I'm a new membern of the mb but have been reading it for years, and I have to say that I agree with starbug. Things don't look good for the championship clubs this season. There is nothing to get excited about for most clubs, and how many people do the rfl think are going to go looking for the thursday night games and 'happen' upon pay per view, more to the point in a stressed economical situation how many people do they expect to pay for each game?

People watch the thursday night fixtures because they ALREADY have sky sports and its a taster for the SL games etc, we both work full time and our one luxury is sky sports, there is no way we would pay extra to watch championship games if it wasn't our team playing, and for at least the next three years they won't be.

So, I honestly can't see the pay per view working. I can see it being dropped after next season.

Which leaves all clubs under SL vulnerable, because with no exploitation of the game at lower level it will impact on people wanting to join at amateur level.

The rfl have made a right mess I can't see getting fixed any time soon.

How would you know how many away fans turn up at Gateshead?

Gateshead might get more fans if they were competitive but in the meantime they need as many fans through the turnstiles as they can get, the same as all the clubs in that division.

I wouldn't know, but I would assume they get very little, especially as your own argument seems to be based on the fact that away fans are unlikely to travel very far outside of their own region in great number. I'm not really sure what you are trying to get at here, or what relevance this has to any of the new teams?

Gateshead isn't as hard to get to for Yorkshire based folk as say Cumbria let alone Wales or London. I haven't ever personally been there so can't talk first hand about how many of the supporters were away fans but I have seen Gateshead turn up at Keighley. They brought more fans with them than it would have expected, far more than Skolars do (think I've only ever heard the one chap shout for Skolars).

Workington and Whitehaven were part of Cumberland until then as well.
Cumbria didn't exist as a county until 1974.
People from the south of the county are every bit as much 'Cumbrian' as those from the West.

Sheffield are probably the only 'new' British pro RL team to make a go of it in the last 50 years - and even they merged, went bust and were re-admitted into the pro ranks.

Quite.

The word "Cumbria" predates Cumberland by centuries. It was the name of the Celtic kingdom that took in today's Cumbria and crossed the border into Strathclyde. It lasted until the 11th century.

It is unnecessarily pedantic to point out that Barrow wasn't part of the county of Cumbria until 1974. The Barrow (and Furness) area had been associated with Cumberland and Westmorland for some time.