Whitehaven would get better crowds than Celtic, be better than Celtic, and would bring more youngsters through than Celtic.

But they're not exotic. Just Cumbrian.

The current Barrow chairman is going all out for superleague, building a great squad and putting some money into the club. If they keep up their performances and have a good business plan, they should be looking good for a license as geographically they are miles from anyone.
My prediction for the next round of licenses is one of Bradford/Wakey/Cas out and Barrow, Toulouse, and Widnes in. Halifax are also a good prospect, but there are too many west yorkshire clubs as it is

That's one thing that bugs me about this system, if they have the fan base, why does it matter where they are located?

Fom what i remember,some of the pubs were quite exotic and very lively.Hope Whitehaven succeed,the Cumbrian clubs have a lot to offer

Swinton another part of our Rugby League family who seem to have been forgotten in these Super League years.

As a Barrow fan I'd definitely second that. Our crowds are averaging 2,200 this season and likely to rise as the season progresses. I think Haven have had their chance over the last 5 or 6 years and to be fair, don't have a big enough catchment to sustain a competitive SL team. Stadium redevelopment is also on the cards and we actually own Craven Park - an asset on land worth £Millions.

BARROW FOR SUPER LEAGUE 2012 !!!

Spread the word !!!!

We cant have a 20 +teams league though!
Halifax, Swinton, 3 Cumbrian sides, Featherstone, Widnes, Batley, Leigh and Sheffield are all good traditional clubs but you can't fit them all in.

I imagine you would!

If you are averaging such good crowds, they will probably at least double in superleague and another 50% on top with a new stadium. That gets it to around 7-8k. Not bad at all. I think alot of fans would make a weekend out of an away game and bring the family.

i know all you barrow,haven,workington fans will be pished with me,but the only way cumbria will get a (deserved) super league team will be with a cumbrian franchise.

They'll never admit it, but if one team did get into superleague, fans from the other clubs would start to turn up to watch superleague matches and the likes of saints, wigan, leeds and hull play.

it's a nightmare option for them all, but thats all they can hope for.i would definatley add it to my list of away trips (if it was in august),looked bleedin miserable at whitehaven on thursday night against widnes.

Thats quite a trip from hull! It'd be quicker to london! but the point is a lot of fans would be prepared to go there, but not to wales or london as its Rugby League territory

Hence the idea of a more vitalised Championship standing on its own two feet.

'Haven also suffer from being part-time, with good jobs keeping the players from going fully-pro. Not an issue Barrow has to contend with (that I am aware of) so the latter do have a good chance to build forward. Just don't do a Donny and go all out for it, a sustained improvement over the next three years is the way to go.

The current argument against a merger is precisely that the distances involved mean that fans would not do that. I would think that after 3-5 years you might get some travelling support from accross cumbria, but at those distances you will only get the hard-core few. Better to have the nucleus of one club that a smattering of "hard core few".