But how do they compete with say Leigh on same rules as us ?

But I can provide evidence showing opposite to this. What you have done there is picked out a one off Cas-Wakey which is a very rare possibility of that situation happening again. You have chosen Leigh/Haven GF which is 1 game in a season, when rest of league games approaching this final was poor for us. Should we just have 1 game seasons ?


You have chosen HKR - Cas who are both well supported anyway and deserve to be in SL with enthusiasm there supporters showed in following their clubs. They was actually intersting encounters in an otherwise poor league. Give us 10 more clubs like these in our comp, and P&R would still be with us me thinks.

SL is separate competition - ridicule the name which I know you do, but its fact. Look on beeb website for the table and look at categories for example

Never happen again at the moment. Doesn't matter who it is, relegation and promotion battles add excitement/interest and much needed income. With the game being run as it is Leigh will NEVER be in SL, it obviously doesn't bother you but it bothers plenty of others. Sky show on average 2 SL games per week and one Championship/Championship1/NRC game per week. Now forgive me if I have missed this but is the TV money shared out 2:1 or even 7:1

Both Comps have there own tv deals, so money isnt split, same as it is in football, prem league has a TV contract Cola Leagues have thre own

It is £4000 more than you got afew seasons ago when the RFL offered to pay Euro Sport to show your games. What is the £4000 that leigh are spending that has got you in such a tizzy.

This discussion is so boring, own tv deal......don't make me laugh. This "TV deal" is only in place to stop other braodcasters showing Championship rugby thus making it impossible to get a proper TV deal.

Nothing has got me in a tiz by the way, was just pointing out the millions we make from our TV deal. Since franchising started both Rochdale and Doncaster have had serious problems, many more will follow over the next few years.

No point debating this issue,its been done to death. I won't agree with you and you won't with me...are you DickHead Lewis in disguise

Too many years watcing Blackburn Rovers with the ex wife, and living for about 20 years in an area over run with the vermin fans that they have. Landlord of my local pub (a Preston fan himself) used to say that if there was ever an argument between Rovers and Burnley fans, it would ALWAYS be the Burnley fan that would throw the first punch.
Although they did give me my favourite football moment about 10 years ago. When Rovers beat them in the cup, they did their usual trick of going on the rampage and trashing the town centre. Only problem was that it was played in Burnley not Blackburn...

Thick thugs covers it.

Next question.

Nik is right the Burnley fans have a terrible reputation

Like you said the truth wold not have hurt as much as the sham they had all the clubs go through...thats why the clubs outside super league are dieing a death....no future simple as

SO have saints sorted out there finances yet? or are you still losing 200k a season winning everthing and appearing in all major finals?


me thinks a pie collapse is on the way


what goes around comes around

Why do you think this ?

Also nobody is doubting its exciting to have a nail biter game that involves devasting one team and ellation at surviving for another . You could add even more tention and excitement by having a rule that the team that gets relegated also gets shot. We would have world attention then too. Don't mean its right

Its a slight exageration.

Go on you tube, search for 'Rocky Mills Burnley' and try not to laugh.

Go on then, provide evidence.

Cite me some examples of relegation or promotion matches with something resting on the result in which the attendences were lower than the average for the home side, or lower than the higest average of the two teams on a neutral venue.

What I have done is picked games in a P/R context where the result made a difference to which division the teams played in the following year. Show me your evidence to the contrary.

I choose the bread and butter games - the league games and play off knock out stage games, where most are involved. I did give you examples already but I will do it again - our poor league games crowds in 2004, we'll leave 2005 out, Batley home in playoffs 2006, Donny at home 2007.
Crowds have gone down in P&R era for us especially. What you mention is a example of 1 game plucked from a season where there are actually 20odd games in a season, and well over 100 fixtures in any given season. highlighting a couple of games out of that lot is not proof enough IMO of enough interest. And certainly not proof enough that a PT club should replace a FT club - similar to relegating a premier league club and putting say Northampton in there.
We all experienced 2004 GF - you couldn't have written the the script. From being on the brink of disappearing to finally getting the holy grail with a match of high drama. The feeling was awesome. I know what its about. But looking back, it was one game, a season where had we not gone up would have most probably been curtains. Was it really worth the risk ?

We will never agree about this and I actually do respect your views but you are very selective when quoting examples as per above.

Lets face facts. RL is a regional sport it is not soccer, and, although it,s not my preferred sport ie soccer we need to be realistic.

We have the same potential as 4 clubs currently in Non relegation League and I,m not talking about Harlequins or Celtic Crusaders. One of those clubs is currently second in that league.

For professional sport to prosper, even a regional sport, you have to give every team the opportunity to reach the top level. Franchising cannot and will never, achieve this.

