Quote: HXSparky "A very sensible and thought-provoking post, bramleyrhino (unlike the original that started this thread). What you say makes a lot of sense, but I'm not sure that the world at large will ever want to welcome the game we love with enough enthusiasm to make it work? It's not that we shouldn't try, but the game's administrators have demonstrated a large degree of ineptitude to be able to progress in any meaningful or strategic manner for many a year. Everything we do seems to be a knee-jerk based on who has a few pounds/dollars/euros to flash around.'"
Whilst I accept that previous expansion attempts have been, shall we say, flawed at best, I would argue that we really don't have much to lose as a sport if - and again, it's an IF - what we want from the sport is something akin to what I described in the post earlier. If what we want is something different, then there's a different approach to be discussed.
Sticking with what we know, sticking with a formula that we know doesn't appeal to new audiences, doesn't appeal to new sponsors and doesn't appeal to new advertisers, is only going to get us going backwards. People on here openly criticise the RFL for only pulling sponsors of the ilk of canned mushy peas, online bingo, Big Soup and bookies but look at where the game is played - those are the prominent businesses in many of the towns that the game is strong in. The RFL can only sell the audiences that the club's provide.
Quote: HXSparky "
I still maintain (and I've said this before) that expansion and licensing is the bees knees for many fans... just so long as "your" team is included in the party. What would a poll of all SL fans be if the question was whether they supported licensing or not if their own team was deprived a licence? An easy response here of course would be "of course we'd be in support", but if it was for real...?
As an example, if we take expansionism to it's extreme, let's assume that West Yorkshire has just one licence in the new world order of rugby league. Given recent history, the RFL may decide that Odsal is where the West Yorkshire team should play. Would Cas, Leeds, Wakey and Huddersfield fans all be happy to abandon their team to trek over to Bradford? I think not.'"
I accept that some people will look at the team I support and say "well it's easy for you to say that...." I'd fully expect Leeds to get a franchise in an expanded league.
But again, I bring it back to my original "wants" from this sport and to continue to take your scenario to its extremes, what if a West Yorkshire franchise at Odsal meant that I could see the next Cameron Smith or Jonathan Thurston, in a new and redeveloped stadium, competing against other high quality players in high intensity, competitive games? I don't think that would be the worst thing in the world, to be brutally honest. Yes, I have an affinity to Leeds, but it's not some sort of tribal fervor. If the future of the game [iwas [/isuch an extreme (I don't necessarily think it is or has to be), but that is what it offered in return, I'd probably be prepared to make that six mile "trek" in order to see that.
The reason I prefer licencing to on-field P&R is simply because it puts a bigger focus on commercial failings and, at this particular juncture, I think that's the biggest danger that the sport faces. We don't have the foundations there yet to build a thriving sport based on a P&R model and, so far at least, there's not really enormous evidence that suggests that it brings us any added interest in terms of supporters in stadiums. Additionally, franchising doesn't necessarily mean the end to smaller town clubs in the top competition. There are models which can allow smaller clubs to compete with with bigger clubs competitively but I accept that these models would probably make it harder for these clubs to still be clustered closely together.
The RFL's gets called out for its marketing of the game, sometimes fairly, but I have always maintained that the biggest responsibility for marketing the sport lies with the clubs. They're the primary point of consumption, they're the people who engage with the audience more than anyone else, and they know their local markets better than anyone else. The marketing tactics and proposition that will work with an audience in Leeds may not necessarily work with an audience in Widnes, and that's why the club's carry the biggest responsibility - they should know who they are talking to, what those people want, and they should be actively going to get them.
The RFL is responsible for marketing the sport on a wider and on a largely commercial level, but what it is selling is nothing more than "access to an audience". If the club's are providing an audience that is difficult to sell, then the fault lies with the clubs - we can't keep using Nigel Wood and his team as a convenient lightning rod.
