Buried in his statement about needing to keep Bradford in SL Eamonn McManus had the following:
'The game, with hindsight, has possibly expended too much resource and time attempting to take it to new areas and to fans who have shown some reluctance to support in numbers.'
Less than eighteen months to the start of the next franchise bunfight.

Scouse buck toothed get.

Its that last minute try scored in scouseland by the French that cost the coach his job that has annoyed him.

More ostrich thinking from M62 land. What next CC final played at OT and a moat south of the M62! We'll show 'em next season, or in Saints case sooner than that!

Anyone that can eat an apple through a tennis racquet does not deserve to be listened to.

His he talking about bulls fans then not turning up in numbers or stains fans not going to Widnes?

Said this a few days ago with McManus! it is all over the local paper today, how Bradford Bulls have to assured of a Super League place, regardless of what some Super League Clubs may think!!!

Obviously he is not worried about the successful expansion south to Catalan. He is clearly more concerned with the East and West expansion of Super League which hasn't garnered the same level of development in Hull KR and Widnes.

So what was the concern?

Hmmm....
The only cause for concern for this idiot should be the number of away fans that we don't bring to his new stadium. Other than that, our attendances are a concern for DH and the RFL as well as a few select fans



Out of interest, let's say across the board, 1,500 is the average number of fans that visit St Helens to watch their team....20 quid on the door, is 30,000 in revenue. 60k in lost revenue a year because of Catalans and London Broncos.......from a turn over in excess of 6 million....that's 1% if his turn over.

I sometimes think that some of these northern chairmen whinge for the sake of it.......Halifax and Fev replacing us and the French would generate a few extra notes..........but I doubt the TV deal from "look north" might be slighly less than SKY pay currently

and the media in London could ignore the sport even more than they already do...if that's actually possible.

Sounds like most SLE teams seem prepared to cut Bulls lose.

But would that be if the current version goes into liquidation and a "phoenix" club takes it place? Or even if the current set up can be salvaged??

I suspect as with these things there is only half truths, speculation and rumours.

As for the expansion comment, the RFL were given a lot of public monies with a remit to expand the game beyond it's traditional boundaries. Much to the annoyance of many a flatcapper commentator, administrator and fan.

God knows their reaction if a CCF or GF where to have both SL "expansionist" clubs contesting "their final". Cue outrage and boxes of crayons on paper to Rugby League Express letters page lamenting to end of their sport.

[url=http://www.code13rugbyleague.com/2012/08/24/northampton-rebels-withdraw-from-championship-1-entry/Maybe he's right...................[/url

Or maybe he is wrong - Howard of Effingham school from Surrey beat Castleford Academy in the Y7 schools final! To develop the game in the South we just need to be smarter. Look at Hemel, Medway and the Skolars, it can be done as long as it is not a quick fix and achievable goals can be obtained. Use what resources you have sensibly and build roots and networks with local businesses, communities and the press.

Get in!!

That'll learn those flatcappers you don't need years of heritage and breed "RL playing only" players to win things.

Well done fella's.

Yeah that is a great achievement. Think they only started playing RL last year.

Expansion is important, but more important is successful expansion, non wasteful expansion

We have little enough money to start with, so chucking it down the drain of underfunded , badly planned ' whims' is not the best idea, maybe thats what Mr Mc Manus was meaning

it was a good result for that school as castleford schools seem to dominate schools rugby so well done and for what its worth i would put another french team in SL before any northern team

SL wasnt the subject under discussion, as for schools, few play the sport around here, its all club RL now

This is the problem though. The RFL is not a smart organisation. It is amateurish and remains the stumbling block to the development of the sport.


Exactly. I thought that was the idea behind the C1 expansion plans of the RFL and then up they popped with the Northampton concept. I shouldn't have been surprised really given the RFL's inability to learn from its own (frequent) mistakes.

I would just like to distance myself from the little negative comment made by my club's chairman (I have expressed my opinion on the Saints board also). Not all Saints fans agree with him although obviously some do (and there is a contingent in all the fanbases of northern clubs who do).

And I was thrilled to learn about Howard of Effingham. Cas has dominated the schools scene for years. I have no idea how they manage it given that their Superleague side is middling at best but they certainly produce the school age players. To beat a Cas school AND at Wembley AND after only playing league for a year is a tremendous achievement. Well done to them.

Around where exactly? Loads of schools play it here in St Helens as they do in Wigan and Warrington. In St Helens we have a schools competition each year, the finals of which are always played at Saints.

Quite funny really. A load of Union players who openly have little interest in League win the national Year 7's. Ouch for Rugby League.

Good luck to them I say. Any Southern school beating a Northern one at their own game is fine by me.

Not many in Leigh and I have seen scholarship lads from pro clubs refusing to play for their school teams citing instructions from the clubs coaches

it's a good job I am not known for winding-up some of the more insecure posters on here.......I'd have a field day with that

Feel free. That post is full of facts that you cannot dispute. In many ways, heralding that result as a success is awful for Rugby League in general.

Howard of Effingham has a partner school, Thomas Knyvett, that's a mile or so away from Feltham Community School (where Olsi and others started). If this win results in Thomas Knyvett being as good at RL as well, then we have a nice RL schools community growing around North West Surrey/South East Middlesex: Elmbridge, Feltham and HoE Thomas Knyvett .

You could throw Staines Titans in that group as well. The Heathrow Heartlands commeth