I suspect he has a point but its just the manner in which he goes about playing it out in Public.

The game needs a forward thinking businessperson who can lead the sport, develop a strategy to grow it and increase its profile and subsequent income. I can't imagine for one moment Wood and co thought 'let's take the game to Toronto', more he received a call from a wealthy businessman in Canada and entertained the idea. Sport is a business and relies on income from sponsors and television. That has to be the focus.

To me it appears he has tried to do it behind the scenes ( with some well placed public outbursts) and 4 years down the line has given up and is feels the only option is to bring it to a head in public.

Reading lots of RL forums, the general consensus is that N Wood has to go. Dr K has been beating that drum quietly and loudly for 4 years; Nigel is still there on £250k a year ( more than any SL player), flying first class to Dubai, Canada, etc so how long do you wait before doing what most RL fans think is long overdue?

Koukash's problem is that whilst he may be right that Wood isnt the right man for the job, he doesnt seem to have any idea who would be, or how we would find them. Its like everything else in the game, we are at a fork in the road some arguing to go left, some arguing to go right without anyone actually knowing our destination or even bothering to learn how to drive the car.

Ive no problem with Koukash going public if thats what he thinks needs to be done. Its the next thing im interested in, and the thing after that, and each thing after that. Getting rid of Wood has to be a means to an end, not the end in itself. I can't shake the feeling there are chairmen in SL to whom over-throwing the RFL is like a dog chasing a car. They are trying as hard as hell for it, but they have no idea what it is or what they will do with it if they get it.

Over several years, 5 IIRC. Which is nothing when there are very few other significant forms of revenue, the next biggest being government funding.

If we want development we have to pay for it, it won't just magically happen. We have to invest in development areas.

Personally, I'd take £300k off the tv payments to each SL club to give us £3.6m as a development fund from which one or two areas can be targeted with funds that might make a difference when spent consistently year on year. Rather than the scattergun effect we currently have.

Probably cheaper to fly 1st class than buy two seats

The leaders/people running the sport haven't being fit for purpose since the late 50s/early 60s
The sport has had opportunity after opportunity to become bigger and more attractive to the rest of the country and indeed the ROTW but failed absolutely miserably.
This down to self serving, self preserving, un-imaginative, unintelligent, unprofessional tools with next to zero understanding of pretty much anything.
There's always being a lack of understanding of market forces and lack of any ability whatsoever to exploit all the fantastic attributes the sport has always had.
Yes union has had some advantages of recent times but the sport was a complete backwater TV/media wise compared to RL for decades.

When you have the 2nd/3rd biggest attended domestic sport scrabbling around at last minute year on year for the main comp sponsors and giving the rights away for no money at all one year (and zero provable benefit from the in kind payment), when you have main events being sorted less than 6 months beforehand, with next to no promotion and so many other ongoing issues pointed out already then it's pretty obvious the people and set up of the organisation that runs the sport is struggling...and that is being generous.
Clear the decks from top to toe, including the disgrace that is the judiciary and the people/set up of the officials.
We can continue on and will do, the game won't ever die, I've no doubt about that, but market share is going to get ever smaller the way things are going and that will have a detrimental effect to the game as a whole from grass roits up.
It's facking depressing

I'm optimistic. I was at the rhinos challenge this weekend and saw 6000 people enjoying junior rugby league. Over 1000 talented youngsters playing and enjoying the game. The interest is out there.

We know the interest is out there, we were all optimistic after the last word cup. The rfl always find a way to make any opportunity come to zero. The sport is going backwards fast and something has to be done

That's 32m from the SL part of the TV contract. Not the international rights challenge cup etc plus they have all the other income streams they have. They get more than 6m a year from SL clubs. For an organisation who had sport England money taken from them because they were so bad at spending it its a bit of a stretch to trust them with more

Sorry but, to say that Union was behind league is just wrong.

Although the club game was perhaps behind league in some areas, the International game of Union, has been and still is so far in front of League that, we are in the metaphorical Vauxhall Conference compared to Premier League.
Yes, Union has massively exploited the revenue streams connected with this but, everything stems from the International scene and shutters down from this.
In League, we are trying to go the other way and we try to suggest that the "product" is so good, why shouldn't we get the same as Union but, in this respect, Union has such a head start on league that it is impossible for us to catch up, notwithstanding that it is the sport of the Establishment and like it or not, we are "just a Northern" sport and too many inward looking people are actually happy with this.

The second part of your post is spot on and if we cant do some of the basics right, we just come across as amateur and it's no surprise that we are not taken seriously.

We struggle to get a sponsor because we aren't an attractive market for sponsors. It's got little to do with the RFL in that sense.
The same goes for internationals or events. They're organised "late" because we don't have our own stadium so we're working around other schedules.

Re Smokeys post - the RFL had Sport England money taken away from them because the targets were unrealistic. And the Sport England numbers are compiled in a way that doesn't help RL (age 14+ IIRC).

