You're locality is relative though. If there is a club in every parish then people will support their local parish. If there is a team in every city then you will support your local city, if there is a team in every county then you support your county, if there is a team in every country you support your county.

It seems an odd, deliberate decision to make not support anyone rather than support the club which represents you because its too far away from where you live.

20k watched England V NZ at the Westpac in Wellington last year, 20k watched NZ warriors play the roosters at the AMI in Christchurch last year, 10k for a trial match in Hamilton in 2009. Im not sure what we gain by doing the game down.

For an individual event , or an International then yes you will draw a crowd , but Union is king in NZ , you won't change that for decades , the main interest in League in NZ is from the Island community , only where those communities are large have you a chance of growing RL in NZ as a spectator sport , I'm not ' doing the game down ' , I'm just telling you how it is

There are only 12 home games a season, every home game is an 'Event'. Union is king in NZ, nobody denies that. Doesnt mean there isnt space for 2 pro RL sides.

Without doubt if they can find enough sponsorship in Wellington it could work eventually , but it would take a long time IMO

Should the Broncos have been branded "Southern" and not "London" then to capture all the southern regions of the country?
The Dragons "France/French" and not "Catalans"?
Welsh Crusaders?
East Riding Rovers?
South Yorkshire Eagles?

It's good to have a wide area to draw support from, yes. But sometimes if you try and draw a big area, the central market place (in the immediate locality of the club) feel less of a connection to the club. Then again, if you draw it too small, you struggle to get people outside of the locality to be connected. It's a balancing act. It's what stops teams being called "St Michael's Lane Rhinos" or "Earth Rhinos" (although I know there was an Earth Titans, but that was a sponsor!).

I really don't think that that many people from Christchurch have an attachment to the Warriors, and I don't think of the ones that do, them being called Auckland would have affected the decision of many.

On the contrary, I'd say it would be odd for Widnes residents to support Warrington Wolves over Widnes Vikings simply because they play at a higher level or in a competition with more prestige and happen also to play in Cheshire. Of the 2 sides, Widnes Vikings certainly represent Widnes more than Warrington do and a decision to support Widnes could hardly be construed as deciding to not "support the club which represents you because its too far away from where you live".

They are 'Harlequins' Im not sure where you think 'harlequin' is. And i would hope our plans for the entire southern region stretch further than a single token team.
You mean like they are Les Catalans Dragons rather than Perpignan Dragons?
Crusaders and Celtic Crusaders rather than Bridgend or Wrexham Crusaders? Placing themselves as the Welsh team rather than the Wrexham team?
Well no, simply because there are about 5 people in East Yorkshire outside of Hull.
Maybe.

Earth Rhinos wouldnt make sense because they would play other clubs also based on Earth. Leeds Rhinos represent a very large area but as soon as you step out of Leeds there are competition like Bradford, Wakefield, Castleford, Huddersfield. Thats why they are 'Leeds' and not Headingley or St Johns Parish sides anymore. This is why the whole of Wales is available to Crusaders, The whole of Catalonia is available to Les Catalans and the Whole of NZ is available to the Warriors.

So why do you think they changed? and why do you think if nobody in Christchurch has an attachment to the Warriors the Warriors play games there and get about 20k watching them?

But this is your statement, yours to justify. What benefit would there be to changing the one NRL side NZ has to one which only represents Auckland and not the rest of NZ?

you are confusing the question again. Its not about getting Widnes fans to support Warrington. In fact, my argument was that Widnes fans (read Wellington and Christchurch RL fans) would be less likely to support a Warrington (read Auckland) SL side than they would a Cheshire (read NZ) side.

The decision they would need to make is whether to watch Widnes in the lower leagues with no P+R and a franchise system like the NRL, or watch 'Cheshire' in SL. Why would you expect them to choose Widnes rather than Cheshire? Do you expect people from Scholes to support St Pats instead of the Warriors?

But they won't be Harlequins forever, will they? They're looking at changing the name again. Should they be London? Or should they be The South?

But why not France? Surely they're excluding the rest of France?

Placing themselves as a team with no location perhaps?

There are more people living in the East Riding outside of Hull than inside.

I'd stick with Sheffield


That's not the reason it would be daft though.
Hull FC play another team from Hull.

Why the whole of Catalonia and not the whole of France? There aren't any other French SL clubs. Or any other mainland Europe SL clubs for that matter. This is the point I'm making.


Is that an attachment to the Warriors or an attachment to watching NRL?
Do clubs have an attachment to the Sydney sides that take NRL side that take on the road games to Adelaide, Perth, etc? And if so, why aren't they put off by them being named after a suburb of a city in another state?


Because it would give the Kiwis better brand recognition, as there are people that would confuse the Warriors for being the international team that represent New Zealand. And who would blame them considering they now have the name "New Zealand" in there, wear the same colours, and often even wear the same style.

Warriors are well supported across NZ and by Kiwis in Australia. A Southern named team based in Wellington but playing 4 games in Christchurch could be massive.

They should almost certainly be London, As i said there will/should be other teams in the very poorly defined area of 'the south'
They are, that would be taken up by other french teams.
They do have a location, Wales.
There are 573k people in the Hull Urban Area, 593k in the east riding of Yorkshire.
So would I

They do, but it is very rare for that to be happening isnt it.
And I am saying there will be. I am saying that Les Catalans arent the representatives for the whole of Europe because there are other areas

Who knows. But im not sure why the name of the club would be relevant to this question.

London is more akin to a county than a city, it's huge.

They should almost certainly be Auckland, As i said there will/should be other teams in a New Zealand.


They are, that would be taken up by other New Zealand teams.

Where's the consistency?
You'd expect the World Champions to be getting a 2nd pro team in their country before France or an expansion area in England that already has one. But you wouldn't name them after the full area yet for the Warriors you would?