Quote: DGM "Exactly.
I imagine Wakey & Widnes would both see making the top8 as reasonably successful, and despite the dead rubber matches, using the matches/time in the right way should help provide a platform for an even better 2017.'"
But that isnt interesting to anyone is it. thats one of the reasons Wakefield and Widnes struggle for crowds. Its 26 years since Widnes won a major comp, Wakefield have a yorkshire cup in 42 years. Pretending that being 8th after 23 rounds is not going to be mistaken for success by anyone.
We can't just keep setting our sights lower to pretend this is a success or even moving towards what we need to be a success.
Years ago, we looked at what other sports had done to move forward and we decided for ourselves what success looked like. It looked like competitive fully pro clubs, playing in front of 5 figure crowds, in facilities that befit a fully pro sport, with investment in to youth development and sports science, a thriving and vibrant international game, expanding to new areas, creating new player pools and growing the game. an expanded international club game, blue chip sponsors. We looked at that and said this is what success is, and it was ambitious and it was difficult but that is the standard the sport held itself to.
Now? Well post world cup we managed to go 2 years without a home test, we have been knocked from pillar to post in the WCC and have pretty much given up trying to be competitive in it, some clubs dont even bother with academies any more, and there is a good chance that next year Wakefield will playing in SL in a stadium with 900 seats and 5k total capacity. London are playing in a 3rd tier RU ground that holds 3k, crowds we were promised would rise have gone down, we havent reached last years sell out target never mind this years, have a league structure that has meant of 3 divisions, the teams finishing top of the 2nd and 3rd tier lost a total of 1 game between them.
Yeah if we give up any ambition for the game, any hope of making it sustainable let alone the heady heights of growth, if we ignore that results that were a cause for concern previously are now worse, we can pretend that a 6k crowd is something to be celebrated and that everything is hunky dory because a very small minority of clubs get a relatively small boost from a few isolated fixtures whilst everything else falls apart.