Whatever way you want to look at it the RFL need more money. In 2014 their income was £19m. That's sod all with which to run a major sport including the RFL events.

If we want a better RFL we have to pay for it. As Bramley said, the clubs currently (and have for a long time) hold the prime responsibility for marketing, player development etc etc and they make the RFL look professional.

The RFL needs a bigger staff, a bigger base and better leadership to give it the teeth that's needed to push this game forward. Because the clubs sure as hell aren't going to do it.

£19m sod all?

What do they actaqlly use that money for? It's £18.9m too much for what they actually deliver!

The key to the sports future IMO is the international game. To compare us with football is unrealistic as globally no sport compares. A reasonable comparison is sports like Rugby Union and cricket. Their funding is significantly more than ours and that is a result of internationals. We need a set international calendar playing regular games and space in the domestic calendar to do so. I would like to see something like

Year 1 - 6 nations style (with possibly a final) Northern Hemisphere comp, at first England, France, Wales, Scotland & Ireland looking to add Canada & the USA and a similar Southern Hemisphere comp with Australia, NZ, Fiji, PNG & Samoa
Year 2 - Several mid season 'friendlies' then end of season 4 nations (England, Australia, NZ plus another) alternating between northern and Southern Hemispheres with a side competition determining the 4th nation for the next cycle
Year 3 - Same as year 1
Year 4 - Several mid season 'friendlies' plus an end of season World Cup.

This would achieve several things. Firstly generate revenue for the governing bodies to invest into expansion, youth development and grass roots, secondly having a guaranteed 4 or 5 matches a year with also a guarantee of playing the bigger nations would hopefully encourage more players to opt for their nation of birth rather than choosing to play for Australia/NZ because of the guarantee of matches and thirdly increase the profile of the game which would also (hopefully) lead to increased sponsorship.

I'm well aware it would take time for the (for want of a better word) lesser nations to become competitive, they never will without actually playing the matches in the first place.

Following on from this the long term vision should be looking to add teams from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, USA and Canada into Super League and teams from PNG, Fiji and Samoa into the NRL. Having a play off system means there is no real need for everyone to play each other home and away so this could be done step by step by increasing the number of teams without increasing the number of matches. The only logical way to do this would be an eventual return to franchising, I know this won't go down well with a lot of lower league supporters but I think for the sport as a whole it is the way forward.

It has everything to do with the rfl. They create the product to sell and the environment in which to sell it. They are the ones who created/allowed the meat raffle at the working mens club aura around the game which puts sponsors off and they are the ones that by not having bookings and plans in place organise everything late and create an environment where it is difficult to sell internationals.

You have swallowed the RFL' pathetic defence of their failure hook line and sinker. The rfl bid for that money. It was based on their plans and their projections. That money hasn't disappeared it has simply been given to people better trusted to spend it wisely. They failed. It's not a conspiracy or luck or bureaucratic nightmare. It's a failure. One of a litany of RFL failures. In fact the only real success of Woods RFL has been the wholesale lowering of ambition and expectation of a game that now sees any kind of real success as out of reach and any failure as unavoidable and inevitable.

BTW that 19m which is 'sod all' is double what any club in SL turns over and only slightly less than the entire amount SL spends on players for 12 clubs

1 It is the RFLs primary role to make the sport more attractive and bring on board sponsorship/TV rights/new players/coaches .... etc. It is a business and they are the executive decision makers of the business.

2. Aussies don't have dedicated stadiums but they manage to arrange a programme in advance. Look at the British Lions RU for example

You're making excuses for a poor management group who have, and continue to, under perform.

Sadly if what has been put on twitter about this press conference is true the this is just another Koukash hissy fit. Lashing out at pretty much everyone with no real coherence.

It's disappointing that he has become almost the perfect shield for the RFL, conflating real and pressing issues with paranoid incoherent nonsense.

For once I agree. He's like a kid throwing a tantrum.

I'm seeing the updates and I would agree; classic unfocused lashing out, having been on the wrong end of a decision. He would have been better served sticking to the idea that the RFL have failed the game in a commercial and marketing sense - it would at least then have been coherent.

Now he's just back to being perceived as a clown - which is pretty much how he should be perceived.

It's not even that he just couldn't stick to one issue. If he had complained about the RFL fsking up the SC, fsking up the marketing and financials, the tv deal etc then people would listen to him but it can never be the rfl aren't good enough or are going the wrong way it's always a conspiracy. When it's not the RFL being out to get them it's hetherington, when it's not hetherington it's Les Catalans, when it's not Les Catalans it's toulouse. Then from somewhere for no discernable reason and with no discernable link it's Toronto.

His underlying idea of SL going it's own way isn't terrible. There is sense and a debate to be had about it because the game is failing in some important aspects, but it won't break away without Leeds and it won't break away to dump Les Catalans and pull up the draw bridge on Toulouse and Toronto so why surround the issue with all this froth and nonsense.

Well if we can manage to get Fly Emirates on board, there's certainly interest out there. We don't even have the biggest fan base in the league..

