Rugby League is a Northern sport, there is very little interest for the game in the south,of England, Wales, Scotland, or Ireland, but some of the bosses have big idea's and think RL will be the next big thing, they are so focused on expansion that they have forgotten about the heart of the game, they have got it in there heads that we have to have clubs in the big City's to survive, so they keep on and on about we need a club hear, and a club there, and all the time forgetting about the Northern clubs, we nearly loose Waky then the Bulls, but they still do not see what his happening, Most of the clubs are up to there neck in debt, or directors loan's but all that dose not mater we have expansion, the only problem is if the people in football, and RU, areas don't want RL, why try to force it on them, we have to get the heart sorted before we end up with just a hand full of clubs, or is that the agenda

Pretty much where I stand as well, good post mate.

Is the '"full stop" button on your PC missing



Other clubs debts has little if anything to do with the inclusion of a London SL team. What happened at Bradford and Wakey was bad business management.....the RFL didn't make those companies go to the wall, their owners did.

The only bad thing about the expansion of the game is that the RFL/SKY didn't grab the bull by the horns 17 years ago and buy the London club, a la The Melbourne Storm. If they had, Londons SL team would be one of the best supported in the country......instead, we have had a number of misguided owners all of whom, with maybe the exception of Ian Lenegan, didn't have a clue how to market or promote the game.

BTW.....you opened your post with RL is a northern sport......hadn't you better pop over to the NRL boards and let them know

When London Broncos go to the wall....and believe me, with the current management and owner, that could be sooner rather than later, then that will be the end of quick fix expansionism.......unless of course the RFL replace them with toulouse

Sky do not care enough about RL to buy any teams. The RFL do not have the money to do so (and they are supposed to be neutral).

The thing is, where do the supporters want SL to be in say 10 years time.
Most of us are more concerned with our own team (s) and we're ok with most things as long as our team is not adversely affected.
Surely the starting point is how many teams should form the top flight and if there is to be either expansion and/or promotion/ relegation,
how will this be implemented.
Add to this the financial viability of the clubs involved and any limits that may be required as regards player wages, followed by grassroots investment and sponsorship of the lower divisions and we could then think about taking the game forward.
And for the cynics amongst us, a mechanism for dealing with the RLF's "favourites" and "untouchables" would be helpfull.

Fair enough, but if that's the case, then why do we regularly hear murmerings of 'SKY want a "London Team"?

As it is, an average of 10,000 over 13 home games a year would make the Broncos break even......if SKY (or anyone with half a brain) bought the club, they could achieve that in 5 years with ease......well, ease and a bit of clever marketing......something that the current owners and management avoid like small pox.




The RFL have pretty much cut London adrift anyway...they offer very little in the way of support to a club that has pretty much blazed a trail in the south east and raised the participation rates......when London fold or drop down, the RFL will need to considerably up their game if all the good work done over the years isn't to be lost.

Agree with all that.
On the "cutting London adrift" point, weren't there quite a few RL development officers down in that there London until recently? I was at the launch of Leeds 3 year development plan for RL in Leeds on Thursday at Headingley, and the entire plan is based upon losing the vast majority of current Sport England funding which has been spent on development officers in the past. According to Hetherington he'd been told by the RFL that they've been warned by Sport England that funding is being significantly reduced by the government, so that may be at least part of the reason why London have been "cut adrift", as effectively regional development will be the responsibility of the clubs rather than the RFL/government.

One of many troubles with your average league fan is their natural inbred deep pessimism and pathological scepticism.

Someone mentioned the tiny point that expansion did sort of actually work once, when the seeds of TGG were planted on the other side of the planet, and have now grown into a pretty decent sized tree.

The problem those wanting to spread the RL gospel will forever face is that our stock of shrinking violet flatcappers cannot envision where the sport might be in 100 years time, or even a decade or two hence, they only care for how it is now, it's OK for them, it'll never catch on, there's no interest, why waste your time, etc etc.

It is precisely the kind of thinking which has led hundreds of working mens' clubs to extinction, as in all walks of life, you cannot stand still, you have to either keep moving forward or wither and die.

Blimey


[urlhttp://www.therfl.co.uk/contact_us/development_contacts/london_and_south[/url

Because some keyboard warriors believe it to be true. You don't hear anyone in the RFL or Sky saying that.

We were equally told that "Crusaders add value to the Sky contract". They pull out and two weeks' later, Sky come back with an improved offer for SL!



Sky could achieve but nobody else could. But like I said, they've had SL coverage for 17 years and never shown an iota of interest in owing one of the clubs.

Give me 50% of the 1.5 million they currently away on average journeymen and I'd give them 10k averages within 65 home games......or I'd die trying. Surely better than the 7.5 million DH has wasted already.....

Spend 750k a year over 5 years and there's 3.75 mill of investment.

Let's say to get to 10k you need to add 27% year on year, from a starting point of 3k.......let's call it a tenner a ticket to keep it simple, with another tenner per fan on residuals per game....

Year 1 average 3,810 x 13 x twenty notes = 990,000 in revenue from that source
Year 2 4,840 x 13 x 20 = 1,260,000
Year 3 6,146 x 13 x 20 1.6 mil
Year 4 7,800 x 13 x 20 = 2,030,000
Year 5 9,900 x 13 x 20 = 2.6 million


8.5 million in revenue over 5 years......costing 3.75 million in promotion, marketing and no small amount of blood, sweat, tears and f()cking hard work....