Lets just cut to the Chase, Nigel Wood and Richard Lewis are going to run profesional Rugby League in England into the ground, and nobody will stop them.
They can market it all they want and talk about potential growth, opportunities, dynamic strageties... The bottom line is they need the customer to buy into it. The Franchise system makes us look stupid, were not looking after homegrown talent, we have 2 berks on tv spouting the same 'better and better' nonsense, when we can clearly see crowds are leaving and the gap between the Southern Hemisphere and us is widening. The question is when will fans start to really lobby the SL and make known the displeasure with the mess they are making of our once fine and dignified sport...

The only people i know to genuinely complain were Leigh, my only hope is that they mess it up just as bad this time and people really wake up to the stupidity.

I would like to be serious a bit In June 1999 when looking at the impact of BSkyB on Sport the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport (yep MP's) recieved a report from Memorandum submitted by Chris Gratton and Lisa Ann O'Keeffe of the Leisure Industries Research Centre on Rugby League which conclusion made the following points...



This decline in attendance figures and the number of people actually watching the sport on television highlights potential problems for the futureits future seems precarious.

--------They were proved correct (this also had not considered how profesional Union will impact) and the key message has been lost in time. When a club attracts only 15/20% of the atendance of the larger clubs and has no "sugar daddy" it has no voice. In 1948 two of the top five spectator sports were (Greyhound Racing and speedway) League great sport as it is, is in decline and will find its own level as a minority intrest sport (Horse racing as a live event is in similar trouble).

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... field.html wakey saying their ground ready for 2012 season if get franchise n ground not ready do they get booted out? doubt it, will be given 3 extra years to get ready.

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... field.html wakey saying their ground ready for 2012 season if get franchise n ground not ready do they get booted out? doubt it, will be given 3 extra years to get ready.

But we are being told that attendances have increased compared to the 1980's. Is this not true?

Attendance numbers are difficult to compare as the structure has changed and the RFL has “magic weekend” which makes it difficult. But the often quoted increase at top level is correct, but reverse at lower level

2009
Super League – 202 Games – average 9336, total 1,792,536 (ignores Magic)
Nat 1 – 116 games – average 1872, total 217, 165 (ignores Grand Final)
Nat 2 – impossible to get accurate figures due to gate “rounding” and non returns

1980-81
First Division – 240 games – average 5110, total 1,226,428
Second Div – 210 games – average 2005, total 420,994
So at Super League level it looks like physical attendance has increased – I have no idea on TV audience

For info Halifax attendance averages (random selection) - I think best recent year was late 1980's but Andrew wll know for sure
1976/7 1,429 – div 2
1980/81 4,090 – div 1
1982/83 2,270 – div 1
1991/92 7,181 – div 1
1994/95 5,600 – div 1
2001/02 4,832 - super
2008 1,999 – Nat 1

The problem with the RFL is they are not forthcoming with any information. The question is, why is this information released into the public domain a few months before the event? Why wasn't the information released the day that Franchising was announced the last time. Such as, these are the teams that have gained a franchise. For the next franchise round teams in the championship will have to do these things in order to qualify. Teams in the Super League will need to meet these criteria. Instead you get a rule here and there and you tend to try and fill in the blanks. that way there is no he said/she said or thought of underhand dealings. Everyone knows the rules from the outset and can deal with them accordingly.

Also the RFL are also a tight lipped on anything financial to do with the sport. If i wanted to know anything about a football prize fund i can go to The FA website and find the prize breakdown for the FA Cup (rlcan be found hererl). You cannot get anything like this with the RFL. Everything is kept secret. Just remember back to our game with Castleford in the Cup last year. The rule book actually never mentioned Golden point in the published rules, but the next day the RFL had ammended them to include the actual rule. Now the rule probably did exist, but that is poor management to say the least. No one in the stadium for a bit had a clue what was going on.

The sport will never gain any major interest while their is a lack of transparency. From both the clubs and the rule makers.

The only reason Sky show the championship games is because they didn't want anyone else showing rugby. As Eurosport tried (rlreport hererl) to show the games a few years back but sky blocked the deal because they didn't want to release their rights to show the Grand Final. So obviously Eurosport were not as interested if they didn't get the main event at the end.

All these things add up to show how closed a shop it is in Super League, red Hall and Sky.

I ask you, who really cares about Championship rugby except the fans of championship rugby teams???

Therein lies the problem. Do the RFL really care about this outcome?

Since licensing was introduced haven't SL crowds dropped? I know from my own research that currently 9 of the 14 SL clubs attendances are down, 3 of those have quite significant drops, only Wire and Crusaders (using Celtic) crowds are up significantly. Like for like attendances in SL are currently down 1.8%. With no relegation battles due I expect that will not get back into the black before the end of the regular season.

Top 12 playoff system is the answer

Not only do the RFL not actually care about this situation , they want it to continue , they see the purpose of the heartland clubs is to provide a training academy for potential new SL expansion clubs , and now somewhere for SL clubs to keep players fit , nothing more

I have been pointing this out for several years now , they do not want us to increase our crowds or our ' earned ' income , they want us to remain on the breadline , on the edge of oblivion

That way we are easy to control

The only way anything can change is for the clubs to sit down together with a blank piece of paper and start to work together

What are the odds though? Serious question, is that ever likely to happen/will anyone be brave enough to initiate it?

Don't buy in to the Dual Contract system, or loan system. In fact do not take any players from SL clubs, unless they are signing permanently. I know this may cause some lower league clubs a problem or two, but its time to cut the cloth accordingly and the players are just going to have to accept it.

If they can't lend or loan then the SL clubs have to pay them for sitting in the stands. If they won't pay them, then they will come into the championship of there own free will and that in turn will improve it. Is that too simplistic?

I used to watch as much Rugby League as i could. Now I watch Fax-and even then I do not have the same passion as the past. SL games are poor. But the RFL believe the game is healthy because SL Clubs announce record crowds. Yet Wakey, Crusaders, Quins, Hull KR etc are near to broke. Lets spread the game at any cost is the belief of Lewis and Wood-forgetting you need to have proper foundations for that to happen.

The game is in a mess below SL. The prognosis is that the Championship clubs will be forced to become feeder clubs or die off. IF Fax become a feeder club then I have no interest. I doubt I am alone in thinking that. I am proud of Fax and of what we as a club do now and what we have achieved in the past. But the people ruining our game have no respect for our heritage or that of Barrow, Leigh, Batley, Hunslet etc. They just want a SL with the rest as feeder clubs making it look like Bradford, Huddersfield, Crusaders, Quins etc asre well run clubs with great strength in depth and that England can actually beat Australia rather than the joke they are and have been for a while.

The RFL make things fit what they and Sky want. We have Wood and Lewis making up things and going back on their word. We see the same clubs at the top as 3 years ago. We see the same clubs struggling as 3 years ago. We see the same attitude in signing Aussies instead of bringing Youth through. We have the RFL playing Internationals on the same day as England Soccer in a World Cup in a small stadium in Northern England (Sorry Leigh fans). We see the game getting less and less exposure in the media. So please tell me what the hell Franchising is supposed to be bringing to the game? The RFL are forcing me and other fans away from the sport we love to follow.

Toulouse are run like a joke. They do not deserve to even be in the championship let alone considered for SL. That the RFL are still prepared to back them into Sl shows how way off reality the RFL are. The way the game is being run and ruined by Lewis, Wood and co I am not sure I will be following Professional Rugby League much longer.

Get signed up for the fans forum at the George , maybe the perfect place to vent your spleen