Quote: Wellsy13 "Impossible question to answer without Toulouse being in the league.
I can only go by comparing Cas to Catalans, and IMO Catalans have by far the better French players than Cas do local English players.
Also, if Cas weren't in SL, there would still be 6 other local SL clubs around to sign up the local talent into their academies. Cas aren't exactly essential to the production of players in that area when there are that many clubs on the doorstep. They'd still come up through somewhere if they were good enough (and looking through the list if Cas products in their squad, some are clearly not SL quality).
Catalans may sign up the occasional player from Toulouse, but it's a huge distance away (equivalent of Hull to Liverpool). It's a huge barrier to development. They could produce many if their own players in that area for sure, and that's without wishing for union converts (which I don't think anyone should count on happening).'"
Without a S.L club on their doorstep the kids would soon lose interest in the sport in the long term. There hasn't been a Cumbrian team in the top flight for a while...so compare the number of Cumbrians playing in S.L now to what it was 20 years ago....go on name them!
Talk about a "never mind you Jack" attitude...mind you have signed plenty from my district over the past 30 years (and continue to do so) not bad from the supposed hot bed of Humberside is it?.
