I thought the ruling had been changed as of this season to players being 'federation trained' so they couldn't just be signed on an EU passport?

Thought that was the reason Henderson had to leave Cas & Rinaldi Quinns

Having an EU passport makes you exempt from the Federation trained ruling as does coming from a Kolpak nation or if a player has played for a team for 6 years..

Still not answered how can you on 200 or 300 fans afford them?

Backers.

How do you think Harlequins haven't sunk without trace?

Nowt wrong with backers.

Indeed , even councils

Backers. Money men. Yer Steve O'Connors and yer man from Wales - what's he called? Leighton Samuels. That type of person. A backer. How hard is that to comprehend?

It would appear that the RFL will pay for community staff, who conveniently double up as players for the club. I have no idea if its true, but it certainly sounds possible that Gateshead are profiting 1st by getting players paid for them, but also the quota sitiuation i.e. access to more funding and more players than the rest of the clubs.

It kind of reminds me of what was going on at Celtic - I'm not if it was a joke but someone did say last year that the address for the RFL community development in Wales wasThe Brewery Field, Bridgend - Wouldn't surprise me one bit if it was true. I wonder just how many past and present Celtic players have been paid for by RFL money in the name of community development? Could be zero, might be a lot, I don't think you'd get a straight answer if you asked the RFL would you?

Not brewery field

But it is based at at the same address as a co called Dekor uk , which as I'm sure many people know is Leighton Samuels company , Mr Samuels being the owner of Celtic Crusaders

I stand corrected and apologise for my insinuation

Who funds the trust ?

I do not have inside knowledge of Thunder's finances, I am just a fan but I would imagine that any business plan they have is based on more than gate receipts (the support of the club has been pretty constant for the last few years so the gates we have would not have come as a surprise).
As well as the sponsors we have the club is heavily indebted to Steve and Sarah Garside who have put a lot of their own cash into the club and continue to do so. Without their input Thunder probably would not have survived and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude.
As to players wages, I have no idea how much they are paid but we have a mix of full time and part time staff who I would assume are paid accordingly. May explain why Thunder may be able to afford ex-NRL players