I don't think people became "disheartened" they just didn't have the time any more to run it like it used to be run and there where no new people coming in to keep it running like it was.

I'd certainly be prepared to take on some of the responsibility for it and I did a few months back have meetings with Cliff (who I'm in regular contact re Bramley anyway) and Geoff Lee but unfortunately the ideas never came to fruition.

My idea was to continue with TGG but to make it more of an online magazine which would save on the huge costs of printing and postage every edition. This is a great publication which could be used to air and galvanise support for the issues in our game with campaigns (where necessary) developing off the back of this but as with anything, it needs people willing to put in the time and effort to make it happen. Cliff is exceptionally busy and I know he doesn't have as much time as he'd probably like for this but with a joint effort by a number of supporters plus Supporters Direct, I can definitely see it becoming a much bigger and more prominent organisation.

I was one of the founding members hence my node name when 12 fans met in a pub at Criddling Stubbs ,,,,,,we were all involved with the fanzine scene then. We then set up via our fanzines the first meeting of people at a pub in Leeds prior to a Great Britain v France test match to test the waters so to speak .....with that meeting being a success we went on to form the RLSA at the George in Huddersfield before the next season started.

From there we set up a branch in East Yorkshire that held monthly meeting which always had a guest speaker from one of the Hull clubs present. This branch was the only active branch for all the time I was in it. I stopped being a member when the branch as a collective resigned from the organisation when the national group backed the super league cause and the merger of teams.

Organisations like the RLSA are a thing of the past. Like it or not there is a [ivery small[/i percentage of the RL fans base who care about the sport in a way that extends beyond the fortunes of their own clubs.

There are plenty of people who would like to see it revived - I daresay that people would [ilove[/i to have an organised, representative fans body who can call on organisations (broadcasters, printed media), with numbers behind them, to give the sport more coverage and/or respect.

The problem is, as soon as you present people with a membership fee (even if it's a small one), they suddenly shy away from it. They think "oh I won't sign up for it, it's a great idea though so I'm sure plenty will join, it won't matter if I don't".

If the RLSA is ever to get going again, I think it would have to be in a different format. It would have to move out of the realm of members travelling to a single location to have an AGM. It would need to be a more vibrant, active, entity that embraces the nature of immediate communications that are available today.

Maybe the supporters direct initiatives that are currently being cranked in to gear could breathe new life in to the idea of a body that represents the views of, and fights for the rights of, the fans. I'd like to hope so. But it would need the contributions to and membership subscriptions of the RL fan base in order for it to succeed, and in all honesty, I just don't know if people are willing to do that

Indeed, and it might be an idea to reflect that by removing the RLSA reference from the name of this forum.



That's also correct to a large degree, though I'd amend that statement as followsvery small[/i percentage of the RL fans base who care about the sport in a way that extends beyond Super League and the fortunes of their own clubs within it".

A redundant organisation in the modern SL era.

We've never had it so good.

Having read this thread, I agree with Paul Thexton that organisations like the RLSA are a thing of a past. However only in the way things where run back then. There’s no doubt that things have got better for super league fans over the last few years in regards to match day experience. I understand that those fans are probably not bothered about a RLSA. After all if they’ve got an opinion to air they can come on here, air it in the media or even to the club themselves.

However there are people like me and I’m sure there are others that care about different things in the game. I can only speak on the behalf of my experiences.

This week Bilko has announced that cherry and white has been going for nine years. That’s nine years that he’s enjoyed writing articles and nine years that people have enjoyed reading them. Now the Wigan Warriors forum is the most popular super league club forum on the network. The ones with the well run and up to date fansites do (give or take) tend to do better than the other clubs.

Now some of you may have noticed that I’ve been lobbying for more RLFANS fansites for RLFANS. I do think that a new fanzine (it has been discussed about by the admins on here in the past but there’s that problem again – TIME) on here would provide a brilliant platform for people who want to write about the game. I’m talking about people who have just graduated (but not exclusively) from University and want to have a career in rugby league journalism. It is probably virtually impossible to get your own regular column in a place like league weekly, Rugby League World or League Express. After all there’s probably people working they that don’t want new writers to be given a chance to build up their audience. They just want graduating university students to be interns that write articles whilst the columnist whose supposed to write it gets the credit for it all.

This is where the RLSA and RLFANS can step in for 2011 and beyond. We could and should provide a platform for people who want to write about rugby league and make a career out of it. But let’s not just keep it at rugby league writing. There’s radio and match day commentary that needs improving as well. RLFANS has an audience for this to be a success. I don’t agree with lobbying organisations that don’t shift – let’s create our own opportunities on here.

