To be fair I dont think the event was that poorly supported, the attendances for the last time they revived it were

2001 Lancashire 36–24 10,253 Leeds
2002 Lancashire 22–18 10,000 Wigan
2002 Lancashire 36–28 9,283 Leeds
2003 Yorkshire 56–6 8,258 Bradford

2013 Exiles game - 7926.

Fair enough the crowds were going down, but again - proper promotion and marketing of the fixture could have mitigated that. I went to both the last 2 games and I remember enjoying both (particularly 2002) games.

War of the Roses covers all of England (and Wales), Lancashire and Yorkshire doesn't?

I'd rather watch a natural rivalry game like the Roses match than some made up gimmick like the Exiles game anyday.

We say its 'been tried before', yeah it was - 3 times i think before the RFL decided it wasnt working .....we hae to give it time to grow.
The SOO in Aus grew from being a low attended representitive match (or matches) to the most intense game in World Rugby League - it didnt happen in 3 years. Give it time to naturally grown and see what happens.

How is a rugby league match between teams representing The historic counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire iany more parochial than the Oxford / Cambridge boat race?
Just asking!

Does it? I've honestly only ever heard of it in reference to Lancashire v Yorkshire.


Same here.
In my opinion there's only 2 possible options that have potential for crowds/success. Either England v France/Wales or Yorkshire v Lancashire. I don't think anything else will draw in crowds. I really didnt care if England beat the Exiles, and I wouldn't care if the "probables" beat the "possibles". But if Yorkshire is playing Lancashire I'd want Yorkshire to win. If England is playing a competitive France or Wales I'd want England to win. There's the potential for rivalry that doesn't exist in the other options. Obviously France & Wales aren't competitive enough at the moment.

Like you say, give it time, make it a 3-game series, make it the basis for England selection and I think it'd work.

Yorks v Lancs is pointless. It really is. If we are looking to build the international game, build the international game, if we are looking for an income stream outside of domestic RL build the international game, if we are looking for a warm up for international games, a chance to test combinations and a higher profile, higher intensity opposed training session then have a possibles v probables but play it somewhere different and forget about it as a money making exercise, play it at horse guards parade or in hyde park, play it at London Zoo, anywhere you could fit a pitch.

And why does it have to be just Yorkshire and Lancashire?

Cumbria vs The South?
North East vs The Midlands?

Covers the entire country there. Yeah, they may not be greatly attended, but it stops the "Northern Sport" mantra being used if the rep fixtures cover the country.

Throw in Scotland vs Ireland and France vs Wales and the rep fixtures are sorted.

Hah, I was just answering the question, it's pretty moot anyway. I'm pretty sure the civil war wasn't really anything to do with the two counties, just that the claimants to the throne happened to be of House Lancaster and House York at the time. Besides, if you tried to split the country along the lines of the historical Lancaster and York supporting regions you'd have a seriously messy map (which would make zero sense in the modern day!)

I think the line ups could pull fans in too imagine,

Hardaker

Hall Cudjoe Atkins Briscoe

McGuire Brough

Crabtree Lunt Peacock

Bateman Westwood

Sinfield

vs

Lomax

Charnley Watkins Gleeson (M) Riley

Briers Matty Smith

Hill Roby Morley

Tickle Farrell

O'Loughlin

Would be a very competitive game

Might or might not pull the fans in but I'm not sure that McNamara would gain much fresh insight from seeing the likes of Peacock and Morley run into one another. Surely this type of game would be better suited to younger players trying to force a way into the national side?

Sinfield would be playing for Lancashire, and I still think it would be a great headline game for Magic Weekend.

The Lancs v Yorks thing doesn't really seem to light our fire.
Why? Well, player move clubs a lot more, so to a larger extent,players move between lancashire and yorkshire with more regularity. So the likelyhood is that you'd be watching as many players on the opposition side as your own.
The other point is that clubs loyalties (from supporters) seem to get put infront of enven interest in England.
They also played the last ones midweek.

I think we could get the counties thing going, but we'd have to start it sublely.

Remember when cumbria played England a few years back and a bunch of part timers gave the national squad a real game?

We've covered the fact that the population of cumria is too widely dispersed to support a SL franchise, but they could well develop a good representative side that would be good opposition for the likes of France, PNG, Tonga, Samoa etc.

I also think that it would be beneficial for France to play against not only cumbria, but yorks and lancs. That way, France would get more by playing a competive game and the England guys would be able to try out more players.

So say France have a international series of
vs Lancashire
vs Yorkshire
vs Cumbria

France lose to Lancashire but beat Yorkshire. Scandalous. Next come the jibes about one county being better than the other. Next year the opposite happens and all the poop gets thrown the other way, by that point you may have a genuine interest in the roses game, rather than forcing it.

France are an international RL side, they play international RL not made up english rep sides.

Wouldn't be dramatically different from England playing the Exiles IMO.

Couldn't really have Cumbria if there is going to be Lancashire v Yorkshire. It would have to be Cumberland as Barrow-in-Furnes is in Lancashire.