NEWCASTLE THUNDER created quite the social media storm last week after announcing their intention to withdraw from the League One competition for 2024.
Citing financial issues, the club explained that the players and coaching staff would still be paid for the remainder of their contracts but that the club couldn’t compete next season.
Just a few years ago, Thunder were heralded as the next big thing to come for the expansionists, with a sparkling facility at Kingston Park, increasingly impressive junior development and a rich owner compounding those beliefs.
In terms of why it hasn’t worked at Newcastle, however, General Manager Keith Christie was keen to stress that the issues faced at Thunder are problems faced across the board in rugby league.
“There has been seven areas across the board, I’m not going to identify and individual element. We have an owner (Semore Kurdi) who has invested a lot of money into the sport, things haven’t worked out from a community point of view or development point of view,” Christie told League Express.
“He (the owner) wishes us very well and will help us where he can but from a business point of view he has to be honest with himself and that’s where the sport is in general.
“The sport in general relies on the generosity of individuals and that is where we are pretty weak. There is a perceived romance at heart taking rugby league clubs on, the sport is in a tough spot at the minute. The business head has to come before the heart.
“What I’m interested in now is to make sure the club has the a future, its past cannot dictate its future. I’m hopeful there is a future, that is the realistic term.”
With Newcastle – along with London Skolars and West Wales Raiders – withdrawing from the third tier, it means that there are currently eight teams set to do battle in 2024.
That has left a number of League One clubs call on the powers that be to change the structure to amalgamate the Championship and League One.
In terms of what kind of structure Christie would support in League One, he doesn’t believe it is realistic to ask third tier sides to merge competitions with second tier ones.
“It’s like anything, it has its pros and cos. Having additional games means additional costs. There is no guaranteed money – we are a sport living on handouts.
“We have worked on Sport England money, Sky money but we haven’t fundamentally put a business plan in place to justify going into compete with a Featherstone or Wakefield.
“We’ve got to be honest, we wouldn’t be able to compete with them. Would the exercise be fruitful? It would be great to play in that competition but realistically we could not compete. There are probably six teams in the Championship that have continuity, good business models and a safe structure with how they manage players.
“I think everyone else is chomping at the bit to invest as much or as little as they can to create a business case for themselves. Can I say we are ready to go into the Championship? We are not, how many but two or three League One clubs would say they are?”
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