Like I said on the other thread, RL fans are so paranoid and obsessed with preserving 'credibility'. There would be a lot more credibility if the sport was not almost exclusively played by a bunch of small towns along the M62. Nobody is laughing at our sport, there aren't fans of other sports waiting to pounce every time things don't go exactly to plan. Nobody really knows too much about RL and that's the problem. What damages credibility the most is the poor geographical spread and a lack of quality international competition, not clubs running into financial difficulty, that's something that happens in all sports.

You are quite correct , nobody outside the area's you outline care or even really know about the sport

So when the ones that do start to lose faith in it , where will we be then

As for clubs running into financial difficulties , not every year , only 4 years into their life , and after it has been predicted on these very boards by those of us with our eyes open , so if we could see it , why couldn't others

The whole Crusaders project has been an abject example of how not to expand the game successfully

I'm with Headhunter on this one....the sport lacks any decent media coverage. Most people outside the heartlands have no interest in League and no matter how many clubs like Quins or Crusaders they fastrack into SL, it will always be seen as a 'northern" game.

So there are two different arguments

1 How do we increase interest in the sport geographically ?

2 How do we retain ' credibility ' of the sport within its current support base in the light of the sports governing bodies stupidity ?

There's no substitute for cold hard cash.....the RFL need to market themselves better......they need to pay for advertising in papers and on TV with the condition that the media channel used covers the sport. It needs a full time press liaison officer who should be on the phone to or in meetings with the sports editors of every media channel in the UK every day.

Teams like London, the french and the Crusaders should be marketed the most...highlighting the fact that league is no longer a northern pastime...but a national sport.


Your opinion of the govening bodies stupidity is your own. Regardless of whether you agree with licencing, the murkiness surrounding the criteria for licencing and the way in which Crusaders were probably pulled into SL 3 years too early, the RFL are making a profit, have a good deal with BskyB and are trying to expand the games frontiers. If they were losing money doing so, then I would agree with you, but they are turning a profit AND expanding the game.....it's just expansion isn't happening quickly enough for some

1. By expansion, which means the RFL are in a no win situation because any attempts at this result in 'fans' like you on their backs calling them stupid and claiming that they are destroying the credibility of the game, when they are not. They are improving it. That's why opinions like yours and that of the OP should be ignored.

I am fine with expansion , as long as it is done properly , if you are suggesting that the Crusaders project is the correct way to expand the sport and bring credibility to it , then you really need to think again , it could have been done much simpler and better without headlines of visa irregularilities and administrations

Similarily telling lies and ' pretending ' that clubs are being judged equally is not the way to retain what credibility the governing body still has within the clubs support base

You best ignore me too because I agree with both if them.

Please feel free to ignore my opinions, I won't be offended!

Union's buggered then. They have laws don't you know

More Castleford fan bitterness.

This is about the good of the game. When you step down - and I say when as it is clear you cannot be allowed to continue at the top flight - it will be for the greater good, so stop moaning about P & R and accept it.

NottinghamTiger - This has to be the most pi$$ poor attempt at trolling i have seen from any of your accounts (Scorpions for super league/Toulouse for SL/Toulouse for Super L/rhinofox/whatever all the others were). Very poor effort.

'Expansion done properly'=until it affects my club. Don't even try and deny that is the case. That's why you have no present issues with Scorpions and London Skolars. 'Expansion done properly', to many fans involves teams at the bottom of the pyramid getting flogged and posing no threat. As soon as teams become successful, suddenly it is unfair and corrupt. Crusaders are not the best, I have discussed why on another thread. The intention of the RFL is the right one though.

Everything has an affect indirectly onto the pitch in the end. The selection of players (i.e. quotas, etc.) is for your squad, and at the end of the day you can't play everyone in your squad in one game, so it's not on on-the-field issue. Squad building is an off-the-field issue. The laws on the pitch are the same for every club, that is what makes sport a sport. Not how you are allowed to select your team.

Wasn't part of your argument based on the fact you thought Wakefield finished 5th last season? And I'm making a fool of myself?

But yeah, good counter argument. Well thought out. You should maybe take your own advice.