helens only as a RL team- some have gone on to be season ticket holders and I don’t believe any one of them would support a Liverpool Saints Team. In fact a few are Evertonians and I know they would give up season tickets at the Rugby rather than watch a team with Liverpool in the title.

Edited October 15, 2023 by Waynebennettswinger
Typo

[Superb Chops]

3 hours ago, Chris22 said:

People from Liverpool and St Helens tend to have strong and very separate identities. I get the logic, from an outside perspective but there would be nothing gained from this and plenty of goodwill torched.

 

Hello Chris, I guess the 'nothing gained' point is likely right at this time. 

The reason I doubt myself slightly is St Helens seems to have changed a lot since I lived there in the 80s and 90s. 

Nowadays, there are possibly more Liverpool FC supporters in the town than Saints spectators. That was my conclusion driving my dad from the Ashton-end of Haydock to St Helens Hospital earlier this year. Lots of LFC merchandise in windows, barely nothing Saints-related to be seen other than the ground (and that going via Blackbrook) .

My father, meanwhile, tells me his neighbours know little about RL but talk a lot about football, mostly Liverpool. 

A shame, admittedly, but maybe the OP's question will have more legs in a decade or so? 

[EggFace]

5 hours ago, The Daddy said:

The Borough of St Helens is now a part of the recently founded Liverpool City Region which started in 2014. It's a broad area which encompasses over 2 million people. St Helens over the years have presided over various initiatives in Liverpool city itself but I wouldn't really say they have made a big push in the city.

St Helens being part of the city region does give them more justification to adopt Liverpool as a catchment area and incorporate it into the club name. I know that I'll get shouted down by everyone on this site but I do think that a renaming of the club to Liverpool St Helens would benefit the sport and the club hugely, opening up the club and RL to a  much wider audience. 

The sport and RL clubs shouldn't be afraid to evolve over time and needs to proactively compete with other sports and social media to stay in the public consciousness. 

Catalan Dragons is a merger of local rivals St Esteve, St Cyprien and XIII Catalan they were not afraid to do something different and now they are one of the most successful clubs in the northern hemisphere. 

I'm particularly keen to see what Saints fans think, would they back a club with Liverpool in the name?

Disclaimer: Please don't all throw darts at me at once this is just a topic on a discussion forum which I'm keen to explore 

Now Now Then Calm Down Calm Down

[dkw]

It's gonna be a loooonnngggg off season.

[Damien]

20 minutes ago, Superb Chops said:

Hello Chris, I guess the 'nothing gained' point is likely right at this time. 

The reason I doubt myself slightly is St Helens seems to have changed a lot since I lived there in the 80s and 90s. 

Nowadays, there are possibly more Liverpool FC supporters in the town than Saints spectators. That was my conclusion driving my dad from the Ashton-end of Haydock to St Helens Hospital earlier this year. Lots of LFC merchandise in windows, barely nothing Saints-related to be seen other than the ground (and that going via Blackbrook) .

My father, meanwhile, tells me his neighbours know little about RL but talk a lot about football, mostly Liverpool. 

A shame, admittedly, but maybe the OP's question will have more legs in a decade or so? 

The Scouse overspill in Wigan would have been the same too and when I was a kid and still is. I had a fair few friends whose parents were from Liverpool and they were all Football mad.

I do think it underlines how important it is for clubs to do good work in schools as it is pretty hard to reach these kids otherwise. They are unlikely to just start spontaneously go watching and/or playing at a local amateur club, in my experience anyway.

[Big Picture]

5 hours ago, The Daddy said:

The Borough of St Helens is now a part of the recently founded Liverpool City Region which started in 2014. It's a broad area which encompasses over 2 million people. St Helens over the years have presided over various initiatives in Liverpool city itself but I wouldn't really say they have made a big push in the city.

St Helens being part of the city region does give them more justification to adopt Liverpool as a catchment area and incorporate it into the club name. I know that I'll get shouted down by everyone on this site but I do think that a renaming of the club to Liverpool St Helens would benefit the sport and the club hugely, opening up the club and RL to a  much wider audience. 

The sport and RL clubs shouldn't be afraid to evolve over time and needs to proactively compete with other sports and social media to stay in the public consciousness. 

Catalan Dragons is a merger of local rivals St Esteve, St Cyprien and XIII Catalan they were not afraid to do something different and now they are one of the most successful clubs in the northern hemisphere. 

I'm particularly keen to see what Saints fans think, would they back a club with Liverpool in the name?

Disclaimer: Please don't all throw darts at me at once this is just a topic on a discussion forum which I'm keen to explore 

The bigger question is would Liverpudlians be fooled by it?  Unlike the real outsiders down south they know well what a smallish unfashionable place St Helens is, so why would they be interested?

[paul hicks]

6 hours ago, Rovers13 said:

But if saints adopt a Liverpool name wouldn’t Widnes need to merge as their from same area ish. 

indeed, you could include Warrington in that merger

[paul hicks]

6 hours ago, The Daddy said:

Yeah build on it by adopting Liverpool as a city and adding it to the club name

perhaps if you called it ST HELENS LIVERPOOL SAINTS then it would be more acceptable.

in the same way as a team in Yorkshire say Huddersfield could be called HUDDERSFIELD YORKSHIRE GIANTS.

never try to relegate the present clubs name to the end of the title

[Big Picture]

5 hours ago, The Daddy said:

I'm not suggesting any relocation of the club at all. St Helens borough is within the Liverpool City Region

Evidently you don't understand the dynamics of big cities then.  Movement for work, entertainment, etc. is invariably from the suburbs into the city, not the other way round.

Getting the city dwellers out to the suburbs can only be done with something which is a big draw for them, which RL clearly is not where Liverpudlians are concerned. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Big Picture

[paul hicks]

6 hours ago, Rovers13 said:

So merging say fev c@s and wakey you’re saying that club would get 20k fans probably more if you’re looking to bring new fans in? That’s fantasy be lucky to get 2k no one in this area wants a merged team. 

totally agree that nobody wanted a merged team.

question is though did that mean nobody really was interested in success?

[Big Picture]

5 hours ago, Rovers13 said:

Your club in a huge city if it’s not football why are you not huge? 

Because they play opponents from smallish, unfashionable, economically disadvantaged towns up north which aren't a draw for Londoners and never will be.  Those simply are not the sort of places which the public associates with big time major pro sport. 

[Rovers13]

1 minute ago, Big Picture said:

Because they play opponents from smallish, unfashionable, economically disadvantaged towns up north which aren't a draw for Londoners and never will be.  Those simply are not the sort of places which the public associates with big time major pro sport. 

So what your saying is we need a Bangkok a Vienna a Warsaw etc lol just so London fans might come to a game of RL. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Rovers13

[paul hicks]

5 hours ago, Rovers13 said:

A London fan who haven’t grown in years who are a tin pot club, trying to come up with ideas of fantasy maybe concentrate on your own club first before throwing silly ideas about. 

oh dont b e like that. there is a good chance he is from st helens or Liverpool.

think about it if you lived over there would you not want to move