Quote: bramleyrhino "1. The Dragons have an average attendance that is better than most 'heartland' clubs. Judging their support on the basis of how many fans can find the disposable income for an August Bank Holiday trip to Wembley is hardly representative.
2. Where was this ever publicised as a reason for introducing a French club to SL? Making Catalans somehow 'responsible' for the success of the National Team is like saying Warrington is a waste of time because the England team hasn't beaten Australia.
Catalans are not the FFRXIII. They don't run the national team they don't employ idiots like Bobby Goulding as coach and they physically can't be responsible for the development of a whole country's talent (if we're holding them to that standard, then we should hold other clubs to that standard - and Julie Burgess uterus is performing better than most SL clubs at contributing talent to the national team).
Why do fans in the heartlands struggle to see Calatans for what they really are - a club in their own right?'"
A flight from south France to London is a similar price to a train ticket from northern England to London, so no excuses for the pitiful support they brought to the biggest match in their history, it just shows that in reality the Dragons have not increased French support of the game any more than it was in 2006 when they entered the league.
I'm sure if you can be bothered to dig out all the rfl statements when they introduced Catalan to SL (I can't), you will find that the French national team was a major reason. Similar to the introduction of NZ warriors to the NRL, the idea is to expose players to a higher standard of play. The problem is, that while NZ Warriors tend to promote tonnes of local players, Catalan would much prefer to buy Aussies.
So again, what exactly have Catalan achieved? If you view them as an expansion project they have failed. If you view them as a club just like any other, then they have been moderately successful, but why does it make a difference if it is them or Leigh or whoever in the league?
HOW MANY TIMES?????
£20 a ticket and £15 on beer and merchandise.....so an away fan is worth £35. At best, 1,000 is the average away support split across 11 rounds and I am being really generous here, so Toronto, replacing say Wakefield will cost a SL club £35,000.
The minimum turnover of a SL club is £4,000,000 so Toronto instead of Widnes is worth less than 1% of a SL clubs turnover.
There are many valid reasons for and against expansion into America, but "AWAY FANS" isn't one of them. 
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