Demon.s point about the pittance paid by Sky to Championship clubs is spot on but the ignorant smug Saints fan,who is not typical, don,t have a clue about real RL.

amatuer club and convince their juniors to sign up

It's double standards all the time

I don't use them "selective examples" to use as backbone to what I think is right, or wrong. I use this example because as this has done to yourself, it makes me shake my head in disbelief (a bit of exagerated drama) when many on here do exactly the same thing (Cas v Wakey), with added sugar coating of how it works in football.




But RL is not a regional sport like it used to be. Its played up and down the country, and Sky viewing figures show there is interest. We all got introduced to the game one way or other. The future generations outside the heartlands of RL enthusiasts will thank us for it 20 years down the line - how many that will be who knows.


Widnes, and Halifax show more potential than us. We are no where near ready - not even for next franchises. Also don't agree we are better equipped than current SL clubs tbh apart from the stadium that is.


Every team should have possibility to achieve their potential. Its still there but we are a club of bellyachers at the moment. Everything seems to be we will sort things if given a chance of SL, instead of proving we are potential SL club now and making decisions as difficult as possible for the dynamic due in charge. We can't beat clubs like Celtic because whether people like it or not they are the future and add more to the comp because of location. We add just another team within 10 miles of the other 4 clubs clustered around us - so need to work extra hard.


We should get more money from Sky. But again its all about being given a chance to show Sky we deserve more. The games have been VGood - Bottom v Top last week proved that.

As you say we will never agree until the rule changes make the effect either way.

Burnleys thug following will drag football back decades and may cost England the 2018 world cup

Their ground is in the middle of a Victorian Coranation St style estate ( ala Glebe St ) with a rabbit warren of back alleys where their scum (not interesed in the match , just the fight ) fans wait to ambush visiting fans



The sooner they get relegated and take Hull City with them into Division 1 with their Millwall and Leeds brethren the better

Leigh Miners and Easts are the best aren't they - especially Miners (:winkicon_smile.gif. Put them clubs on Bridgends doorstep, and throw in a few SL clubs like W1gan/Wire/Saints. Then they don't need their own rules.
Junior development is beyond me as an outsider tbh. Mick Higham for example to some Leigh fans was developed by us and thats it. Surely a player progresses and gets better or worse as he goes along from school age right up to SL level. Doesn't matter if a player was playing dodge ball in jungle somewhere in Africa and was then taken on by a club to play RL then they have contributed to that player making progress surely - even if its a short period. Also to me postcodes don't mean anything either.
Regarding Leeds - I think you have a major gridge against them.

Millwall are my hated club - even more so than the Dark Side in Trafford



I remember Millwall fans going on rampage down Rusholme after one game against us. Their hooligans have given the club a bad name also.

to have

Also I have met Mr Hetherington , his opinion of Leigh Centurions and the lower leagues is not very complementary and in my opinion he carries far too much clout within the RFL

They also cheat on the pitch more than any other club

Sorry but your post doesn't answer my anger about the double standards applied to junior development

How long has there been a RL team playing from Leigh Miners ?, be they senior teams or junior

Would we have these teams so strong in junior development if there was not a Pro club in the town ?

Don't know what you mean exactly about double standards. I thought my exagerated example of the guy in Africa with great ball skills in Dodge ball was hinting that even if players had rugby skills and potential already - did Celtic make a contribution also ? I am assuming tho they represented Celtic and not a local amateur club.

Regarding your Pro team and Miners example, then surely this shows having a high profile team in the area does help in the long run.

The thread is getting tedious now (no offence against yourself of course

) tho I think. I think too many things are just being repeated from months ago.

For me it comes down to the RFL being embarressed that the sport is a largely played in the North.
A RL game is worth watching if its in Bridgend or Batley so long as its played to the same rules for all and everyone has the same chance of failure or success.

The Heartlands died a long time ago and doesn't really exist IMO, I'd love people where I live to know about RL (circa 10mins from a local lower league team, circa 50 mins to a host of SL teams) but they don't.
I here " expansion , expansion" is what's best by people at Redhall - even taking the game to expand in France but the game is still a minority sport in the UK with vast area's near to where you or I live not knowing anything about RL - a huge untapped audience ignored

.

Yes we should be alarmed at Leighs gates, but so should the RFL, Once old style clubs in what once was the RL "Heartlands" lose support then its time to start worrying, especially if support in the new clubs doesn't match expectations.
Mr Lewis seems to have a obsessive quest to overhaul Union in being a national sport, what he has compleltley missed is that Union knows its heartlands and largely looks after them as well as trying to expand , they know only a idiot bites off the hand that feeds them.

Bit like the Wire fans in our SL year.........