dear oh dear,seemed to have ruffled a few feathers ! WHY isn't the game thriving in Widnes,for example ? with about 50000 potential fans to draw from why are the gates so low ? Whatever the mighty Vikings are doing to attract the paying public obviously isn't working so,what is the answer ? I,like yourself & Starbug and all the other like minded people don't have the answer - maybe there isn't a solution and the game will continue to diminish as a serious sport even in the traditional rl areas
The easy way has always been to blame the RFL - they probably caused the Vietnam war if the truth be known - All we,the fans can do is support our teams and try to spread the word though 'expansion' of what we have ISN'T increasing is it ?
The game needs all the support & help it can get and,with respect I can't see the suggestion of getting more terrestrial coverage as a 'negative term'
Sorry for any offence caused to Starbug by the way - he sounds a decent guy with the love of the game close to his heart but it doesn't mean I have to agree with him,or you.

No.

He means your inability to doff the cap.

He's a saboteur.

Ask him about Hosepipegate. Nothing decent about that little episode.

funny though

Apart from the fact I couldn't go to the original game but could go to the re-arranged one

Well first of all , playing in what many see as a ' worthless ' competition has a huge bearing on your ability to draw crowds , so how do you change that without bringing back P and R ? , well having a token french side in that is excempt from relegation doesn't help , having a ' fractured ' fixture list is another problem as most people are used to a home , away , home , away scenario , also neither is having your best games played on a midweek night and televised

, you'll have to explain this one better , as I dont understand the point you are making

Yes being on terrestial TV would probably be better than being on SKY , but I would question the benifits of being on TV at all , there is little or no money paid , attendances can be badly affected giving the impression that it is a poor product lacking atmosphere

It is a simple equation , the games needs to expand to survive , fine , no problem , a Franchise system is needed to allow that expansion [ there is no other reason for it ] , so if you are taking away one of the main attractions a club can give to it's supporters , you have to balance that up with other things , the NRC 9's and a weekend on the beer in Toulouse isn't it

The RFL need to sort out a massive marketing campaign to get the people of the towns that have championship clubs , both expansion [ gateshead,neath,sheffield,london ] and heartland [ workington,york,swinton,dewsbury ] to attend matches , the clubs have neither the expertise or the resources to do it , instead we get ' gimmicks ' and ' spin ' telling us how well everything is

Well it's not

I want to see the sport grow , GROW , not just EXPAND , be that in new area's or existing

'expansion' regarding the drivel from Mr Dalton on an earlier posting

so are you telling me the clubs get 'sweet FA' from the tv companies or matches shown either Sky or BBC ? if that's true then there is no point of broadcasting live RL to the masses.

the potential audience is massive - if the general viewing public are 'grabbed' by what they see,a certain percentage will make the effort to go to games just to see what it's really like.
I'm just a typical Mr Joe Public who,unfortunately has always lived long distances from live RL venues - when we lived in Gt Yarmouth it was a 5 hour drive to Leeds for example - since 1989,living in central france our nearest live RL is at Toulouse which is a good 3 hour drive so,taking ME as an example,people will take the trouble to go to games if they can be tempted out of their armchairs - that means more nationwide exposure especially as the clubs themselves seem incapable of tempting their own home-grown support.

If only a few hundred loyal fans can be tempted to watch the Workingtons etc of this world then the future is indeed bleak...

I agree we should have P & R applicable to everyone (yes,even TO !) - I wonder if they will be treated differently from the others when they eventually make SL ?

sorry for my ignorance but what the feck is 'Hosepipegate' ? or shouldn't I ask ?

In some cases it has actually cost the home club money to be on the telly !

No don't ask

Champ clubs get something like £4k from the Co-Op sponsorship, nothing from sky. That 4k always seems to be spent on ticket initiatives ie free tickets so I think that is a stipulation of receiving it. I think that is still the case, but who knows.

Dont forget the extra money from advertsing boards from around the ground.

Do they pay any extra if there is a televised match , especially in rented stadiums ?

A lot of sponsorship of lower tier clubs is done more for ' love ' than monetary gain , we dont have ' blue chip multinationals ' queing up to take advertising space for a Championship match being watched by 70,000 RL fans

This is nothing to do with my club. My club has got a healthy amount of fans - and has done so for years. We are the best supported club outside super league, and it is obvious to anyone not on a wind up that being in the championship limits your crowds significantly.

Your posting is becoming increasingly and startlingly irrational.

As has been explained , nothing from SKY themselves , 4 grand for the home team to spend on ' freebies or pre / half time match entertainment

The ' potential ' audience usually consists of people from the towns playing and other RL fans , most of whom already have a club to support [ either in SL or the Championship ] , and as I said quite often with the attendance is reduced both of home and away fans resulting in less atmosphere , making the game look less atractive to any new potential fans on TV

If we use you as an example , would you go to watch Whitehaven V Sheffield as a result of watching RL on tv ? or Saints verses Warrington ? , are you suggesting there are hundreds/thousands of potential Leigh fans not within a 10 mile radius of the LSV ?

]

of course not,let's not be silly about this - all i'm suggesting is that RL is given more air-time to give more publicity and shop window to a wider audience - the present audiences in the RL hotbeds are thin on the ground but the majority of the population of GB are probably not even aware of the exitement,intensity not to mention skill of the great game - it's as though we are presenting the general public with a new product,so let's push it as far as we can - we need to take the game to the people because the people are not coming to the game at present it seems.
Regarding (b) - I think if you take TO as an example : are there any clubs in the C/C1 that offer the post-match hospitality like you find at Toulouse ? The TO approach to the paying public seems to be positive,you are made to feel welcome aren't you ? Why can't the uk clubs be more fan-friendly and make it more of a social thing rather than a case of pay your money,watch the match then go home...maybe if the clubs made more effort to make the fans feel part of the set-up like at TO (and most of the LER games i've been to) or does this already exist ?
Just as an aside,from what I have seen,the french LER is doing ok crowd-wise and I would suggest the attendances have increased over the past few years that i've been watching it - the general standard is improving and the national opinion of the game is gaining momentum even despite the welsh team (deservedly) winning the Alitalia Cup - the FFR must be doing something right !