Whilst I don't agree with the opening post, I do not believe that international RL has benefitted from expansion activities of SL in the northern hemisphere. If anything, northern hemipshere teams appear to be as poor as they have ever been in my lifetime

Think he's going to need a bigger net.

I agree with that, but let's face it most of us enjoy an atmosphere. IMO to get the best atmosphere requires both home and away fans to contribute. When there are only a handful of away fans it just isn't the same. TBH I find it embarassing watching RL games when there is silence after a team scores.

It seems to be that the point you are making is that the likes of London and Celtic are not doing enough to attract supporters and yet "heartland" clubs "can't do any more" to get people through the gates, thus they get poor crowds when London and Celtic pitch up. I'm telling you that you're talking out of your ar$e.

As has been said, on Friday Wigan knew that they'd have a block of 5000+ seats which would be empty. Instead of talking your approach and moaning about it, they came up with an innovative idea to fill those seats. There's a very good chance that some of those would return next week.

A few years ago, Leeds offered discount accommodation in the club hotel as part of a promotion to attract Catalan fans and they have targeted various different groups around Leeds (students being a common target) specifically for poorly attended games. Warrington I know have also done similar things for their London games. It can be done - those clubs are proof of it.

A game against an expansion club does not have to mean a poor, lifeless crowd and every club in Super League should see those games as an opportunity to attract new fans, not as an excuse for complaint.

That's funny as frick, a Cronulla fan telling us what the game should look like in the future! Small suburban mindset, what a surprise from a Sharks fan!

ps you do realise Adelaide drew more fans than Cronulla and Perth drew more fans than a number of Sydney clubs don't you? I am willing to lay bets that in 10-15 years time there will be a Perth team in the NRL and not a Cronulla Sharks.

Do you genuinely think that the best French players now playing in SL are worse players than the best French players who were playing in the French league pre-Catalans?

I live in London.

I have been banned from the Harlequins forum for bagging out harlequins attempts at increasing crowds. The club is dying. And no one seems to care.

Yet on reflection maybe clubs like that ARE doing 'enough'

You could have AC/DC playing before every London game. They could sign Darren Lockyer, Israel Folau and Greg Inglis. Their crowds wouldn't increase significantly.

Same as Celtic. Exactly the same.

Whats the point in throwing good money at something which wont bring a return???


Catalans..... maybe I was hasty on that point. They seem to have a pretty good fan base.


but London and Celtic???


If ever there was a reason to bring back Widnes and get another Hull based side, or one from Cumbria then there it is.


My argument is that the RFL should look after the fans in the area where RL is popular.

That is in the North of England.


People in London and South Wales are indifferent to RL.

Always have been

Always will be.

You've just remninded me why I stopped going on the NRL forum. YOu need to change your tune. No matter how interesting something is, if you constantly repeat it, it becomes boring and tiresome.

As for Adelaide. I was in Adelaide for quite a while and not one person I knew or worked with liked RL. In fact, they detested it.

A short experimentation in a City will attract fans. Would they keep coming back? You don'ty know so please stop stating as some kind of fact. As for Cronulla, they have had many attendances over 20k. I was at some of those games. Problem with Sharkies fans is that they are fickle. It would also be a big mistake to take the only club out of Sutherlandshire, it's a RL hotbed that produces a lot of talent. Who have Perth produced apart from Peterson?

There is no proof to suggest that French RL has improved. I would be interested to hear evidence that contradicts this.

You appear to suggest that they have not worsened in the absolute sense. That doesn't matter. What matters is that they have got increasingly worse in a relative sense. Going by the beatings the French national RL team have received, I would say they are weaker.

How many Cumbrian teams applied for an SL licence? (I'll give you a clue, the answer is none)



Yep, and then we can complain about how we don't get media coverage, don't attract major sponsors and are generally regarded as a parochial sport in the Northern wilderness.



Celtic Crusaders have been in Super League for one season in the middle of a recession. Personally, I don't think that's the best circumstances in which to judge.

I don't agree with Celic being in Superleague, not because I don't think League will catch on there but because I think they have been fast tracked and it is doing them more harm than good. Crowds won't flock to see a side that is getting thumped every week. Quins, whilst their crowds are awful, are at least a competetive side and by all accounts youth rugby in London has come on in leaps and bounds in recent times. Catalans have been a real sucess story, good on the field and off it and plenty of young French kids been given a chance. Okay the French national side hasn't dramatically improved from Catalans being in superleague but they won't be a force for a long time imo and the game needs to be bult at club level first before you can look at having a good national side.

err Adelaide averaged over 13,000 and had the biggest membership of any NRL club so sorry but there was obviously interest there if we had perservered with it. Considering we have had no RL profile here we have produced a damn site more than Victoria who has had an NRL team and SOO games for over a decade.

