Which club would you invest in?

[gingerjon]

19 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I wouldn't invest in an individual club, I'd pay travel costs for a few years. 

[Spidey]

54 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I wouldn't invest in an individual club, I'd pay travel costs for a few years. 

Isn’t that effectively subsidising Toulouse & Catalans (if the rumours are true?)

[Dave T]

19 minutes ago, Spidey said:

Isn’t that effectively subsidising Toulouse & Catalans (if the rumours are true?)

I'm not paying airfares. Only petrol money for use on the M62. 

[JonM]

3 hours ago, Mumby Magic said:

My initial thought was Doncaster however I'd say let down on current fanbase. 

Not a bad shout - bigger town than most of SL and growing quickly, plus a decent catchment area around it without a historically successful sports club. You've got Doncaster Rovers & whatever the RU team is called, but hardly big clubs. Nice stadium, supportive local council, amateur teams & decades of RL background in the area, not too far from the M62 heartland so you can persuade top players to move. 

[N2022]

3 hours ago, gingerjon said:

The uni have a rugby league team - or certainly have had within the past few years. They've also got a fairly decent sporting set up with decent facilities. My £10m will get their attention.

It's a 4.5 hour drive from Leeds which anywhere on the south coast is always going to be at a minimum. But it's a very easy drive M1/M25/M23. National Rail tells me that it's even quicker by train: Leeds to Stevenage, Stevenage to Farringdon, Farringdon to Brighton - 3h 58m.

So, just the two changes of train, or a minimum of 4h 30 in the car. Reasonably accessible? I get the game needs geographical reach but wouldn't Reading and Oxford be easier to get to?

As for the uni(s), I get this is very hypothetical, but don't think them having a couple of RL teams is likely translate into the crowds of thousands you'd need to make a return on such an investment.

[gingerjon]

25 minutes ago, N2022 said:

So, just the two changes of train, or a minimum of 4h 30 in the car. Reasonably accessible? I get the game needs geographical reach but wouldn't Reading and Oxford be easier to get to?

As for the uni(s), I get this is very hypothetical, but don't think them having a couple of RL teams is likely translate into the crowds of thousands you'd need to make a return on such an investment.

But I have absolutely no interest in or connection to Reading or Oxford and they would be yet more teams far away from my front door.

For £10m, I’m not helping people outside Sussex. Brighton are lucky I was being moderately sensible and not proposing becoming a partner in Hastings United’s endless quest to get approval for a new stadium.

[N2022]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

But I have absolutely no interest in or connection to Reading or Oxford and they would be yet more teams far away from my front door.

For £10m, I’m not helping people outside Sussex. Brighton are lucky I was being moderately sensible and not proposing becoming a partner in Hastings United’s endless quest to get approval for a new stadium.

Had you said it's local to you, that would have made far more sense to me than you claiming it's reasonably accessible for people who live up north.

[Harry Stottle]

On 06/03/2024 at 13:38, Eddie said:

If you won Euromillions and had £10m to invest in a rugby league club, which one would you choose and why? (other than the team you support). 

9:53 p.m. Friday 8th March 2024.

Quote :-

"That is why the game is not investable and needs an absolute overall! 

Derek John Beaumont.

Now before we all jump up n down in brave 'keyboard warrior' mode, let's see if we get a report post the RFL Council meeting on Wednesday 13th March.

 

Edited March 10 by Harry Stottle

[gingerjon]

14 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

9:53 p.m. Friday 8th March 2024.

Quote :-

"That is why the game is not investable and needs an absolute overall! 

Derek John Beaumont.

Now before we all jump up n down in brave 'keyboard warrior' mode, let's see if we get a report post the RFL Council meeting on Wednesday 13th March.

 

The other thread got locked so you felt like carrying on on this one?

[Harry Stottle]

2 hours ago, gingerjon said:

The other thread got locked so you felt like carrying on on this one?

No don't be a wassock, isn't this thread about investing in a club, here we have a guy who says the game is uninvestable. 

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

No don't be a wassock, isn't this thread about investing in a club, here we have a guy who says the game is uninvestable. 

He is an investor in an RL club and a sponsor of an RFL comp. 

He seems a touch confused. Maybe alcohol fuelled do you think?

[Griff]

On 09/03/2024 at 15:22, JonM said:

Not a bad shout - bigger town than most of SL and growing quickly, plus a decent catchment area around it without a historically successful sports club. You've got Doncaster Rovers & whatever the RU team is called, but hardly big clubs. Nice stadium, supportive local council, amateur teams & decades of RL background in the area, not too far from the M62 heartland so you can persuade top players to move. 

It's a city - and our foothold for the professional game in Scotland.

