Oh I'm sorry I forgot Leigh were perfect, I'll just ignore the fact they have a tendency to smash peoples cars up when they lose games.

I didn't see that on BBC News.

? You'd expect smashed cars in Leigh to be newsworthy?

Yes - horse and cart is the favoured mode of transport there

No they know where the castleford stadium is going to be built, at glasshoughton, if you come to cas i'm sure someone will point out exactly where it is. The council are trying to push a shared stadium be it at newmarket or cas, castleford know exactly where they intend to build the ground, the issue has been would wakefield be willing to share with us or vice versa. You can keep saying they dont know which field they are going to build in but if you do that will make you look a little daft.

I havent claimed to have any evidence, nor did i compare leigh and castleford you just decided i did and then started an argument based on that. Read what i write not what you think i'm going to say. Saying 'you wanted to compare cas and leigh' when i never said anything like that makes you look like your grasping at straws.

I mentioned the name of the paper as it one of the many things you have said so far that was wrong. Since your such an avid reader of the publication you dont know the name of you will have also noticed that castleford have recently paid £175,000 for an architect firm to draw up full plans for the stadium, not for drawings, for full designs (though if you wish you can keep pretending that we have hired a skilled firm of architects on a 6 figure sum to do some colouring in, though its not enhancing your credibility much).

There wasnt a story about danny orr signing in the local paper until last week, it didnt mean i didnt know it was going to happen many months before that, did it?

No i dont have a link for last years accounts as they havent been published, i was told by a shareholder of the club. Its not hard to imagine that after losing alot of money leading upto to 2008 with two relegations are finances would improve to an extent afterwards is it?

What secrets am i keeping? or are you deciding i have said things i havent again?

In this case what other clubs do is relevent, if your bringing up the finaces of castleford as being a potential weakness to our franchise bid when we are no weaker than most clubs and indeed are stronger than a number of sl clubs in this area. With the new ground we will have corporate facilities something that is a big money spinner for clubs and we wont be having to spend so much money on upkeep for an old stadium, couple these facts with an expected increase in crowds (which there are plenty of precedents for) and we should be in a much healthier financial state when the new ground is built.

I am a little shocked at how poor leighs finances are considering there wage bill wont be very big in a league with such a low salery cap (300k iirc, though it may have changed), dont have to run a fulltime operation, dont have to run a sl standard youth system, have corporate facilities and dont have to spend lots of upkeep on an old ground as the council have provided leigh with a stadium.

I wouldn't take what he says to heart! He has a tendency of making ridiculous accusations. When challenged for evidence he does a Vanishing act! I suppose it's the initial attention he gets a thrill out of!

Then post a link to prove why I am so wrong.

Go on, please.

Show me where it says 'Cas will play here of that we are 100% certain.'

Totally agree, that isnt in doubt and I have said we're not ready in this thread.

What I'm saying is they're not as far ahead as they'd like to think they are and none of them have posted any evidence to the contrary, only 'opinions' and as we all know on here opinions have to be backed up with cast iron facts and evidence otherwise they are deemed invalid.

AFAIK, Cas broke even in 2009.

Do the pictures of the site on the Cas website, or in the papers or on Boots n All not confirm it for you?

Or how about the big sign that says FUTURE HOME OF THE CASTLEFORD TIGERS on the land?

The sign that was erected in 2007 and is now falling apart with wood rot?

Not even a half built stadium - like Halifax had

So it might be a field in Glasshoughton, it might be a field in Newmarket. Thanks for clearing that up.

I reckon the feasibility study mentioned in the Featherstone Fishwives report last week, that one quoting your own CEO, is a belting idea and might help decide which field to build it in.






I responded to Gaslamp and you joined in. Don't you agree with him? And if you think this is an arguement then you need to meet my wife. Its a debate between RL fans, chill out.




Examples please.




If you want to lower the tone and talk about credibility then yours is shot because £175k is buttons on a project like this. On RIBA scales it equates to a build cost of about £5m, not much of a stadia is that.

