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Quote: JB Down Under "which is an argument you could make for any expansion team outside the heartland areas. Hence why it has to be done when extra funding can be made available and that extra funding should come from the Tv deal which increases due to opening up new markets.'"



exactly,couldn't agree more

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Think of the cost of something essential like travelling to away games for a Scottish & Irish team playing in the championship with no crowds generating income. Ireland won't be interested especially given the competition from GAA and an established Union base. Look how much Scottish RU clubs struggle for crowds. If your going to expand that far outside the M62 corridor you need a ready made fan base ready to go like Catalan.

Its putting pins on a map/expansion for expansions sake.

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[quote="Bonzo":2nk0ihzz]Never mind all this journalism stuff you do, with such accuracy in hitting nails on the head you should be a joiner. :wink:[/quote:2nk0ihzz]:d7dc4b20b2c2dd7b76ac6eac29d5604e_4388.jpg



Quote: Toulouse for super L "I think it might take 5 years in Edinburgh to have a sustainable fan base and have a substantial number of home grown players in the first team.'"


Then you're an idiot.

How many current SL clubs are sustainable? A handful at most. The licence system is seeking to allow clubs to address that. Using Castleford as an example, we have used the licence system to focus on developing young players rather than spending a fortune on players to try and keep us in SL. This has reduced expenditure and last year I believe the club posted a small profit - that is growing sustainability from a strong base and 6-7k crowds.

How long would it take Edinburgh to get paying crowds close to that? A long time. London still can't do it after 30 years. They're growing slowly, as will Crusaders, who have been around for 6 years. Developing a sustainable fanbase (i.e. one that generates revenue for the club) takes a long, long time. London have hampered their efforts by moving around, but given solid roots at The Stoop and Wrexham, Quins and Crusaders should be able to grow. They won't be seeing 10k crowds for a long time yet, and the licence system is designed to allow teams the security to start developing and growing support and local players.

On the playing front. Scotland is a RL virgin in the public conciousness. I suspect the number of schools playing the sport competitively could be counted on one hand. You need to get kids excited about the game to want to play it, then you need to have enough of those lads playing the game to an international standard. That takes 30, 40, 50 years to have a consistent production line of talent - one only a handful of SL clubs have at the moment.

You cannot build a house on sand. It has to have solid foundations on which to stand. Chucking clubs into random locales and expecting immediate success simply doesn't work. It needs time, investment and commitment. How many more PSGs do we need before some people start to understand that true expansion is unlikely to be fulfilled in our lifetime? The best we can do is build the foundations and let our children see the fruit of that labour.

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Quote: Starbug "Why is it some idiots on here can only see RL expansion as SL clubs ?

Is the amatuer or Championship level not expansion ?

You could finance 4/5 Championship clubs for the cost of 1 SL club

Quite obviously to many SL is RL , and anything else is nothing , then they wonder why some of us seem a tad ' peeved ' with this'"

If you read my previous post I said clubs should start off in Championship 1, as South Wales Scorpions have done

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Quote: Starbug "When this ' big money ' comes in , who will get it ?'"

The clubs obviously, maybe then our game will be able to afford to keep players like Kyle Eastmond and Chris Ashton ect who are currently being poached

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Quote: JB Down Under "The Sl should only expand when the game can afford it and for strategic reasons. Extra money has to be pumped into a new expansion area to make it a success and if Quins and Crusaders (along with Gateshead, Paris etc ) have shown anything it is that the build it and they will come mentality doesn't work with RL as it does not have a big enough national/media profile.'"


You say its shown that is doesnt work, but last year Crusaders had a higher average attendance than Salford, a team with over 100 years history. Surely it is time we said Salford rugby league doesnt work?

I dont have a build it and they will come mentality. We need amatuers and school's playing the game, and the new clubs to have academys to get the best out of the local talent. This can be done while the club builds up from champ 1

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Quote: Toulouse for super L "If you read my previous post I said clubs should start off in Championship 1, as South Wales Scorpions have done'"


South Wales is a hot bed of rugby union in a way that nowhere else in the UK is. They managed to hit the ground running because of this: you only need look at Skolars or Gateshead to see that other areas find it tricky to get players sufficiently good enough to play in Championship 1. You can guarantee that either Dublin or Edinburgh would face a decade or so propping up the bottom of the table without major investment.

