Combining the Championship and League 1 and creating a viable fixture list

[Griff]

3 minutes ago, Smudger06 said:

It can produce and sell programs centrally initially, anything really, fans will start buying these programmes when it's marketed as a big help for all clubs alike, and vital. 11 seperate home additions weekly with several pages localised a bit like bbc radio regional news.....then move on into different projects. The potential is already there. The RFL don't have the resources to do much outside of SL that's apparent, hence why masses of people think they are useless and clueless. 

Game On lasted two years.

[Smudger06]

Do baseball style trading cards for kids to collect and as a hobby, space on back for player to autograph, sell the cards in club shops and also distribute a few relevant cards at matches to kids to then go and get autographed. It's cheap as chips to make these cards and at media day or something get a decent photo of all the players. Not hard to do. 

[Smudger06]

1 minute ago, Smudger06 said:

Do baseball style trading cards for kids to collect and as a hobby, space on back for player to autograph, sell the cards in club shops and also distribute a few relevant cards at matches to kids to then go and get autographed. It's cheap as chips to make these cards and at media day or something get a decent photo of all the players. Not hard to do. 

Collect a full team, get a matchday experience for that team....collect the whole league get a season ticket for team of choice next season and a grand Final experience. Whatever. 

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, Smudger06 said:

Do baseball style trading cards for kids to collect and as a hobby, space on back for player to autograph, sell the cards in club shops and also distribute a few relevant cards at matches to kids to then go and get autographed. It's cheap as chips to make these cards and at media day or something get a decent photo of all the players. Not hard to do. 

This seems like a middle aged person looking wistfully back to a nostalgic version of their own long-ago childhood?

[Smudger06]

These are all things Lower league clubs in all sports including rugby league do off their own back and then jack in when key people move on or change role.....the main thing is, do it in collaboration....centrally. Work together for greater results. 

[Griff]

6 minutes ago, Smudger06 said:

Do baseball style trading cards for kids to collect and as a hobby, space on back for player to autograph, sell the cards in club shops and also distribute a few relevant cards at matches to kids to then go and get autographed. It's cheap as chips to make these cards and at media day or something get a decent photo of all the players. Not hard to do. 

Did collector cards in 1991 - never repeated so I'm guessing they weren't a massive success.

[Spidey]

57 minutes ago, Griff said:

Did collector cards in 1991 - never repeated so I'm guessing they weren't a massive success.

I’ve recently acquired a load of those. Ready to frame the Widnes ones (as back then we had a good team)

[Griff]

3 minutes ago, Spidey said:

I’ve recently acquired a load of those. Ready to frame the Widnes ones (as back then we had a good team)

Got a set.  I got about 100 autographed.

[Gav Wilson]

25 minutes ago, Spidey said:

I’ve recently acquired a load of those. Ready to frame the Widnes ones (as back then we had a good team)

Our lass did me a homemade advent calendar with a load of these cards in last Christmas - it was ace! 

[headtackle]

On 26/10/2023 at 15:33, Smudger06 said:

If its good enough for German Football amongst other big Football Associations to run reserves in lower leagues, it should be good enough for the RFL. 

Its surely a win win.

More games to blood up and coming youngsters.

Have the 1st team and reserves have alternate weeks at home so stadiums can maximise revenue. Or, play double headers and give the League 1 teams the experience of playing at a SL stadium

Saying that I do not see the sense of Workington or Whitehaven having to travel to Cornwall. Its not economically viable. Perhaps below SL needs some regional divisions with end of season play offs across the divisions to determine the champions.

 

 

 

 

 

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

With all the excitement around the IMG gradings this topic seems to have fallen off the radar

 

[dkw]

Good that the RFL have put out a statement regarding all this in L1 isnt it......oh wait, still complete and utter radio silence. 

[Barley Mow]

3 minutes ago, dkw said:

Good that the RFL have put out a statement regarding all this in L1 isnt it......oh wait, still complete and utter radio silence. 

They are due to make an announcement tomorrow aren't they?

[gingerjon]

2 minutes ago, Barley Mow said:

They are due to make an announcement tomorrow aren't they?

Tomorrow is the (self imposed?) deadline to announce the decision so assume so.

[dkw]

1 hour ago, Barley Mow said:

They are due to make an announcement tomorrow aren't they?

 

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

Tomorrow is the (self imposed?) deadline to announce the decision so assume so.

Never assume, it makes an ass out of u and me....

[The Blues Ox]

On 27/10/2023 at 12:46, Griff said:

Game On lasted two years.

And what a programme it was and lots of Samantha Janus fans with the Rugby League link

[Hopie]

14 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

And what a programme it was and lots of Samantha Janus fans with the Rugby League link

I remember her brother Hugh used to post on RLFans

Edited October 31, 2023 by Hopie

[headtackle]

Still think a geographic split is the best option. The Championship is 50% + Yorkshire clubs anyway

Split it broadly as East & West (with the obvious outliers accomodated although ideally Toulouse would be in SL)

Apologies if I am not up to date with withdrawals but you would then have

East:   Wakefield, Featherstone, Dewsbury, Hunslet, Doncaster, Bradford, Sheffield, York, Batley, Halifax & Keighley - 11 teams

West:   Oldham, Workington, North Wales, Rochdale, Cornwall, Widnes, Swinton, Barrow, Whitehaven, Midlands, Toulouse - 11 teams

IMO The East league would work very well. No massive distances to travel and the bulk of teams from the Championship

The West league would not be great given some big distances to travel. 

