The problem is Damo that things have moved on considerably from the days of Leeds Parish Church etc.

Whilst it would be good to live in those days again and have somewhere like Leeds supporting five professional teams, those days are never going to come back.

To reverse the arguement somewhat, how many kids these days support soccer teams where they have no association where the team comes from what so ever. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United. My office is 40 miles away from where I live, in the days of Leeds Parish Church, the seaside is something you saw a couple of times in a lifetime if you were lucky. London might as well have been on the Moon and abroad was somewhere you went either to fight wars with it or to drop bombs on it. It is not so very long ago that many fans WALKED to away games at places like Dewsbury, Batley and Wakefield.

I just used Leeds Parish Church as one example. It’s a team that probably won’t come back, so I won’t fight they corner in this debate.

However two other cities in Sydney and London (considerably larger than Leeds I acknowledge) seem to manage to support many professional teams in their respective top sporting leagues whenever it’s the NRL or Premier League.

It’d be hard work to bring the good old days back to Leeds, but it’s certainly more achievable than what the RFL is doing now with the likes of Crusaders and Harlequins.



I agree that many kids of today support soccer teams where they have no association where the team comes from what so ever. To make this rugby league relevant, there are a lot of people who support Leeds Rhinos despite not coming from Leeds. These Leeds Rhinos fans throughout England are far and plenty between. We even have some Leeds Rhinos fans on this board from other parts of this country and you should ask how many rugby league fans are they in their area - If it’s away from the ‘heartlands’ that is.

The same is with football clubs. They’ll be plenty of Leeds United fans scattered throughout the country. But the reality is that there’s less popular clubs than Leeds United in the Premier league. Wigan Athletic is an example.

The point I’m getting across is that if having so many top flight clubs based in one cit has worked for the NRL and Premier League, then who’s to say that it won’t work for super league?

Hand on Heart, If Rugby League had the right financial management throughout Leeds; I think that we’d be more than capable of holding a number of top flight clubs in this city for super league. Just look at how money (managed the right way) improved the professional game in Hull.

It’ll never happen though.

Damo soccer in London and RL in Sydney work because of three reasons - firstly it is the no 1 sport in each city - Melbourne supports more rules sides and gets far bigger attendances than RL does in Sydney.

Secondly the geographical spread is significantly larger than would be possible in Leeds the distance between Manly in the North and Cronulla in the south is approximately 45 miles so mid Leeds to other side of Manchester

Thirdly the available footfall - Sydney has a population of 4.5m+, London close to double that - Leeds has a population of <10% of London?

Get Chris Morris to direct it - then the players could wear some very interesting padding to boot!!!

I wouldn't want any players from Wakey really, however I wouldn't mind seeing us loan out a few of our U20s to them to gain some first team experience.

I thought Manchester was part of Leeds now. According to the Leeds CEO, Kallum Watkins is local and he's from there so I guess it must be.

Terrible what Huddersfield are doing ain't it, cos if we hadn't signed him the morally correct Leeds Rhinos wouldn't have !!!

What a joke, Leeds have been picking the bones of other teams for years but now you have other clubs on a level footing it all seems wrong.

It is sad what is happening to Wakefield, you would not know the feeling but we at Huddersfield do, the RFL should be ashamed allowing a club from the heartlands slowly die off while bending over backwards for some of the other teams.

Don't try to get all PC on us though cos if Obst and Ferguson hadn't signed for Hull and Huddersfield the Rhinos would have been sniffing round!!!

Tough you have missed out on another young talented Brit, whereas a few years down the line the Giants will be filled with em!!!

As for Wakey I hope all is resolved shortly and we can help by loaning some players ala last season.

Filled with what? Players other clubs have produced? Yeah actually you're right, they will be.

To be fair to the Giants haven't they produced Crabtree, Cudjoe, Lawrence & Patrick to name but 4 & there may be others?

Rumour has it Wakefields coaching staff have been sent home and made redundant. Under 18s and 20s sent home from training.

i posted in november the junior coaches hadn't been paid for 2 months.

My reliable source informs me that we made enquiries into the availibilty of Dale Ferguson and Aaron Murphy but it never went any further than that.

I listened to an interview by Andrew Glover on BBC radio leeds the other night regarding his proposed/verbally accepted take over bid

When he was questioned about the coaching staff, he replied that they would all continue in their posts

If what you are saying is true, then this man talks with forked tongue!

Missed a meeting about the takeover the other day apparently

Larne patrick certainly isnt a hudds product. came through bulls academy.