What £175k would get is some pretty pictures, some specifications, some standard details, and some design checking/supervision during the works. This is sufficient to move towards full planning consent (which is then granted with conditions that have to be discharged aling the way) and generating a tender pack for builders to price upon. In nearly all cases these stadia are completed on a design and build basis, the £175k gives the client (eg Cas) the opportunity to say 'I want it to look like that'. A basic rulebook, if you like.

The successful bidder then adds meat to the bones with further drawings, engineering, and M&E details, sufficient to obtain building regs approval and tick off those planning conditions. It's how most new stadia are procured, from Leigh Sports Village to Wembley Stadium.




Don't be. Firstly the council didn't provide one, a developer paid for it and gave it to the council in exchange for development land. The council then rent it back to us for a figure that is slowly suffocating the club. If you sell a bottle of pop at Wheldon Road, the profit is yours, at LSV we see next to nothing, even from ticket income. Be wary of the path to gold and glory becuase unless you own it, you could easily be in the same situation.

I think the ins/outs at Perpignan will be a big tell. If we aim too low I could see the RFL making a point of swapping us round with TO.

Widnes are certain to get in. They have the stadium, won the rail cup, very wealthy backers.

Crusaders should be the first team to go because, let's be honest, they're not really a licensed Super League club.
The organisation currently playing out of Wrexham bears no real relationship to the one which was granted a licence for 2009-11. That one went pop after just one season. The idea that licences (not franchises, by the way) can be passed around during the licence period is ludicrous. The RFL are meant to have done due diligence on the applications but clearly they were hoodwinked by Celtic Crusaders. This is not a pop at the idea of having a Welsh Super League club in the future. And the demise of Celtic does not PROVE that it will never be viable, as some would have it. But it does prove that this particular bid - the Celtic Crusaders one - wasn't viable.
The only reason (Wrexham) Crusaders got the go-ahead was because the RFL was left with egg on it's face. What we now have is a Super League club that never even applied for a licence. So much for the concept of licensing and all the hoops the RFL say they're making the clubs jump through to prove they're viable and sustainable. If licensing is to regain (or should that be just 'gain') credibility, Crusaders have to be first in the firing line.

Totally agree - the main problem I see with the franchise system is that the RFL set the criteria to try and manipulate the outcome to what they want. The smaller clubs in the heartlands are therefore at a tremondous disadvantage to those deemed to be in an expansion area. The risk is they kick clubs like wakey and cas out and then end up having to bail Crusaders and Harlequins out.

Please expand/explain this statement?
For the last time....and I will type this s l o w l y for knuckle draggers like you.
London Broncos owed 2 sums of cash. 1 to the inland revenue, the other to the owner. The owner waived his debt and the club approached the inland revenue with a payment plan to settle their tax debt. The Inland revenue said no, they wanted payment there and then, so the London Broncos company folded. The RFL called a meeting of the SL chairmen and asked them to vote on keeping a london team in the league....the vote took place and the Broncos were re-admitted, finished the season, became the Harlequins Rugby League and moved to the Stoop.

At which stage of the above time line (pruned back so it's easy for you to understand without getting a grown up to help you) did the RFL bail Harlequins out? Or the Broncos for that matter?

What next...licencing only came about because the RFL knew Harlequins would finish last in 2010 and needed an excuse not to relegate them



I Don't give a toss about crusaders....or Wakey, Salford or Castleford for that matter. All I care about is my team getting another 3 years of SL. Let the other clubs worry about their own issues...we need to find some fans and fast IMO and they need to find a cheap, fast builder.

I wasn't talking about the past I was talking about the potential future with Harlequins and Crusaders potentially struggling based on crowd numbers and if the backing from main benefactors was no longer there.

So if you want to have a rant get a grown up to read peoples post to you first so you can understand them. If I'm a knuckle dragger your several evolutionary stages behind.

