Interesting to see that Barrow managed a 6,000 crowd against Wigan last weekend. Riding high in their debut season in Championship (well, I suppose it's every team's debut season - if you want to be political), they could be among the top four come the end of the season.

With two more year's growth, could the Raiders prove to be the next club to reach SL in what is in essence, an expansion area in the current climate?

I also wonder whether if Barrow can emerge as a force in the Championship that SL could expand to 15 or 16 teams?

Already done recently - here on this six-pager.


[url=http://viewtopic.php?t=400927&start=0Cumbria & Super League[/url

No , one off games mean nothing

Well they have my vote.

I was pleasently suprised in regards to everything surrounding the club form the stadium, the setup and the supporters. I believe they actually own their stadium but it's fairly compact and they would probably stuggle to expand as there are main roads five yards off the walls of the stand. Also, the seating stand is literally a few feet off touching one of the shops on the retail park. (Hey, how observant was I?)

However, there is a football ground too and surely it would be in both clubs interest to have a shared stadium?

Either way, the people of Barrow/Cumbria are clearly crying out for a Super League club of their own. There was all sorts of Super League replica shirts dotted about and many of the supporters there had Wigan jersey's on but were cheering on Barrow...It was strange to say the least.

After working in Whitehaven and visiting Workington a number of occaisions, I'd certainly say Barrow has the most potencial.

can barrow be cumbria's SL team ? yes they can 2 things that need to happen though.. 1. get a new stadium built, theres a whole raft of 8,10,12,000 capacity stadiums built recently,nothing fancy but totally functional. www.scottishgrounds.co.uk/st_mirren.htm st mirrens new ground only cost £8million, holds 8,000...if barrow where to build a copy of it but leave one of the goal ends as a terrace,like leigh SV, then the capcity would nudge up towards 10,000.. the 2nd thing that needs to happen,and totally out of the control of the RL club is this www.imeche.org/industries/power/ ... he-bay.htm the morecombe bay bridge which will cut the travel time to barrow by a hour they reckon...

can barrow be cumbria's SL team ? yes they can 2 things that need to happen though.. 1. get a new stadium built, theres a whole raft of 8,10,12,000 capacity stadiums built recently,nothing fancy but totally functional. www.scottishgrounds.co.uk/st_mirren.htm st mirrens new ground only cost £8million, holds 8,000...if barrow where to build a copy of it but leave one of the goal ends as a terrace,like leigh SV, then the capcity would nudge up towards 10,000.. the 2nd thing that needs to happen,and totally out of the control of the RL club is this www.imeche.org/industries/power/ ... he-bay.htm the morecombe bay bridge which will cut the travel time to barrow by a hour they reckon...

Theoretically they could be Barrow's SL team but neither they, or any existing town's team, will become Cumbria's SL team. The fans of Workington would never support a Barrow based team, ditto Whitehaven and vice versa.

A Cumbria SL team sounds good in theory but will never happen

You've got to ask yourself though; would Gateshead, Workington or Haven have got that kind of crowd for the same game on the same day?

We need a Cumbrian side in Super League, Barrow look promising, but then again how close have Haven been for the last few years?

I think it is probably a case of finance and stadia, Barrow would probably just edge it here, but to stand a good chance they need a new stadium really.

Why do we? I dont see how bringing a small town club into super league is going to expand the game? whats wrong with having three cumbrain sides in the championship? they can still produce players and those good enough for super league eg greg mcnally will continue to be poached by super league clubs.

Yes they can, but it is also about building a bigger rugby league following, more people will go watch if there is Super League rugby available, as we saw this week with Barrow.

Bøllocks to that. It's the most beautiful natural bay in England and they want to put a bloody big bridge across it?

Whoa, ten posts and nobody's questioned whether Barrow's in Cumbria.



My current line of thinking is that I'm not fussed about a Cumbrian team in SL but I do think English RL could do with more players from that part of the country making it to SL level. I don't think that it needs a SL franchise to make that happen, but it couldn't do any harm.



Progress, you old scrote.

Now that is b0llocks!



Anyway since when did distance (time or miles) from M62 corridor make a difference to a SL franchise application?!

Could Barrow be Cumbria's SL team?

Simple answer, no.

No single team in Cumbria could be a SL, but Cumbria (Super 12s style) could be a SL franchise, but its up to the flatcappers up there to overcome their parochialsm and realise this

It worked for Les Catalans after all.

I think that will start to happen fairly soon. For a long time SL clubs did no scouting in the area at all. That is starting to change as clubs realise the talent that exists up here. At a recent U16's game there were scouts from 7 SL clubs there - a couple of years ago there would have been none.

That'll be the day you actually have any charm, Nerk.

It's neither flatcappery or parochialism that prevents it happening.

It's money. Or rather the lack of it to build a suitable stadium and bankroll the initial start up costs.

hmm Does anyone think that while Haven fans wouldnt follow a Barrow based team and vice versa in this present moment in time this would be forgotten if a Cumbria based team was placed there? Im thinking another generation or so.
I'm sure Dally mentioned something about Wests getting bigger crowds now than the initial merger teams in Aus did.
In time it could work, especially if you took a few games on the road.

IMO though, Cumbria just wouldnt be worth the effort needed

I wish people from outside of Cumbria did their geography homework before posting about mergers, etc. I don't think anyone would expect say, York to merge with Swinton to put in for a SL franchise and yet those two towns are probably closer to each other than Barrow and the west Cumbrian towns of Workington and Whitehaven!!!

If Barrow want to go it alone and apply for a SL licence then good luck to them but please don't call it a "Cumbrian franchise" because there is a lot more of Cumbria rugby league away from the Furness area of the county.

It'll be fun when he sees this!

I wouldnt rule out a Cumbrian side, but i wouldnt include one just for the sake of it. If Barrow wee to be included they would need everything up to scratch and if they are included they should not have any special amount of foreign players like Quins etc.

Any talk of Barrow getting a franchise is, quite frankly, utterly ludicrous. I like the club and love the days out at Craven Park, but the place just isn't what Super League are looking for.

The ground was a dump to be fair. Parts of the roof fell off when the ball hit it after a conversion



Very enjoyable away day though.

if barrow can redevelop their ground then yes, get them in super league- it is rather easy to get to aswell