Cory Patterson, Matt Peterson, Daniel Holdsworth, Lee Te Mari, Jon Green all have recently played NRL and came through the WARL for starters. We have another handful in NSW/Q'land cup and Toyota cup. For a place that has been ignored for over a decade thats not bad going.

ps When was the last time Cronulla got a crowd over 20,000? They have only ever once averaged over 14,000 in their entire 40 year+ history. Ironically one of their biggest home crowds ever was in 1991 when they played a home game in Perth!

Some people believe that our game isn't good enough to take to the uneducated and get them interested. personally I think it is the best game in teh world and if you sell it right there is no reason RL can't be popular in any city in any country. You do realise that EVERY club in EVERY city started at some point in time and had to grow to where it is now don't you? Cronullas first season they averaged less than 6,000!

Look at all the sad bitter moaning Widnes fans contributing to this thread, jesus christ you lot need to get over yourselves and move on.

Oh wait hang on a minute...

Yeah we should only have founder member clubs, kick out Celtic, Cas, Hull KR, Catalans and Quins and bring back Brighouse, Broughton, Liversedge, Tyldersly, Stockport and Manningham

Did it ever actually cross your mind that the visit of certain away teams might actually attract more HOME fans?

Example, I'd much rather watch Hull vs Catalans than Hull vs Salford. And apparently, so would 500+ Hull fans if you look at the attendances for the two games. You seem to assume that the difference in crowds are only due to the number of away fans.

The fact that Catalans also have the 6th highest crowd average this season also doesn't help your point.

At the end of the day, you haven't really thought this through very well, have you!

Spot on Welsley, some teams bring in more home fans.

It was over a very short period of time.




Fella, I am not comparing VIC, SA and WA. I was cimparing Shrkies with an expansion outfit from out west.



That's nowhere near as good as the amount who have come out of the 'Shire. Even Woollooware High School has produced more quality players than WA.




They get the occasional big crowd. Saying that, it has to be in abig game and they have to be doing relatively well at the time. In 2001 and 2002, they got a number of big crowds, I remember the crowds being particularly high against St George, Paramatta and Newcastle.

I am no expert on crowds, and to be honest I cannot be bothered at this moment to go looking for stats on the web. I would guess that they are by no means one of the least well supported teams in the NRL.



I can't accept that. Credit though for your enthusiasm and passion for the game though.



To be fair to the Sharkies, the area had a good RL pedigree to begin with.

That is prety much what that fat bloke who used to be at Halifax put forward at the last Superleague think tank.I think its a goer

Booo to quins, kick 'em out I say! Boooooooooooo!

Bramley.

You and I both know Rugby League will always be to poor relation to Rugby Union in South Wales.

Thats the way it has always been, and the way it always will be.


Celtic havent been going long and already they are on about shifting games to Wrexham and Newport in the hope of attracting more fans.

So you don't want kids then?

Of course.

You will always get big crowds for Wigan v St Helens , Leeds v Bradford etc etc.

But those clubs will also bring more away fans to the games.

So the attendances are higher.

So more money will be taken at the gate.

Which can only be good for all concerned.


The way hull are playing nowadays I would have thought you would sooner see them take on Salford personally

Good for you. But are you a londoner or are you just PTPP? (Passing through and pulling Pints)



You are not, never have been and in all likelyhood, never will be banned from our boards. The fact that you tried to start a row and got owned and then ran away....isn't banning, it just highlights your lack of intelligence. HTH



Yep........that's it. Forget trying to expand, forget that Celtics junior accademy wiped the floor with everyone this year and forget LMS and Clubb are cockney international players....It'll never catch on.

If you are going to try to bait people I suggest you change the record. We are the bast@rd child of SLY TV and the RFL and we are here to stay....get used to it fella

Except I am.




And as I said to the moderator who messaged me a few times .....I really don't care



I'm not a London RL fan


Along with most other people who live in London it seems

YOU ARE NOT BANNED. Say it as many times as you wan't, but you are not banned from the Quins board.....you just get owned every time you go on there

Great to hear you're not a London RL fan......I haven't been a London RL fan since 2005.
As for nobody watching the game in London.....who cares? As I said, we are the bast@rd lovechild of Murdoch and Lewis and we will always be in Superleague....great, innit!