Yeah, Newcastle and London will really save us



I think that you're right about some clubs teetering on the edge financially but, as the famous phrase goes, be careful what you wish for.

For the record, the 10 club SL has been floating around for much longer than you suggest.
However, if anyone suggests that it's SL 1 & SL 2, they should be thrown from the nearest tall building.

A 10 club SL will be a cash grab by the bigger clubs, just as it always was.

The way our sport is declining, it will soon be Wigan, Saints, Leeds Wire and Hull playing with themselves.

Ooh err. Can you say that?

Well the fact is that the game is miles in front of where it was in the sixties and seventies.

Stadiums are better, crowds are bigger, player development is more professional and TV deals still come through.

So Covid apart the old man of the M62 is still alive and well and aged 125.

If you want to see a Rugby League "dying" try the French game

If you want to see a dead Rugby League try the Canadian game.

This is how spectacularly wrong you can be. You have fallen for the idea France and North America are the future, so much so that you think the English game is dying?

Why not learn an instrument? Why not do some of those DIY jobs around the house you have left for such a long time. It's better than spending the last so many years on here shouting about "expansion".

Then when two well backed English clubs well away from the M62 apply for Superleague you slag them off







As soon as you get your jabs, plan to go down to Belle Vue and volunteer your services, it's gonna be a tough season, [uSchoey says so[/u.

Does your jeremiad ever end? This is a thread about loop fixtures and still you mention France and North America.
Crowds are NOT bigger.Try asking your mate,Lenagan.Stadiums are not better.Possiblt the ones shared with other clubs in other sports,but ask Wakefield and Castleford.
Player development is not more professional.If players perform in the NRL,a place where the sport developed within the 125 yrsl timescale,they then represent the place where they were born.The selection pool decreases yearly.
Argue with Sport England if you think participation numbers are swelling.
TV deals still come through? I think you'll find the 2,long serving,broadcast companies still remain.Just as the 'old man of the M62' remains.On It's last legs...

Ever thought of following your own advice? Most threads on here somehow transition into expansion with a definite anti French or Canadian element with you constantly at the forefront droning on.

I may or may not agree with some of your points but we tend to end up in the same place which isn't healthy and doesn't encourage wider debate from different posters, something that you say that you wish to encourage but in reality that seems only to apply to comments that align with yours

Firstly I have started and supported a series of threads that are not about expansion please look at these........ Secondly the North American thing is dead so I was right and that's that and I don't post about that any more

Many people miss (and that must be deliberate) if the game adopts "expansion" without the TV deals and the new players to pay for and play for this "expansion" than all you get is "substitution"

Take Wakefield out of Superleague and put Toulouse in
Take Castleford out of Superleague and re-instate Toronto
Take Huddersfield out and put in Ottawa

That is the real life suggestion made on message boards which many people regularly talk about in far more posts than even I could manage. I would not answer any of their posts with anything but solid agreement if the expansion argument was a good one. But the fact is once you get less than 9 English clubs in Superleague you lose the SKY contract. [uI didn't say that Pearson and McManus did.[/u

My only argument left is if anyone thinks France is a way to grow our game then [uput four French clubs in the Championship and grow that[/u before kicking out English clubs that underpin the SKY contract.

[uIt's unfair to suggest I am anti-French or Anti-Canadian[/u, it's very simple - if you use Superleague as an expansion league you deplete the English game and risk losing that.......I may have argued that 50 times? Others may have argued I'm wrong 50 times - it takes two to make a tedious prolonged argument

I think you are more than a little confused as you state that you don't talk about North America anymore yet here we are on a thread about loop fixtures and you couldn't resist go back a couple of pages and re read what YOU have written re Perez and Gridiron and only coming on this thread with your reply because another had been locked.

This thread is about loop fixtures not substituting Wakefield, Castleford and Huddersfield with Toulouse, Toronto and Ottowa again it's YOU that mentions North America (although you don't apparently) and expansion.

BTW you lost me when you suggested that Cup Final crowds don't skew attendances and used them to advocate loop fixtures total nonsense.

That's a fair cop.

I will not mention North America ever again................................................

The point was that no matter how many times Leeds and Bradford played the crowds were enormous in RL terms

I don't want to see clubs playing each other so much, but at least the way it was done, and the result was more big crowds.

More money isn't "nonsense"........

This begs the question if we played 14 clubs in SL with a 26 round season would gate revenue rise or fall??

Thoughts??

Money isn't nonsense I never said that it was and in addition I don't think anyone thinks that there isn't a financial reward or indeed an appetite to play in a Cup Final and that's where your point loses validity in my opinion it's not really a loop fixture and you understand this despite denying it.

Here's an example using my own club as an example,

Warrington might play Wigan three times as regular fixtures, Home Away and either a loop fixture and or Magic, if they met in another game and that game was a CC Final or GF, would that crowd be larger smaller or about the same as the previous encounters?

If Warrington and Wigan didn't make those one off event games and thought well instead of having a week off we will upgrade the Locker Cup to a do or die fixture would that generate the same revenue as a CC or GF appearance?

As far as loop fixtures are concerned, I look forward to the big games but don't necessarily want more of them against the same opposition, familiarity does breed contempt, surely it's better to have more quality across a wider base.

Dont know about me learning an instrument but, you could certainly do with a new "theme".

As for "slagging off" Newcastle and London, get a bloody grip man.
I like London but, I have been watching long enough to know that their presence in SL just wont save the game.
Despite their brave campaign last time they were in SL, there is very, very little interest from fans down there.
Of course their is a myriad of reasons for this and their constant moving grounds and inability to put down proper roots is probably the main problem but, let's not pretend that they are the next big thing, they're not.
And Newcastle, despite their wealthy owner, have to prove themselves as a genuine Championship club.

It's ironic that you've spent 4 years slagging off overseas clubs and wanting rid of Catalan and Toulouse and yet both have proved to be good value in their respective comps but, dont let that get in the way of your jaundiced view of ALL overseas RL.

Anyway, you've managed to hijack another thread with your hatred of the French.

This one is titled "Loop fixtures".

Do you have a view on these or just want to slag off Catalan (again).