This is the same as Catalans first season isnt it?!


why are they here? Rubbish they are etc etc etc

GIVE.THEM.A.CHANCE

agreed

Don’t get me wrong guys – I really hope they succeed, just don’t think it will.

Im not having a pop at individuals here but rugby league fans do get on my wick sometimes

we moan about lack of coverage in the press, how we are not recognised

and you wonder why?


because some of the support our fantastic game is dead against change and it winds me up, we should be backing Celtic and Quins etc, not putting them down

the challenge cup tie against Crusaders last year, their support was outsanding and a joy to be with, why? Because they loved Rugby League too and was fascinated by it and wanted to talk to us about it, even some of the came to top part of the south stand with us and we had a sing song with them!


Yes there not so hot at the moment, but they won at Odsal which is more than what the current Super League champions could do AND remember...they nearly beat St Helens

I couldnt agree more

well said that man

i just take the point of view that more so in wales than 99% of places on the globe kids from an early age play rugby not football, not cricket but rugby, ok it might be union but they have the natural instinct of egg chasing in em.

i think their youth team set up results show they have a real chance of been a power in the game in years to come.

but like you say we will just have to wait and see

totally, their reserve grade beat us

however, this goes unnoticed by the average fe[ic[/ikwit fan as Sky Sports didnt show it, it doesnt happen

I dont wonder why. I know why.

The RFL want to attract new fans to the game but do this at the expense of the current ones.

Switching games around after people have already booked is a fookin joke. Why should people have to book extra days on the offchance the RFL are going bend over and take it up the rectum from sky, again?

batley by plenty after today

Would that be the same Widnes who got boned at Batley today?

:lol

one of the major changes that needs to happen, is the fans attitude. super league, and the championships are miles apart, and this is the only was its going to work currently. there just isn't the money or players to have 2/3 great league, we can either have 1 great and 2 good leagues (which our only major media coverage wants) or 3 average leagues.

then if we change the smaller clubs into more of a feeder club/little brother of a super league club. then it would be a chance for some of the nearly super league players, to easily play in the championships, thus raising the standards and also (in theory) bringing crowd numbers up. as the super league clubs fans would be more likely to go watch the feeder club, knowing that they'll get to see some good rugby & know that their money would be going to the overall well been of their super league club. Currently not many people in rugby will go watch 2 teams, despite the fact that of the massive gap, so talk of rivalry and such stopping them is bull.

as an example lets look and rhinos & hunslet and leeds united & farsley celtic.
would a leeds united fan, thinking anything of watching celtic on a saturday afternoon then united on a sunday? or the other way round, a cetic fan going to watch united. i'm willing to bet most would be happy to do both, knowing that the clubs are miles apart in skill and set-up, and its almost like they're playing two different sports.

would this happen in league...well the answer is no it doesn't. anyone who's been to hunslet games recently will know that the hunslet fans (still) hate leeds, and i think most leeds fans don't care enough about hunslet/rugby league in general to put up with hatred.
and although there is only two diversions separating them, the gap in set-up, skills, etc is in terms with the football example.

now i'm not saying a connection between the clubs would be a instant answer, but i do think it would open up more people's eyes, and with the right promotion/offers in would increase the crowd numbers and in the long run do our sport a world of good. the media would take much more notice, if the championships were getting 6/7/8+ thousand a game.
the more media, the more money, the more the sport grows, the biggest the player pool, the bigger the fan base etc

but at the moment, there's to many stubborn people for this, despite the fact that only a couple of the championship sides are any where near to been ready to offer the full package for superleague (e.g. staff set-up, stadium, general community work, junior development)

what would be best for our sport:
1) rhinos getting 17k, hunslet getting 0.5-7K (currently the case)
2)rhinos getting 10K, hunslet getting 7K (both playing in super league, which is was most hunslet fans want)
3)rhinos getting 17k, hunslet getting 4-8k (example/guess feeder club set up numbers. e.g. rhinos season tickets holders get in for £2 & hunslet get a lump sum of £5 per season ticker sold by leeds)

The obsession with crowd figures is a load of cobblers. Gate revenue will generally be no more than about one third of total income - the other main sources being TV and individual club sponsorship.

In negotiations with Sky et al a SL including teams from Wales, France and London is one hell of a lot more marketable than one where those sides are replaced by another 3 northern clubs (none of which are likely to be truly competitive). That's what Quins, Cats and now Celtic bring to all SL teams. If you don't think this is important, then you are certainly living in the past.