[mozzauk]

I would invest in Sheffield Eagles as my home club, or maybe in the local amateur sides Hawks, Forgers and Dodworth, as think an investment in the amateur game would be more lasting than the Eagles as would be requiring the Levine family to sell some of their majority share holding....

[clwydianrange]

If I can’t invest in my club, North Wales, then it would have to be South Wales. I firmly believe that there’s a lot of untapped talent down there and proper investment would produce a very good team with mainly local players.

[Harry Stottle]

14 hours ago, clwydianrange said:

If I can’t invest in my club, North Wales, then it would have to be South Wales. I firmly believe that there’s a lot of untapped talent down there and proper investment would produce a very good team with mainly local players.

No disrespect but hasn't that been tried before on a few occasions? 

[Red Willow]

I'd invest in a decent marketing/media budget. That would benefit all clubs. Our media and marketing is awful regular shooting yourselves in the foot.

I'd also like to throw money at Salford

 

[EggFace]

If I came into the kind of money Musk, Bezo, Blackrock etc I would buy every Rugby League, Rugby Union be it amateur, pro, semi pro, touch,tag etc start out all over again with the permission of Peter V'Landys.

[burnleywelsh]

3 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

No disrespect but hasn't that been tried before on a few occasions? 

 proper investment is the key phrase here....

[gingerjon]

20 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

No disrespect but hasn't that been tried before on a few occasions? 

Rugby league in the era before union dropped shamateurism showed not just the potential but the reality.

[Harry Stottle]

20 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Rugby league in the era before union dropped shamateurism showed not just the potential but the reality.

I don't follow Union at all, but obviously have heard on the National news when clubs have gone belly up, these are English clubs, but how is the game doing in Wales? do you think there is room for RL nowadays.

Also in those days when Union had it's 'shamaturism' wasn't there a good number of Welsh lads (nationals not heritage) plying their trade in RL, something that the Welsh public could identify with, I remember being at Old Trafford for the '95 WC semi v Wales and the place was awash with Welsh supporters, but then as you say the rules changed, player's went back to the Valleys and virtually stopped crossing over the great divide altogether, maybe I am just being sceptical but I think our game has had it's day in the Principality, would love to be proven wrong though.

Edited March 13 by Harry Stottle

[Dave T]

I think Wales needs to be thought about differently. If we look at their four Premier clubs, that shows that despite all of their advantages and huge central funding etc, Union still can't really form huge clubs.

I think we will always struggle building a top flight club there. 

That said, I find the Welsh sporting public to be far more open to RL than many other areas in my experience, and they do have a rich history in RL, so I think we should be making more effort at grassroots and player development levels. 

I think Welsh players have historically been a good fit, there are all sorts of complex reasons why they fit better than English RU players I'm sure, but they have been a natural fit, and the public have often been happy to come along and support RL when played there - although we shouldn't dismiss the draw that the likes of Davies, Quinnell, Moriarty, Devereux, Bateman etc were for them. 

[Harry Stottle]

2 hours ago, Dave T said:

- although we shouldn't dismiss the draw that the likes of Davies, Quinnell, Moriarty, Devereux, Bateman etc were for them. 

Those days are gone when the likes of those names will ever grace pro RL fields again, these days are so much different to entice a paying public through the turnstiles there is so much and many other things on offer these days that people want the best for their hard earned.

To make a comparison with say Toronto, South Wales already has its favourite ball handling game and the public undoubtedly know all about RL unlike in Canada where it was relatively new and carried a big curiosity value even when starting life in our 3rd division. The Welsh public would need a top flight team/club ready made to plonk in SL to make any initial impact and to gain momentum and popularity in acceptable numbers, beginning life in our bottom division would not in my opinion create the interest required.

Edited March 13 by Harry Stottle

[Chrispmartha]

On 10/03/2024 at 13:16, Harry Stottle said:

9:53 p.m. Friday 8th March 2024.

Quote :-

"That is why the game is not investable and needs an absolute overall! 

Derek John Beaumont.

Now before we all jump up n down in brave 'keyboard warrior' mode, let's see if we get a report post the RFL Council meeting on Wednesday 13th March.

 

[Chrispmartha]

Just now, Chrispmartha said:

On 10/03/2024 at 13:16, Harry Stottle said:

9:53 p.m. Friday 8th March 2024.

Quote :-

"That is why the game is not investable and needs an absolute overall! 

Derek John Beaumont.

Now before we all jump up n down in brave 'keyboard warrior' mode, let's see if we get a report post the RFL Council meeting on Wednesday 13th March.

 

Expand  

 

[gingerjon]

37 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

 

I want verbatim minutes of this.