Widnes had a full time team as recently as what, four or five years ago?

It wasn't financially viable then, what's changed?

Even in the club's heyday of the 70s and 80s, they were struggling to attract what would now be considered "big" crowds to Naughton Park. So where are these extra fans going to come from that weren't around the last time they were in SL to make it a viable proposition again?

The ‘extra fans’ will be more difficult to find in a area that doesn’t even know there is another Rugby code than in a town where their friends and family already may have season tickets.


I believe that there is more security in our sport by nurturing its existing interest.

You believe the sports resources would be better spent looking into ‘untapped’ areas.

I think we could dance this dance all day so will have to agree to disagree.


[sizeBut I’m right.[/size

You ought to have a look at the dates some of the apparently heartland clubs were founded in.

Or indeed at how many clubs who switched to RL in it's early years fared.

Failing to expand is nonsense. It completely ignores the changing dynamics of rugby league's place in the sporting market.

Take out the Welsh folly, scrap the Catalans, ditch Harlequins. I wonder how that might effect bargaining power with Sky? Would they even be interested in a parochial little sport at all? What would happen to the amateur scene or youth development in these areas? How many talented youngsters from the heartlands would stick with a parochial, possibly un-publicised and bankrupt rugby league over a completely dominant rich rugby union?

The alternative to expansion is a relentless decline in playing standards, spectator levels and revenue to the point where professional RL would cease to exist.

If I may.

There is a school of thought that the Australians pump millions of dollars into the amateur game. I believe this to be true.

Question is who? The taxpayer? I doubt it. Industry, again I doubt it. The [iconsumer[/i, there you go.

But how?

Casinos, bars, hotels, cinema's etc, all owned and operated by the clubs.

So effectively the clubs have formed themselves into somewhere the consumer wants to spend both time and money. There is a community in these places. A sense of belonging, or a sense of ownership?

The player development is all part of that, people want to be part of the club because the club is their social life, their entertainment, not just in terms of RL but everything else that goes with it.

IF, one single RL club could get the planning permission for something like rlthisrl then maybe we could start about engaging the whole of the surrounding area in the experiment, make it the centre of everyones universe.

What have we got, the FAE? Come on. The problem isn't with the RFL it's with the games attitude to progress and development.

RU has got to where it is now largely thanks to the fact its played in nearly every school in the country, whereas League are only now starting to try and expand school participation.
It gets kids interested from a young age without having had to make an effort to go to a club.

As for RU having clubs having more teams, York RU when I used to play for them had 3 mens teams, a Cavaliers team, a Colts team, an U17 and god knows how many kids teams and in all the teams it seemed much friendlier and more approachable than the vast majority of RL clubs that I've been to.

If I could be @rsed to get up and play again I know which code it would be, and I would have much less chance of being involved in a fight, have a brick thrown at me or have some backward ex convict elbow me in the face.

...and there you have it.

There is very little option for communities in Oz. They don’t have a pub on every corner so the ONLY choices for social drinking they have is either picking a case of tinnys from the bottle shop or heading down to the local sports club – surfing, cricket or maybe their only ‘local’ just happens to be a RL clubhouse.

It’s just the way it is out there and as long as they have this evolved social culture we will never be able to compete on an international level.

Hypothetical prognosis indeed and the only way to test your theory would be to test it, i.e. get rid of Welsh and London teams (although I deliberately did not mention the French club as it sits in its own heartland) and concentrate on developing heartland clubs.

Although I do concede that there may be some pressure on the RFL to expand by its commercial sponsors although once again this is an assumption.

I don't know why sports bother to expand.

Its not like some of the European football giants sign players just to cash in on the potential from the Asian market is it now?

20 years ago, football in the likes of S.Korea, Japan and China was nowhere, but the right marketting has made it a huge money spinner.

There is no reason why RL can't do this on a smaller scale.

Having seen the effect RL has had on people from outside the heartland, I can say that expansion can work, but it won't happen overnight.

We get little to no national coverage as it is in the media, we go back to being a purely northern sport watch how quickly the southern based media dump RL even further down their priority lists.
The only way to get national recognition is to get a national side that wins trophies.
The only way to win trophies is to beat the Aussies.
The only way to beat the Aussies is to expand our player pool.
The only way to expand the player pool is to expand the game.

I'd say better utilise the game we have. For every player we secure at youth level theres generally another sat at home on the games console (either sex) Engage the parents in the club, we get both kids. Keep those kids engaged to adulthood, we get their kids too.

it's for the clubs that have the money at the top to do what it takes to be successful. When they have sufficient capital to support feeder clubs the money cascades. It's a simple model and it works in ARL and RU across the board. Question is, are any of the moeny men in the British game forward thinking enough to try it, and is the British RL fans willing to buy in?

Let's ask a question. If GH built an establishment such as the one in my link above. Would you use it exclusively knowing you were doing your bit for the club. (Open question to all those nearer to HQ)

Considering its location, I daresay it would be a student haven and as such probably very rarely empty.

I'd agree, but we have to expand as well simply to get the bigger national recognition, the media doesnt take note of anything until its going well in London or if the rest of the country are playing it.
If we simply stay as a sport around the M62 we'll never be taken seriously.

Ok let’s just get this right.

I’m not an anti- expansionist at all – I simply believe that the limited resources/income that the RFL have should be concentrated on an established market instead of unproven markets.

With unlimited finances I’d love to see RL as a national sport and love to see it played in every school in the country but as there is such strong competition in Football and RU I just think we’re setting ourselves up for a fall.

My last words on the matter, so there