A very sad day for RL in England. www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/rf ... -blackpool I think this should be the alarm bell that forces the governing body and its member clubs outside SL to sitdown and come up with a sensible workable solutions to what is happening to RL outside of expansion areas and SL.

A very sad day for RL in England. www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/rf ... -blackpool I think this should be the alarm bell that forces the governing body and its member clubs outside SL to sitdown and come up with a sensible workable solutions to what is happening to RL outside of expansion areas and SL.

very sad day in my opinion the rfl should hang there heads in shame

Whats it got to do with the RFL?? They were paying big money to players yet had no fans it doesn't take a genius to work out that they couldn't do that forever!

& for the crusaders?

I feel sorry for the players ,i believe Mort was supposed to be going their

Much as the RFL are not my favourites , there is only 2 ways that a pro,semi pro club can continue to operate

They either have a single benefactor willing to finance them , ie they are a charity

They have enough paying supporters/fans to finance them , ie a business

The only real criticism that could be leveled at the RFL is that they seem to be far too happy to have a lot more charities than businesses as RL clubs playing in their competitions

Wasn't the salary cap & regular monitoring of clubs finances brought in to stop this sort of thing happening? As you say, it doesn't take a genius to see what was happening - did the RL not ask questions?
Often wondered how Swinton manage it every year.

Very sad, you have to feel sorry for the loyal fans that they have.

BLACKPOOL ARE THE ONLY CLUB EVER TO DO THAT !!!

Shame they fail to help Blackpool but Crusadersj will be given a third chance

What help in particular? A big bag of money? Won't every other Championship club want the same bag of money from the RFL?

Blackpool were never viable as a RL club because they have no fan base. I realise they had a few loyalists but they would never draw more than 400 tops. Swinton might do better for crowds moving to the Willows this coming season but I fear they have been out of Swinton too long.

A serious problem for the Championship is that there will now be only 10 Champ 1 clubs next season which for most means 11 home games a season and a possible home tie in the Challenge Cup. They could have a season over in 12 weeks which does not seem sensible or viable to me.

11 Teams is 9 home games frank

Of course it is but they have two home games in the NRC preliminary rounds.

Expect a change in the format to give everybody an extra match

The RFL has done everything possible to ensure the continuing involvement of Blackpool Panthers in Co-operative Championship One and we had every hope that a credible plan would be presented.

change the name to BLACKPOOL....CRUSADERS...FULHAM...BRONCOS...HARLEQUINS..and move to south wales now that should do it

If you love rugby league, which we all do on this forum then indeed the demise of any club is a sad day. However clubs will have to learn the hard way that chucking money around you have not got can only last for so long before it catches up with you.

It is no surprise that the main instigator of Blackpool's demise is the same person who started the rot at Leigh in the eighties... Bobby Hope! This guy should not be allowed near any sporting organisation ever again!

Hmmmm I wonder how much is owed to AT in directors loans?
People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones

i dread to think fred,i really do.

Lets hope long may it continue with Arthur's support hopefully he's looking at aspirations of SL 2015 for us

Bring back Ando

If AT asks for his loans back then the club goes pop, a new club is formed and we carry on.

We can do this because we have a big enough RL fanbase, Blackpool dont.

We carry on in what League though, fan base is pretty poor now and would be even poorer in Division 1.

We carry on, Widnes got a 9pt deduction didnt they? A few years on its SL time. Dont get me wrong I appreciate the finance AT makes available to the club and hope he stays forever, but I am sure he will be the first to say the club is bigger than any of us.