Sorry Bramley but my IT skills mean that I cant break your post down as you have with mine. However, I'll go with this.

Cumbria, yes, the geographical limitations (lakes and mountain, plus, poor road network) do make it almost a non runner.

Toulouse, should have been promoted (along with Toronto) into a 14 club SL, end of.

Regarding either wanting guys with deep pockets or not ?

The point with this is that Toronto have, by themselves been able to generate significant interest in our sport and yet, despit paying some of the hierarchy at the RFL substantial amounts of cash, THEY are unable to generate ANY similar interest and the sport is crying out for some kind of media guru or, clever social media person.
Instead, we have "ourRL" which is so bloody amateur, it's embarrassing, it's unbelievable.
The ticket lines dont work, the live streams are hit and miss,, the advertising is less than zero etc, etc.
This is THE key area to get right and it's shocking.

I went to the England/ France game at Leigh this season and getting tickets was extremely difficult and instead of a sell out, the ground was barely half full.
Unable to sell 10,000 tickets for the first international since the world cup was criminal.

Fans of the game turn up IN SPITE of the poor organisation and not because of it.

Finally, regarding your point about the 12 SL clubs doing more. Yes, of course they can.
However, the strategy for selling the game should come from the top down and not bottom up and quite frankly, there is no strategy for selling the game or growing it properly. "We" are hanging on to the coat tails of a wealthy N. American guy and just hoping that it's a success but, we are playing a very dangerous game and the practicalities and costs of competing in a trans Atlantic league, when clubs can barely afford to travel accross the M62 are slightly bewildering and without an additional TV deal (or increase in the current Sky deal, which looks highly unlikely), we are volunteering significant extra cost for each club, with NOTHING in return. It really doesnt make commercial sense.
Maybe the secret plan, on the back of a fag packet in Red Hall will prove myself and the rest of the doubters wrong but, I seriously doubt it.

They could merge with Widnes and London and play in Birmingham!!!

I will agree with you on the failings of the RFL - the game at Leigh is a great example of the system failing. However, I cannot agree with you that the clubs can't be held responsible for their own growth and their own affairs. The clubs have used the RFL as a convenient lightning rod for their own failings for years, and the fans still buy that lie

We don't need a media guru - we supposedly have 12 on the pay-roll of the SL clubs. If we don't, then the clubs should never have hired them.

You can't take what one owner at one club has done and say the the RFL alone should be responsible for replicating that across three levels of professional and semi professional leagues - it's setting up the RFL to fail. Every club has its own priorities, it's own markets and its own capabilities.

The clubs are the primary point of consumption for the sport. It's they who sell the tickets and the merchandise, they who bring in the audience, they should know their target audiences and the local demographics and they who develop the product on the field. It is THEY who should have their own respective strategies for growth. If they were successful at doing that, the sport would be in a much better position.

As a sport we've pegged one of the biggest expenses (player salaries) at practically the same level for 20 years. If clubs can't afford a bus fare across the M62 even with a £1m real-terms cut in one of their biggest expenses and a bigger TV deal, the thing that's wrong isn't the RFL.

So by my reckoning you've just destroyed 16 historical UK clubs in one foul swoop , well done

How have wakefield made it possible for Toronto to field a team? Toronto have been in existence for 3 hours and already have an average gate double what Wakefield have, even though wakefield have been in existence for over 100 years. In fact my mistake. It’s 3 times when you factor in the lack of away fans. As for SL quality players, not like Wakefield product any. Just because you promote an academy player doesn’t constitute SL standard.

Wakefield are a drain on the game, Toronto aren’t

Did you bash the keyboard while typing this?
I see you regularly mock the Wakefield education system, yet type barely legible bilge.

As for the actual content - well, it's obvious you are a troll so I won't look too deeply into it.

I think it's another account from the fake Frenchman.

It would seem so yes.

WTF have Wakefield got to do with this conversation ?? and you really need to check your maths


The comment that I passed was that without SL, Toronto or any other plastic teams wouldn't even exist.

It's not rocket science



Back to SL sides, who are duty bound to run academy sides ??

The crux of this issue is the practicalities, long term, of having N.American sides competing in a European SL.
They exist purely because of money and without roots or substance.

Tell you what, let's scrap the game altogether in the UK and have 2 sides in each continent around the world. Each one clocking up air miles galore and without any heritage whatsoever. Would you pay to watch it ??

We havent even touched on whether its right that someone from N.America should be able to takeover a club and hijack it's licence to play over here (New York).

What kind of "sport" are we all following because RL is turning into farce, a far cry from its inception, when decent working blokes just wanted some expenses for missing some shifts at work, where local clubs played against each other for the SPORT and entertainment of "the working man".

As for Wakefield being a "drain on the game"






They receive less than EVERY other SL club in central funding so, they may be doing the rest of SL a favour

I agree, but don't get taken in by the Faux Frenchmans latest guise, I thought half term was finished, but it seems the poster in question is more than likely on full benefits and heavy medication.

Looks like Ottowa is the location for Canada 2. https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... the-future

Looks like Ottowa is the location for Canada 2. https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... the-future

But the working man has changed from 1895. He doesn’t want to go crumbling stadiums to watch a small town team anymore. He wants to watch big events at decent stadium that he’s not embarrassed to take his mates to or talk about on Facebook or twitter. He wants to watch Man City v Liverpool not Plymouth vs Mansfield. And that’s only referring to the working man. The working woman should be a massive part of RL.

The unfortunate thing is that RL never established itself in the nations cities other than Leeds and Hull. It remained in the small towns and villages that are never ever, ever going to get substantial enough followings from both supporters and sponsors to make a top club viable in the sport if we want it grow from where it is. And they’re certainly not going to appeal to broadcasters and advertisers.

As for Wakefield receiving less central funding, I assume that’s essentially a fine for the stadium? I think all of RL would rather Wakefield had a decent stadium.