I would expand both leagues to 14 teams by including SL reserve teams. Again apologies if I am not up to date with Reserve teams but East could perhaps include Leeds, Hull and Hull KR. The West could have teams from Saints, Wigan and Wire.

14 teams would be a 26 game regular season. Top 4 in each division to go into cross division play offs. Depending who came down from SL the divisions may need to be tweaked to keep an even number. Works in football

We need to do something creative though as a reduced League 1 will not survive and we don't want to be losing long established teams from traditional areas.

 

 

 

 

 

[17 stone giant]

9 minutes ago, headtackle said:

Split it broadly as East & West

With an East v West Allstars game?

[dkw]

Shhhhhh, still very quiet......

[Neutralfan7]

52 minutes ago, headtackle said:

Still think a geographic split is the best option. The Championship is 50% + Yorkshire clubs anyway

Split it broadly as East & West (with the obvious outliers accomodated although ideally Toulouse would be in SL)

Apologies if I am not up to date with withdrawals but you would then have

East:   Wakefield, Featherstone, Dewsbury, Hunslet, Doncaster, Bradford, Sheffield, York, Batley, Halifax & Keighley - 11 teams

West:   Oldham, Workington, North Wales, Rochdale, Cornwall, Widnes, Swinton, Barrow, Whitehaven, Midlands, Toulouse - 11 teams

IMO The East league would work very well. No massive distances to travel and the bulk of teams from the Championship

The West league would not be great given some big distances to travel. 

I would expand both leagues to 14 teams by including SL reserve teams. Again apologies if I am not up to date with Reserve teams but East could perhaps include Leeds, Hull and Hull KR. The West could have teams from Saints, Wigan and Wire.

14 teams would be a 26 game regular season. Top 4 in each division to go into cross division play offs. Depending who came down from SL the divisions may need to be tweaked to keep an even number. Works in football

We need to do something creative though as a reduced League 1 will not survive and we don't want to be losing long established teams from traditional areas.

 

 

 

 

 

Who is footing the bill for all that travel for the west league? 

[dkw]

On 31/10/2023 at 12:54, gingerjon said:

Tomorrow is the (self imposed?) deadline to announce the decision so assume so.

And still we wait....

[gingerjon]

21 minutes ago, dkw said:

And still we wait....

It’s not good enough

[Griff]

6 hours ago, headtackle said:

Still think a geographic split is the best option. The Championship is 50% + Yorkshire clubs anyway

Split it broadly as East & West (with the obvious outliers accomodated although ideally Toulouse would be in SL)

Apologies if I am not up to date with withdrawals but you would then have

East:   Wakefield, Featherstone, Dewsbury, Hunslet, Doncaster, Bradford, Sheffield, York, Batley, Halifax & Keighley - 11 teams

West:   Oldham, Workington, North Wales, Rochdale, Cornwall, Widnes, Swinton, Barrow, Whitehaven, Midlands, Toulouse - 11 teams

IMO The East league would work very well. No massive distances to travel and the bulk of teams from the Championship

The West league would not be great given some big distances to travel. 

I would expand both leagues to 14 teams by including SL reserve teams. Again apologies if I am not up to date with Reserve teams but East could perhaps include Leeds, Hull and Hull KR. The West could have teams from Saints, Wigan and Wire.

14 teams would be a 26 game regular season. Top 4 in each division to go into cross division play offs. Depending who came down from SL the divisions may need to be tweaked to keep an even number. Works in football

We need to do something creative though as a reduced League 1 will not survive and we don't want to be losing long established teams from traditional areas.

So we're to become effectively a pair of regional leagues?

Fantastic.

 

[Tommygilf]

7 hours ago, headtackle said:

Still think a geographic split is the best option. The Championship is 50% + Yorkshire clubs anyway

Split it broadly as East & West (with the obvious outliers accomodated although ideally Toulouse would be in SL)

Apologies if I am not up to date with withdrawals but you would then have

East:   Wakefield, Featherstone, Dewsbury, Hunslet, Doncaster, Bradford, Sheffield, York, Batley, Halifax & Keighley - 11 teams

West:   Oldham, Workington, North Wales, Rochdale, Cornwall, Widnes, Swinton, Barrow, Whitehaven, Midlands, Toulouse - 11 teams

IMO The East league would work very well. No massive distances to travel and the bulk of teams from the Championship

The West league would not be great given some big distances to travel. 

I would expand both leagues to 14 teams by including SL reserve teams. Again apologies if I am not up to date with Reserve teams but East could perhaps include Leeds, Hull and Hull KR. The West could have teams from Saints, Wigan and Wire.

14 teams would be a 26 game regular season. Top 4 in each division to go into cross division play offs. Depending who came down from SL the divisions may need to be tweaked to keep an even number. Works in football

We need to do something creative though as a reduced League 1 will not survive and we don't want to be losing long established teams from traditional areas.

 

 

 

 

 

I like a lot of that, but imo it fails to deal with the 2 core concerns of Championship clubs when a merger/reshuffle with League 1 has been suggested.

Namely: 1, they want guaranteed home fixtures against the biggest drawing clubs; and 2, they are concerned about trips to the likes of Cornwall.

To me, that means there has to be some jiggery pokery with the conferences to balance them out on those fronts, with a limited number of cross conference games filling in the gaps in fixture numbers.