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Quote: Toulouse for super L "I wasnt saying these clubs should aim for super league, I was pointing out that there are rugby league clubs there as you stated there was not.'"


I don't mean to be nasty but those rugby league clubs are mostly rugby union players playing league in the union off-season. Nowt wrong with that but hardly comparable to the bigger BARLA clubs let alone semi-pro sides.

Quote: Toulouse for super L "
New clubs should be introduced at championship 1 level, as with South Wales Scorpions, initially financed by the RFL for the good of the game.
The best players from the current existing clubs can then move up to championship 1 level'"


The thing that you are missing is that the Irish and Scots clubs probably don't have more than a couple of players capable of making the step up who would be willing to relocate to Dublin / Edinburgh, travel a great deal and get paid less than they get to play union.

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kcab sfrawdder Luck is a combination of preparation and opportunity Just to avoid confusion Starbug is the username of Steven Pike SOMEBODY SAID that it couldn’t be done But he with a chuckle replied That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried. So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin On his face. If he worried he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn’t be done, and he did it!:9005.jpg



Quote: Toulouse for super L "If you read my previous post I said clubs should start off in Championship 1, as South Wales Scorpions have done'"



Like this

Quote: Toulouse for super L "We have far too many teams in the small northern towns, we need to make super league more european to bring in the big money and compete with onion on the international stage. The expansion id go for would be something like this

So you suggest that 3 years in the Championship is sufficient to move from '0' to SL ?

d040.gif

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kcab sfrawdder Luck is a combination of preparation and opportunity Just to avoid confusion Starbug is the username of Steven Pike SOMEBODY SAID that it couldn’t be done But he with a chuckle replied That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried. So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin On his face. If he worried he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn’t be done, and he did it!:9005.jpg



Quote: Toulouse for super L "The clubs obviously, maybe then our game will be able to afford to keep players like Kyle Eastmond and Chris Ashton ect who are currently being poached'"


You mean SL clubs ?

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kcab sfrawdder Luck is a combination of preparation and opportunity Just to avoid confusion Starbug is the username of Steven Pike SOMEBODY SAID that it couldn’t be done But he with a chuckle replied That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried. So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin On his face. If he worried he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn’t be done, and he did it!:9005.jpg



Quote: Toulouse for super L "You say its shown that is doesnt work, but last year Crusaders had a higher average attendance than Salford, a team with over 100 years history. Surely it is time we said Salford rugby league doesnt work?

I dont have a build it and they will come mentality. We need amatuers and school's playing the game, and the new clubs to have academys to get the best out of the local talent. This can be done while the club builds up from champ 1'"


More people might have watched them ? , lets see what happens next season ?

It is not unusual for any new business to get strong intitial interest [ pubs,clubs and the like , it is if it can be sustained like interest rates crowds can go down as well as up

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Quote: Starbug "Why is it some idiots on here can only see RL expansion as SL clubs ?


why are you contradicting yourself ? you rabbit on about TO not being worthy of a Championship place therefore implying that you don't want expansion in the Championship or lower leagues

Expansion means just that,in whatever league

Is the amatuer or Championship level not expansion ?

yes,obviously,if people like you will allow it to happen

You could finance 4/5 Championship clubs for the cost of 1 SL club


maybe,who knows ? maybe not.



Quite obviously to many SL is RL , and anything else is nothing , then they wonder why some of us seem a tad ' peeved ' with this'"


the vast majority of RL fans are general RL fans and will have the ambition and desire to see RL grow from the grass roots then watch it spread through the leagues,anyone who doesn't feel this isn't a true RL fan - don't try speaking for the majority on here


Happy New Year to you and all Leythers as well as any other fan who reads this icon_cheers.gif

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kcab sfrawdder Luck is a combination of preparation and opportunity Just to avoid confusion Starbug is the username of Steven Pike SOMEBODY SAID that it couldn’t be done But he with a chuckle replied That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried. So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin On his face. If he worried he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn’t be done, and he did it!:9005.jpg



Quote: sanjunien "]

the vast majority of RL fans are general RL fans and will have the ambition and desire to see RL grow from the grass roots then watch it spread through the leagues,anyone who doesn't feel this isn't a true RL fan - don't try speaking for the majority on here


Happy New Year to you and all Leythers as well as any other fan who reads this 4.71240234375:5
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