I dont have the stats to back this up but I would hazard a guess that most grass root sports are diminishing in not just the UK but most developed nations. Its not the 80s anymore where there was nothing to do other than play sports or sniff glue. Kids these days would rather see how many likes on tik tok they can get or play fifa online with their mates, rather than partake in team sports.

The schools can't be made to start playing Rugby league, and where the schools use Union orientated heads of games you have no chance.

The kids who make it are the kids who go down to Milford, Dudley Hill, Oulton, Lock Lane etc....

As for the academies you don't explain your point. 10 academies will pretty much mop up the small numbers of talented kids who will make the grade.

20 academies would be ridiculous as the general standard would be poor and not stretch the talented kids.

If a couple of kids were tearing it up at school and on the local junior circuit then come 16 they need to be playing in a higher more intensive league.

Danny McGuire runs rings round kids at East Leeds, then goes to Leeds academy and is suddenly facing much better opposition and has to up and develop his game.

Players only develop if they move on to higher standards of Rugby,



.

Fundamentally, EVERY SL club should and need to be running their own academy.
It's quite ridiculous to preclude certain clubs because their academies aren't up to scratch.
They should be helped/forced to get them up to the required level - no excuses and it should be a pre requisite of being in SL.
A grace period for newly promoted clubs would be ok.

The previous licence period WAS the grace period.

Clubs knew this was coming and it should not a single club should have been caught out by the process.

In fact, it was scheduled to happen in 2020 and was delayed for 12 months because of Covid - there are no excuses for shoddy academy set-ups..

By the way, what the Wakefield poster forgot to mention was that another pre req of getting a SL licence was a stadium that was up to standard.

Bet you can’t get guess one of the 2 clubs that “promised” a SL standard stadium 10 years ago that still hasn’t delivered one?

Why stop there

If more academies is the answer then demand academies are set up at championship clubs before they gain promotion to Superleague.

Then when they go up they will go up oven ready for playing in Superleague.

No point just forming an academy once promoted, you can't set up a professional academy in just a few months after winning promotion can you? And then shut it if you go down?? You just can't do that.....

make it a pre-requirement of being in the Championship that you have an academy because according to you the more the merrier??

Lets go to 24 academies and have another 300 plus kids dragged out of community clubs none of whom will ever make a professional player.

Tell me this, how many out of every 100 players who currently join academies go on to make a professional career for themselves??

At a guess I'd say Castleford Tigers maybe.

No matter how many times you and people like you say this, neither Cas nor Wakefield, promised to have a new stadium in any given time frame.

It's a myth.

To be fair to him/her he/she's not the first, there have been others like leBron James, ruanne rebellion, AS108, and steph curry to name but a few have also said that.

Who let Steph back in?

I won't "be fair" to someone who just believes/spouts/repeats nonsense they have heard in the pub, or read on a forum.

Fwiw all the above mentioned posters are all the same poster currently banned on the Wakey board as well as on here I think. Hth.

[i"At present Castleford are a well run sustainable club that lives within it's means. Whilst hamstrung by an inadequate facility and the restrictions on commercial revenues and supporter base this causes, the club makes a good contribution to the Superleague.

Significant growth of the business is reliant upon the club moving to the proposed new stadium to enable further investment"[/i

WUMS spoil this site, the facts are what we need.............This is what was said by the RFL. There were no "promises"

Quote: Donnyman "[i"At present Castleford are a well run sustainable club that lives within it's means. Whilst hamstrung by an inadequate facility and the restrictions on commercial revenues and supporter base this causes, the club makes a good contribution to the Superleague. Significant growth of the business is reliant upon the club moving to the proposed new stadium to enable further investment"[/i WUMS spoil this site, the facts are what we need.............This is what was said by the RFL. There were no "promises"'" You obviously didn't follow the utterances of Richard Wright. They did go back a long way. How about - news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 163521.stm.

Quote: Donnyman "[i"At present Castleford are a well run sustainable club that lives within it's means. Whilst hamstrung by an inadequate facility and the restrictions on commercial revenues and supporter base this causes, the club makes a good contribution to the Superleague. Significant growth of the business is reliant upon the club moving to the proposed new stadium to enable further investment"[/i WUMS spoil this site, the facts are what we need.............This is what was said by the RFL. There were no "promises"'" You obviously didn't follow the utterances of Richard Wright. They did go back a long way. How about - news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 163521.stm.

There's a faux frenchman and some clown supposed to be from Knightsbridge who seem familiar "on the other side" but lets stay silent on that.....Here we go.......

[i"The club (Wakefield) continues to face a number of challenges. The stadium position is uncertain, and the significant challenge for the club will be to deliver the commercial and supporter growth required for the club to trade in a sustainable manner whilst improving competitiveness on the pitch"[/i

[iTargets (for Castleford) for Castleford are to a degree based on the move to a new facility. They are a well run club that lives within it's means whilst hamstrung by an inadequate facility and the restrictions on commercial revenues and supporter base this brings[/i

Neither club got any help from their local council on the basis that they would have to shell out to all three clubs (inc Fev) or none at all. Obviously other clubs have managed new stadia through being "advantaged" in certain ways including help from willing councils.

There were never any promises at all, just statements from the RFL stating the blooming obvious. However 10 years on both these fine clubs remain a valuable part of Superleague despite the pure bad luck on the stadium front. Having said that .Mr. Carter's hard work at Wakefield is admirable, despite some pathetic jibes.....