So what criteria would you highlight that would mean France was a comparable heartland of the game, especially considering we know the huge difference in playing strength, and the attendances and financial strength are obvious.

What is it about the population of france, the geography of france, the number of clubs in france, that means 8000 is a similar amount to 65000?

It may have been stronger than Wales, However it isnt anywhere close to being a 'heartland'. It isnt, and wasnt comparable to the Heartlands. To say so is disingenuous at best, an outright lie at worst.

The English heartlands aren't comparable to the Aussie heartlands yet we still call them "heartlands".

Something i suggested 2/3 months ago

Financed by the RFL [ so all clubs actually have a share in it ] to about 300 K per year

Find a SL player coming to the end of his career to apoint as player/coach/manager along with a general manager

Smallish stadium 4/5/6000 capacity around 50 miles from the heartlands allowing for easy travelling for coaching staff and players

Encourage nearest SL clubs to make available up to 6 dual reg players also 4 overseas quota spots with those players working as development officers

Balance of team made up of local RU converts

Put into Championship 1 , but with promotion excemption for 3 years so as not to imbalance existing competition and unduly upset fans and officials of existing clubs

The Championships need more clubs to play

Long term expansion done properly

Sounds like a properly thought-through version of what I am advocating! I'm with you 100% on the above.

I'd argue that the best locations for a stadium could be Lyme Valley (home of Newcastle Town F.C.) or Marston Road (Stafford Rangers). Both have a capacity of 4-6k. They're probably the best bet as they're probably a bus ride from a station but easy to get to by car/coach as well, and small enough for the crowd numbers to make a difference in atmosphere.

I'm with you except that bit. RU pays more so inevitably you'd have to pay over the odds to get players to switch.

If the RFL wish to fund a club CC1, it ought to be one that already has a backbone of players that have RL as their first sport and a youth set-up. Hemel would be my first choice.

Dont forget we are talking part time here at Championship level , although I do agree that if possible where there is existing interest would be the best option , the problem with something as long range as Hemel is that the costs rise quite dramatically , and with that cost then so does the expectation , and then we potentially end up back where we were before with clubs running before they can walk

Hemel were founded in 1981 IIRC; it would seem unlikely that they would do a Crusaders style "dash-for-glory" and ruin it all.

being such a well established club in the amateur game would they want to turn pro ?.

AFAIK they have applied in the past to join the NFP and played in the Alliance League.

It'd be nice if they could make it in the pro/semi-pro leagues. Might need some time, but it'd be a great addition.

with respect,you can't compare the french & english set-ups - mainly due to the size of the countries and density of the population etc having Catalans & TO would be like comparing it to having only two SL teams in the north of england say Hull & Wigan (with lower league teams dispersed between the two) - that is to say,one on either side of the country - it's a wholly different cultural,demigraphic & social thing - most of the french RL heartland is rural where most of the english heartland is industrial or white collar - the population in the french RL heartland is only a fraction to that of northern england - you can't compare the two,just take each case on it's own merits

which is why it is ridiculous to describe the south of france as a heartland, and lump it in with the heartlands of the UK.

It may well be the french heartland, but from an RL point of view it was clearly an expansion area.

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yes,of course it is/was

This is the post that started this particular argument



So we are comparing one club [ that was letting hundreds of people in free ] that had been in existence for 3 years with a whole area of France that has had pro RL clubs for decades

The south of France was ripe for a full time SL club , it was just a matter of where to put it , in the end they plumped for a merger of 2 clubs to increase the chances of success , but nonetheless this area has been producing International class RL players for 60/70 years

Then on the other hand we have a town in South Wales where if you asked the locals at the time they either didn't even know a pro RL club existed in the town or were veheremently against it

Very similar