The image below was posted by the RLEF a few days ago, showing the growth of RL clubs in Europe over the past 15 yearshttps://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13925301_599884346839494_1270633826476450260_n.jpg?oh

Really positive view for the sport. There's also a club off the map based in Reykjavik. More people playing & watching our game around the world is great, even in our own country, Grassroots RL has a much bigger geographical footprint.


[size100 points to the first person who uses this thread to moan about International RL, bring up a French professional League or Toronto.[/size

The post on South West Rugby on Facebook highlighting their attendance of over 2000 for the County of Origin between Devon and Cornwall is another positive step.

So is the plan now for all those teams to be shoehorned into SL, all at once?

There is no room we've got to get north American teams in first

Surprised it took 5 hours for it to be turned into a negative. Standards are slipping.

No.

Some players from those countries playing in Superleague in the future would be great though.

A bit misleading IMHO.

Strela Kazan have been competing in the Russian RL championship since 1989, so I'm pretty sure that there were a few other Russian RL clubs too in 2001.

Closer to home there's no RL pins in East Anglia in the 2001 map, with clubs in Ipswich/Colchester (and Thetford) existing at the time.

What is crazy is that we used to find the money for an emerging nations cup to be played alongside the world cup, and in those days it was pretty much make believe teams. Now, sides like Serbia, Malta, Canada, Jamacia, Italy, South Africa and a dozen others could really benefit from a cup involving only domestic players from those countries.
I know it was expensive to run, but it's crazy that we used to do it when it really was just a PR exercise, and now that it would really help grow the game, we don't do it.

The plan is for them to directly replace your club.

It's a condition known as WALSEN (Wakefield and Leigh Supporters Expansion Nervousness).

Named after, but not limited to, fans of Wakefield & Leigh, WALSEN is a state of perpetual nervousness and paranoia, triggered by good news stories on the growth of RL at any level.

The nervousness comes about through a realisation that RL is growing and their own small-time club could be overtaken & left behind, and it not really taking much to do so. New clubs are met with scepticism, ridicule & even fear by WALSEN sufferers - a recent case at a Wakefield board meeting saw an effigy of Eric Perez burned in the car park at Belle Vue, with Michael Carter leading a 'WickerMan'-style dance around the fire wearing flat caps and holding sticks.

Ah yes. Forgot about the impending inclusion of the Toronto franchise, and all the success it will bring.

WALSEN.

SHORT TERMIST.

And what's your solution? Clubs like Wakey to bumble along like they have done the previous 50 years doing nothing of note?




Success like; a terrible ground; multiple financial meltdowns in recent years; sponsorship by world brands like "K9 & Posh Paws Petcare" and "Backstage Academy"; pitiful attendances; no major trophy for nearly 50 years????

The solution is for The RFL to have a proper strategy for growing the game and if this means adding club (from anywhere) they should have a big enough "pair" to publicise where they want the game to be in 5/10/20 years time and then work productively to achieve their goals.

The current style seems to rely on rather a lot of finger crossing and hoping that the game will miraculously become stronger

The reduction in top flight clubs has done very little to improve playing standards or improve the game and personally, I believe that we should be reverting to some type of franchising, which was having some kind of positive effect on younger "home grown" players and it would bring some stability to the clubs within it, together with allowing the addition of any "new" clubs that are deemed suitable.

The current structure will not help the likes of Toulouse or Toronto (even if they were able to climb through the ranks and gain promotion to the top flight.
The very fact that they (or any other promoted club) would find themselves back in "the qualifiers" the following year means that they would have insufficient stability and thus risk financial difficulties, if they were relegated the following season.