I have no problem with other clubs forcing their way into SL on the back of a solid case including fuinancial backing, ground etc. In fact, I suspect a couple of teams outside SL perhaps could offer more to the game in the long-run than a couple of existing sides - but only existing heartland sides.

Hopefully the franchise system will see teams like Wakefield pull their socks up or get kicked out. As for Celtic and Quins, if between them they are reasonably competitive and produce a couple of GB players every few years from non-heartland sources then they are a success. On that score as of today I'd say it's hard not to rate Quins a success.

Perhaps as a sport we should also be looking at how the AFL (aussie rules) do things ... They've not had a problem setting up a team in every state over the last 20 years, in non-traditional areas and turning them in to successful operations.

Don't dispute this, yes i only ever watch the games on sky, may even be a average fekwit, but not a fan, also read rl express and check reserve grade results out, and when celtic are on sky in a nice stadium with 10 welshmen running out cheered on by 7000 paying fans ill stop being a average fekwit. I hope it works in wales, then scotland & ireland would be great, personally i turn free tickets down every week & have for years, just want to watch a competetive game with my fekwit sky watching pals on a fri/sat night.

As you don't seem to keen on the bigger picture lets look at your narrow and rather naive (in my opinion) definition of success.

There are 7 Welsh in the first team squad. Plus another 5 Englishmen. The remainder are antipodeans. That ratio of British vs antipodeans isn't great but its not bad for a first season and is no worse than several heartland clubs have had in recent years or far from what Leeds had in early 80s for that matter.

As there wasn't a Superleague club in South Wales beforehand the only way they'll get more Welsh, specifically, is through their juniors - who already seem rather good - better than most heartland SL clubs. These players will come through in the next few years.

The ground is adequate at present. Again, probably better than most if not all lower league heartland sides and as good as several in SL. They plan to build a 15k capacity all seater stadium.

Attendance for a warm Saturday early evening fixture in your first season (where you'll have few season ticket holders) that's live on TV is always going to be low. The highest attendance this year (I think) was a little under 6.5k.







Their juniors

Yes a sport that without Sky in this country would be still playing in the dark ages to the same old flat cap (this is my sport so FO) brigade.

The same attitude that held the sport back for decades.

I tell you what, give me a Sky decision anytime over that era of no progression, no new followers of the game, Christ, it would be like watching Batley every week and nobody deserves that.

The very same.

I gets me how s like the OP can spout this crap with nothing to back it up.

Also Salfords crowds are prety much on a par with Celtic. Wheres thier thread?

Because that is a Rugby League Old Skool hotspot of Rugby League action with HISTORY

I hope you are being sacrastic Loz. the very mention of the words Salford and Franchise in the same sentence has me reaching for the Sniper rifle and looking for the highest tower block in Halifax!!

of course



Halifax were rightly not awarded the franchise IMO, Yes the academy and team set up are very good but behind the scenes had only just settled down

next time around should be considered

Nottingham Outlaws for SL 2019!

The AFL has gone national by transplanting teams from Victoria to Sydney and Brisbane. The Brisbane Lions (formerly the Bears) used to be Fitzroy I think. In any event these transfers of teams (which basically means the previous team dies) have taken advantage of the huge number of southern 'expats' in Queensland and Victoria, for whom 'football' means AFL and the existing player rosters of the transferred teams.

In fact the new Gold Coast team will be the first genuine 'new' AFL side, and it will be interesting to see how they go, as they won't have the advantage of an existing squad to start with when they kick off. They also get given cash handouts by the league to start up, player draft benefits and a higher salary cap (to attract interstate players) than southern/western sides.

It's also interesting that the Sydney Swans are sh*tting themselves over the thought of a second Sydney team, as this will dilute their appeal considerably.

Just thought you should know - SL is having to expand within its means by using finance raised by the new teams themselves, so everything is quite different. About the only 'advantage' I can see that Quins have had for example is in the overseas quota. Imagine the hue and cry if say Celtic had been given wads of cash and poached the likes of McGuire, Long etc to start up.

Would be good for the game if it got the crowds in, I liked the suggestion from an aussie coach a couple of years back that each club be allowed a marquee player who stays outside the salary cap, ie; sinfields contract stays outside the cap, but wakefield might tempt mcguire as they can offer way more than available under the cap, would also keep the better players from being poached (the aussie coaches reason for suggesting this when the gasniers etc left the NRL)

I can see the rest of the squad being delighted at one of their team mates being designated the "marquee player" and paid far more than them. I can see what he was thinking, but in practice that's a horrible idea.

Look...the rules were simple.
Get the welsh in and fans will point the finger at them and leave us alone!
Keep up at the back


P.S. Who exactly is throwing money at us in London?