- I've got work to pay for my trip up to the Saints game, as I'm going on to a conference in Harrogate.

Surely Huddersfield would be the natural choice?

The point I was making though is there is nothing to gain by having something to boast about. It will be something for people on message boards only, it would have no value to the game or the RFL.

People do not follow or support sports on the basis of whether they own their own stadium. It will not make sponsors or TV companies pay more, it will not make casual sports fans take more notice.



That is nothing to do with who owns the stadium but simply home advantage of having tens of thousands of fans all supporting the same team.

It is also worth nothing than Italy, Germany, and Spain do not have national stadiums but their soccer teams have all been pretty successful.

Michael.

Was there not talk a few years ago now when Leeds United were really in the mire (Premiership days with the £130million Debt) of the RFL buying Elland Road and moving its HQ there?

Wasnt Wembley designed with rugby league in mind aswell as football? that is our national home as much as it is the England football teams.

No it was designed with making money in mind , both for the people who designed/built it and for the people who run it

If it had been designed for sports fans it would have been in Birmingham at the NEC

Playing in an exhibition hall?

I think Elland Road is owned by Leeds City Council (though I stand to be corrected on this). whether it was acquired before/after United's financial problems I'm not sure.

Either way, in the current financial climate there is no way RL can acquire a large stadium for its own use. It could saddle the Sport with a debt that potentially could bring the entire game to its knees.

Hell of a big ' beer tent '

Don't see the point in us getting a stadium as there are not enough games we could play there that would fill it. There is no point in moving games to smaller venues to accommodate.

Would a possible solution not be to maybe buy some shares in a stadium or set up deals that can get us a few games there a year? Rather than have a ground that won't be used at all. Play a few internationals there every year, possibly Championship finals, semi-finals and WCC there. 5 very different events at the "Home of the RFL". Would have to be a good stadium though, not something like Elland Road which is a dump.

Hopefully if Leeds United every get slightly good again and do eventually get this new ground they were on about years ago, the RFL could do a deal with them.

From Wiki-

[i...Ridsdale, the figurehad of the PLC, resigned in March 2003, leaving his 'dream' in financial tatters and the PLC was soon to follow in March 2004.

Later that year, Elland Road was sold on a 25-year lease deal with a buy-back clause to raise the required funds to pay the latest instalment of a loan to Aston Villa shareholder and former Watford chairman Jack Petchey. It emerged on December 27, 2006 that the stadium had been sold to the British Virgin Islands-based Teak Trading Corporation Ltd. some 15 months before...[/i

So Leeds United dont own it and at one point did sell it.

a) location - North East Lancashire/North West Yorkshire/Huddersfield (the birthplace)
b) capacity - 60,000
c) type of stadium - All seated (mainly so it could incorporate other events i.e. bands etc), Sliding roof, Close up to pitch, Bowl style(keeps atmosphere in)
d) other marketable events/uses - Gigs etc
e) funding - Lottery?

or if the RFL have their way......

a) location - Southern Wales/South of France
b) Capacity - 500, 000
c) Type of Stadium - All open terracing, 2 miles away from the pitch
d) other marketable events/uses - Expansionist rallies/forums
e) funding - northern rock (or....we'll think about that later)

Blackpool.