He can make a good point in one breath and then come across as a complete tool the next.
If he can back up any of those claims with proof (the RFL using incorrect dates and figures during tribunal, RFL discussions with another club who broke cap but no action taken, Salford offered money by RFL to reschedule a fixture to help a bigger club), then fair enough.
But then why start having a go at Catalans, citing their lack of developing French talent as an issue? I'd say Catalan have brought through some French talent already, that burden doesn't lie solely with them anyway, and Salford aren't exactly running a top tier academy themselves right now. Quite the opposite, actually.

Curious as to who this other club breaking the cap in 2014 was though...

Much of that responsibility falls on the clubs as well, and they're failing.

We have clubs giving tickets away like confetti, we have clubs that can't attract supporters to fill their premium seats, who haven't invested in corporate hospitality and who market themselves as a "budget family day out".

The sport is talking to supporters who believe that £20 to see a play-off semi-final is some kind of rip-off, who will only attend international games if they can find a discount code, and who and moan about any attempt by clubs to improve their commercial revenue (just see the faux outrage whenever Leeds launch some form of special edition playing shirt).

That's not to say that it's wrong to market the sport in that that promotes "family value" - there is clearly a niche for that kind of market - but in in that context, it's no surprise that the sport's sponsorship profile includes payday loan companies, skip hire firms, budget car brands and canned mushy peas.

The RFL has actually done some good work since the Stobart disaster, but it needs to do more. However, the clubs (with the odd exception) need to be a lot stronger in this area as well. When we have clubs putting their prime shirt sponsorship up as a raffle prize, we've got some problems.

Sports sponsorship is about buying access to an audience and at the moment, the RL audience is not one that blue-chip companies want to invest in trying to attract. That's something that all of the game's stakeholders need to work on, not just Red Hall. There's a reason why Sky's Rugby Union coverage is sponsored by Land Rover and not Ladbrokes.

so why do catalans get 9 overseas players?

Couldn't agree more.

MarwanK is right, most sane adults know he is right, the fact that he is a bit of a throbber & has 'as yet' not offered up alternatives is largely irrelevant.

The RFL are killing the game we love for so many Clubs & supporters of Clubs, how can anyone not back him ?
Only the 'protected' Clubs would stay away from this challenge.

I for one hope that he addresses the inequality of a system that allows different rules on salary cap, overseas quotas & P&R restrictions imposed on heatland Clubs for the benefit of development area Clubs based on geographical location.

While it was successful for Catalan it came at the price of 6 years direct entry to SL & exemption from relegation, thus it cost a British RL Club a place in SL.

We have seen it all before with various guises of the London Club & the Welsh & French too & we will see it again with Toulouse Olympique & Toronto Wolfpack.
I would guess that the Cumbrians & the Oldham, Swinton & Batleys of this RL Family would love the same amount of protection & investment by the RFL in their futures.

I firmly believe rhat the RFL are not only incompetent but are actively & negatively impacting on the futures of Clubs like Barrow, Sheffield, Oldham etc.

It really is time for the RFL to wake up & smell the coffee.

Substandard TV deals, substandard structures, substandard vision & substandard leadership creating a substandard RL competition *when compared to Oz*.

Expansion? YES ! But not at any cost.

It isn't a business, not in any regular sense. A business' leadership doesn't have to deal with its own departments making public outbursts or having seperate agendas. In a business it does what the top tells it to, the top is where ALL the power is. That's not the case with RL.

As Bramley says the RFL have limited power over determining the RL market for sponsors due to those conflicting agendas. If the RFL wanted to change the type of person who watches RL to one that is richer, they can't just go and do that because clubs agendas are different. The RFL is obviously trying to expand our market hence the internationals in London and now Liverpool & Coventry. But they're one off games, the regular bread and butter is SL. Which has, on the whole, a market that sponsors aren't too bothered about.

Of course you get some, like at Warrington but it also depends how much money they're putting in. I'm sure a blue chip company would take the SL sponsorship of you offered to them for sod all. But we can't afford to turn down money either.

As for Australia, the NRL are in a far stronger position to negotiate and, crucially, have set schedules for their big games. As we do over here. We know when the Cup Final and Grand Final are going to be each year. It's the games we don't know are actually happening until relatively late. And then we're negotiating with football clubs. Liverpool aren't going to shift a home game for us so they need to wait until they know it's available. Same goes for Ricoh etc etc.

I'm constantly amazed at the attitude that somehow the RFL are all to blame for the lack of decent sponsors. The sport is to blame. We bankrupted ourselves in the 80's & 90's and STILL haven't recovered. We have no money, small support and a poor market for sponsorship.

You could put the RFU's negotiating team in at Red Hall and it would make no difference whatsoever.

What will is altering the make-up of the sport so that more areas of the country are involved and aware of RL. And of course increasing awareness in the heartlands would be beneficial too whenever the clubs decide to pull their fingers out. We call it the heartlands but it's not an indication of strength in that area, it's just where we're least weak.