I really don't like what has happened to scrums, it should be a way to restart the game with a genuine contest. It's now a method to generate a penalty and potentially points.

There are some things you could do, but non of it really matters while most referees don't understand what is actually happening.

Perhaps if they had differential penalties from scrums and you couldn't kick for goal following and infringement?

I don't really know who the Falcons fans are, but from my experience they are not all NUFC / Toon Tiddlywinks fans. I know maybe 20 football season ticket holders but none who go to the rugby.

Similarly, Gateshead Thunder aren't turning people away and the basketball and ice hockey teams have loyal (but not overflowing) crowds. I think the 'en masse automatic attendance' at the football in Newcastle is based on the stories you were told as a youngster (whether by family members or others) of the older players; you are unconsciously exposed to the history and culture by those around you thus despite your relative youth you have a longer history in a sense because you know about the players that were long-retired before you were born!

Newcastle does have its more well-off areas with bigger houses and because it is noticeably cheaper there even in contrast to Leeds, if you have wealth it will take you further in the North East. I guess I wonder if a decent chunk of RU fans are from the more typically privileged backgrounds for whom RU was the everyday sport.

Has Newcastle ever had RU presence before that?

Just to be pedantic & in the interests of accuracy, you've been on here Toulon.

Weren't the Falcons effectively just Gosforth, but rebranded with the Hall family money behind them in the outset?

John Hall was attempting to create a Newcastle 'brand' across different sports in the area - I was only about 9-10 at the time but remember it being on the local news - he bought and rebranded Gosforth Rugby as the Newcastle Falcons in 1996 and had done the same with the Durham Wasps in 95 which I was devastated about as I had recently got in to hockey and being from Durham, the ice hockey team was something everyone was proud of.

Anyway, he took over and rebranded Gosforth Rugby and Durham ice hockey as the Newcastle Falcons and Cobras respectively.

He did a lot of good and boosted the profile and success of sport in the North East through almost tying it up together as 'different branches of the same tree' though the Wasps in particular were too famous and I think he would have been better just investing in them to keep them solvent.

'Tales from a north-eastern boy'; coming to your local book store in time for Christmas 2014!

Wasn't there a BBL Basketball team as well, Newcastle Eagles?

Yeah there was and is the Eagles as well. I decided not to mention them for fear of becoming too detailed in my reply, but he took over / invested in them as well. They were already in Newcastle though. As were Newcastle United, obviously.

My old stomping ground, so you're in Cullercoats then ?

I could think of worse places to be, I used to live in The Queens pub right on the headland as you drive into W/Bay, its now boarded up and possibly demolished now, I also almost bought an apartment on top of the cliff that overlooked Long Sands at Tynemouth, like a fool I didn't, can you imagine what it would be worth now ?

We still discuss the possibility of moving back to Tynemouth now and again, but then I'd have to learn the language all over again and at my age I'm not sure I'm up to it bonny la-ad.

Yep, to the total digust of many of the old boys there, I also think that Northern went at the same time too, or maybe they still exist, not sure.

What Jamie101 has written is pretty much a summary of John Halls attempt to nail down a Newcastle brand across different sports although why he chose Durham Wasps when he had Whitley Bay on its knees at the time I don't know, maybe he thought they were dead in the water already.

But again, what they did at the Falcons is pretty much what Caddick did at Leeds, and all at the same time, it worked in Newcastle because I suspect the brand appealed, but its failed in Leeds because...well no-one knows why really.

Being a 9 year old boy from Durham who had just got into Ice Hockey in a massive way (thus a lovely blend of interested and ignorant to the the outside issues) the Wasps were losing money and there was something up with the ice rink in Durham (it was either coming to the end of a lease or needed redeveloping or something) and I think he chose Durham because the Wasps were one of the best teams in the late 80s / early 90s; he was trying to catch a giant that had stumbled over.

Problem was that many Wasps fans didn't follow the Vipers to Newcastle and the Vipers have never been that massive.

I can only assume that because Whitley Warriors weren't at the same level Durham was the more attractive option.

Plus at that exact time, Newcastle United trained at Maiden Castle on the outskirts of Dutham city centre and used to have hundreds of fans going to watch them (thousands in the school summer holidays) - I think he was probably trying to cash in on that.

Anyway, that is all for this chapter!

Just p1ssed myself off now Loz, look at this rlhttp://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-47596406.htmlrl.

That apartment is in almost exactly the location that I viewed one in 1982, if anything the one I looked at was closer to the end of the terrace and so closer to the sea.

I could have had it for £10,000.

The reason pro union fails in Leeds as much as anything is probably related to the existence of Rugby League. Although there are plenty of closed-minded types, a lot of people are happy to be involved in union whilst watching Leeds RLFC - who are, after all, a relatively middle class club compared to most of their SL brethren. Plus, like it or not, watching Leeds RUFC play at Headingley is generally a less invigorating experience than watching Leeds RL - it can be a windy and atmosphere-less place with 3,000 inside and most locals will probably have seen the ground's owners play there at some stage. That comparison is always going to be difficult, not least if you're trying to attract the kids.

Add on the fact that folk who really wanted to watch club union probably already had their chosen local side and that the proportion of people who want to watch pro sport which isn't football is surely limited and you're left with where they are.

IIRC Durham's council-owned rink was earmarked for demolition and they were haemorrhaging money in a big way in any case.