Leeds 16-Toronto 17. Who's ready for Super League?

Quote: bramleyrhino "I'm not undoing any argument. I'm simply saying that if you're going to hold one club to performance a metric that is beyond their control, you need to hold all clubs to performance metrics beyond their control, rather than using this absurd double standard to judge Catalans.

The reality that you ignore is that Catalans are responsible for two failing clubs coming together to create one that is performing on the field and attracting gates that surpass many clubs in the heartlands, and that youth participation has increased in France since their introduction into SL. I ask you again; what more do you want them to achieve to be considered successful in their own right?

As for your last comment, the whole "why are some clubs more valuable than others?" thing comes down to commercial potential. How many potential sponsors are sat in meetings going "you know what? Featherstone is a real growth market for us!"? There is your answer. Sponsors and broadcasters, the people we need to attract to get more money into this sport, don't give a stuff about deprived former mining towns with 17,000 living in them.

You can decry that all you like and say that the only thing that should matter is what is on the pitch (ignoring that Fev have been nowhere near qualifying for SL since the switch to Summer) , but then you've no right to complain when this sport continues its decline and can only manage sponsorships from tinned mushy pea brands and payday loan sharks.'"

I am just pointing out that Catalan in over 10 years in the top flight has failed in two of the major objectives of putting a team in France in the first place. I never said they have failed completely and are a solid SL club by anyones standard, but they do not prove that expansion teams are the holy grail.

I don't think the name of the club matters at all, if sponsors are not interested in Fev then why should they be interested in Everton or Tottenham say, why not pump all their money into Birmingham City or Leeds United for that matter?

By your logic Paris should have been a huge success, and short term you may get a sponsorship boost from putting a team in Toronto, but so would you for putting a team in Madrid or Amsterdam or Berlin or any major world city. The problem is that after a few years these clubs built on little to no foundations will crumble and the RFL will be stood scratching their heads as usual.

The problem with RL in England is viewership and participation, neither of which can be fixed by sponsers, unless they paid so much that SL actually financially overtook RU or the NRL so it could attract some star names (and better quality). The RFL would be FAR better spending their time and money getting RL played in the schools of major northern cities like Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester, where young players could naturally be picked up by the SL academies, which would also boost viewership as people became more familiar with the sport.