Bottom line is forgetting the expansion element, you cannot make a case for Harlequins being in SL over anybody else thats currently in bar, Crusaders

A little birdie tells me you have a few marketing ideas too. Please describe, in no more than 35 threads what these are.

s l o w l y

The case FOR Harlequins RL remaining in Superleague ahead of current team, excluding Crusaders.
In 1995 the number of amateur clubs and/or school children playing RL in the greater London area was minimal. 15 Years later (too long for some) the amateur scene is thriving, there are thousands of kids playing the game and even public schools like Harrow are fielding teams....so there's 1 reason...the development and expansion of the game into a traditionally foreign landscape.
Next up would be the emergence of cockney england internationals. LMS and tony Clubb were about 11 yrs old at the start of SL and as a direct result of London Broncos community work, they have moved on to become good SL players. Furthermore, the 9 cockneys recently fielded against Bradford is a sign that this conveyer belt is working and if you remove the London SL franchise now, you risk undoing all the work of the last 15 years.
Next up, David Hughes. You rightly say that he is rumoured to be re-evaluating the level of financial support he injects into the club. This, regardless of anything else, is mainly down to Ian Lenegan buying Wigan and the RFL ruling that he couldn't have an interest in 2 SL clubs. Not ideal, but as it stands at present, Harlequins RL are one of the few, if not the only Superleague club with no overdraft....because we don't want one.
We changed our name and moved in to the stoop to attempt to attract cross code fans. This hasn't worked, buit as A direct result, we now play in one of the only decent RUGBY ONLY stadiums in SL. Again, this is not ideal, but we can at least have a pint in a decent bar and take a pi55 under cover.....in a stadium that doesn't look like it is about to fall down.
Competitively, the team has been poor for the last 5 years, but we are fielding the most british squad in the tournament. Whilst other traditional teams are scrambling around signing Australians, Quins are trying to stick to the rules regarding overseas players.......another one of the things the RFL hoped to do that would enhance the chances of the England BG set up when playiin NZ/Australia.

I could go on, but I have work to do but I hope that I have shown that Harlequins RL deserve another 3 years based on current financial security, the stadium they play in, the number of home grown players developed to first team level from a standing start 15 years ago, the expansion of the game as not only a professional sport, but also as a viable option for schools and amateurs as well as satisfying the requirement from the leagues broadcast partner for a team in the capital.

I am sure that the 120+ years history of some of the heartland clubs in danger can be waxed lyrical as can the number of THIER youngsters pinched by LEEDS/BRADFORD/WIGEAN/SAINTS etc...and the massive 7k average gates they are getting after 120 years , but the fact is, SKY give each of the SL clubs about 1 million a year.....and SKY want a london club. The last point is the key one by the way in case you missed it

Hey...at least I only post them on the Quins Board them on the Quins Board them on the Quins Board them on the Quins Board them on the Quins Board them on the Quins Board them on the Quins Board them on the Quins Board them on the Quins Board them on the Quins Board them on the Quins Board them on the Quins Board them on the Quins Board them on the Quins Board

I fully support Harlequins having a franchise, but would you get a new name, and get the crowds up, lovelies?

A year or two ago, I despaired of Harlequins RL, and continued to be extremely angry about the insolvency of the predecessor London Broncos, and the way that ripped off Joe taxpayer for half a million. I would have been happy to see them booted out of the competition.

I'm still extremely angry about the tax debt that was never paid. Extremely. It was inexcusable, and the perpetrators are IMO guilty of grand theft and should be shot. Slowly.

But what the London club have achieved in youth and local development - something the history books will be much kinder to Big Mac over than many of the current fans are - is little short of remarkable. There is no bloody way that can be allowed to be lost. For that reason, you now have a staunch supporter, when not long ago I was gunning for you. You will not now hear me arguing against any central support that is provided to the London club to ensure its future. On the contrary; I have trodden the road to Damascus, and I now support it.

And anyone who has a problem with that can bog off!

Cracking post.....