Quote: bramleyrhino ""to build on the progress rugby league is making in Wales" hardly seems like MW is being used as a vehicle for some form of aggressive expansion policy. At the time, Celtic Crusaders were establishing themselves in Wales, but there's not a single suggestion that MW was designed to turn them or any other club into some form of huge 'Super Club'. The big reason we went to Cardiff was a £1m cheque from the Welsh Tourism Board.
And that comment is more than ten years ago. We've moved on and, importantly, so has the concept of MW.'"
You say that "We've moved on and, importantly, so has the concept of MW".
I'd suggest that the opposite is true.
Back then there was a plan to expand the game into new areas and attract new fans.
At the time The Crusaders were a SL club, trying to grow their support base and whilst you could argue that we are trying to establish the sport in Newcastle and the North East, Wales was a far more exciting prospect but, like so many other ideas, it has been allowed to, all but, wither and die.
#with the benefit of hindsight, maybe the £1million should have been used to prop up and grow RL in Wales and what we may have had now, if that had happened ??
MW has just become a cash generator for the RFL and we shouldn't kid ourselves that it is anything other than this.
Btw, I'm not knocking the event in itself, just its flawed aims.