Now the final problem is money. I’m afraid for this to happen money is going to have to do the talking. Sponsors of RLFANS pay good money to keep this place afloat. The reason why RLFANS is still up because it doesn’t depend on the tit for tat membership fee’s. Membership fee’s are a thing of the past and sponsorship is the way forward.

What we need to do is get all our ideas into a consensus and once a majority are happy with the ideas we can present them to the admins here. The Admins of RLFANs can tell us how much they want for all this to go ahead – that’s if they want it to go ahead on here. We shall then pitch this idea up and down the country for sponsorship for this to go ahead. We can even go to Spain, France and beyond if we have to. It could bring in more money to keep this place afloat for many years and it could be the hotbed that promotes talent rather than people who are just in the right place at the right time.

With the right talent on board (and it is out they) > the TGG will sell and will be profitable

That’s my two pence worth. Must get some sleep now!

Thanks Damo, that's a much more insightful way of saying what I was trying to say. The modern communications technology is to make use of the internet, instead of organising/arranging a hall with chairs where people can sit down and talk about things/give presentations.

We already have the forums, the idea of a "magazine" style subsite that can give people an opportunity to air their views in an article format is one that the Admins were discussing a few years ago, but unfortunately it never really got going. In part, from my POV, it did get bogged down in to technical discussions over what the CMS software to be used was, and it ended up never advancing from there. You could argue that the forums already give people the opportunity to do this, but unfortunately that content gets lost in a reem of replies, flames and petty club-based arguments.

If there are a group of people who [iwant[/i to put some magazine style content together, whether that be in the form of serious articles, match reviews, interviews they have managed to get, satire, it could provide some good reading for the Rugby League fanbase as an alternative to the paid-for magazines such as Rugby League World or League Express.

I get the impression that you yourself would like to contribute to such a setup, and if so, and you are aware of others who would like to, then all I can suggest is that you speak to the admins who I'm sure would be willing to set you up with a CMS similar to the existing subsites that you can use as a quick means of posting your content to the WWW.

Having read the whole of your post Paul, I just want to respond to how I see it at the moment.

The Admins don’t have enough time at the moment to set up a fanzine which is fair enough. Then I’m guessing that running the forum is somewhat a laidback affair which is any Admins dream. Thirdly I think there’s more of a want for a RLFANS based Magazine than a need. The place is running fine without one and its showing. Hopefully someone will correct me if I’m wrong.

A few months ago I made a casual proposition to run a RLFANS fanzine. But in hindsight it wasn’t very good proposition. It was a happy go lucky one and I’m more than happy to admit this. Yeah the Fanzine would of run without much input (apart from basic set up) because my mate who was interested in helping, develops websites for a very good living indeed. He’s certainly a lot more ‘professional’ than me.

The only other thing I think that is stopping this from happening is that one of the admins wants to do this one day and because RLFANS is there’s – they can say no to any proposition that comes their way and I respect that. But the question is – how long is too long?

Let’s say one of them decides they want to do it in five years’ time out of the blue. That is five years of missed opportunity for the website as a whole. In those five years myself and others (like supporters direct) can get that fanzine going really well.

In regards of how I’d want to help if this thing becomes a reality. I’d obviously want to try and bring more money into the sport and to give people a good platform if they want a good platform. Obviously I won’t have all the say in this as it would be a group decision.

But personally I’d be very disappointed if it became a fanzine where profit goes into someone’s pockets for merely helping to run the fanzine. The last thing I want this to be is an all-out cherry picking project for someone to earn a few lousy bob out of. The reason why RLFANS is so good is because it’s run by volunteers. Let’s put a lot of that into the fanzine if it becomes a reality.

I may be unemployed, but I’d rather £50 that made from this go into helping the game and not my boozing habits. Anyways I’ve had Pink Dom before and I still prefer white lightening..

I can't speak for now, as I'm not involved anymore, but I certainly know that any money that RLFans has brought in through advertising/sponsorship revenue has never reached the back pocket of anyone involved, the money is there to pay for the site's operational (i.e. hosting) costs. I very much doubt that has changed since I left the admin team.

Did you not get a response to your request to run a fanzine?

I think the next step will be to arrange a meeting with Laura Harrison and I shall send an email later on. If Bramley is still based at stanningley – It’s just down the road from me as I live in Farsley. I’m originally from Bramley mind you.

As I said in that writing beforehand it wasn’t much of a proposition. I’ve personally been concentrating on my own rugby league column if anything. But I’ll let you know what happens

Abso-bloody-lutely.