I rest my case m'lud

You had a case to make? There was me thinking you'd been giving a fair and balanced view of the facts of RL.

I thought it was one of the better posts in this thread

Starbug is just upset because he agrees with the OP

Where have I offered an opinion on it? , apart from my little joke with littlerich ?

The OP is entitled to an opinion, if you disagree, fine but do so by giving your thoughts on it, its not hard to do surely

ON TOPIC or you are all out, and you'll have to then speak to your wives/husbands/kids etc...

Seriously, at the risk of sounding like an old man talking to his kids the sport has been in much, much worse state than this as recently as the late 70s and early 80s.

Even the biggest clubs were struggling to draw 10k crowds for league games. If stadia had a roof that didn't leak and toilets that didn't need wellies to walk through they were considered luxury. The elite players had day jobs because the sport couldn't afford for them to be full time, training a couple of times a week and playing on a weekend.

The sport may not be perfect, but it's a long way ahead of where it was back then.

and it got a lot better when clubs like Wigan starting attracting money to the sport with star players and big name signings. And yet, according to some this nearly destroyed the game. Those same people need to look at what the game was like before the likes of Uncle Mo came along before they start talking about lowering the cap and shouting down the ambition of Koukash with their 'slow and steady' advice.

It may not have very nearly destroyed the game, but in the long run it very nearly destroyed Wigan RLFC

But it didn't. Besides, what would *really* have happened? A new Wigan RL would have appeared. A rugby town like Wigan wouldn't just stop having a club. It's not at all helpful for clubs to go bust and I'm all for working very hard to minimize the possibility, *but* nor should we be so absolutely terrified of it that it stifles all ambition. There are plenty ways to go bust other than overspending on players. A slow terminal decline to amateurism is much the same thing, and no less painful.

In practise, it's the owners at the time and the club's creditors ( who make a calculated decision in extending credit to any customer ) who get hit the worst.

A complete clear out at the top and we have a great future

We never had a problem like that at Knowsley road - we didn't have a roof on the loos.

Think of the carbon emissions saved by not wasting electricty! Very Green some grounds used to be.

Well, the toilet walls were anyway.

I do miss the fusion of urine, wintergreen and burgers wafting around the smallest club shop in the world.

I miss the old open-air Knowsley Rd bogs.There was something quaint and old-worldy about using them and being able to see the moon and stars!

Better than being sealed in them!

On a more serious note, I went to my first game in '76. Recently I read the Rothman's Yearbook for that year; the average top-flight attendance was just over 2k.