Quote inverse snobberyThey seem incapable of realising that before Toronto or New York can become a reality we need a solid foundation. Currently most championship clubs are dying. We have so far failed to spread the games popularity as far as Sheffield let alone London! Why on earth do these people think that long term Toronto and NY is a goer!'"
Personally, my view is that it is precisely because we are struggling to spread the sport past Sheffield that the sport needs to look to new markets, where the challenges that face the sport in much of the UK aren't present - such as places like North America.
Quote inverse snobberyIn fact I'll tell you why, they are snobs who are ashamed that their sport is a northern sport watched predominantly by working class northern folk. I like many rejoice in that but not the lads who went off to University and now think they are smarter than those who didn't and thus refuse to accept that most of us are happy with our own intimate and unique and not so little game.'"
Firstly, this sort of "inverse snobbery" is just as bad as the "snobbery" that you accuse others of.
But secondly, I have no problem with the roots of the sport - I genuinely don't. I was introduced to the sport via its tradtional roots, and it is nothing to be ashamed of. Indeed, I look with pride at some of things that this community of sports fans do, such as the way they ralied around Matt King, Steve Prescott or the Jones family in 2015, and feel that few other sports could do that in the way that we did.
But what I don't want to see is our top talent feeling that they need to change sports or move to the other side of the world to earn their worth, because clubs continue to vote to impose real-terms cuts to their earning potential. I don't want to see those players have to train play in facilities that other sports comdemmed 20 years ago, and I do want to see us producing and attracting the best talent that we can, to put on the best possible entertainment that we can. If I didn't, I'd just go and watch the amateur game, along with other "working class folk", and save myself a lot of money in the process.
What expansionists like myself are arguing is that when you take a pragmatic look at the current situation that the sport finds itself in, rather than through the sepia-tinted spectacles of yesteryear, there are problems. We're losing supporters, our support base is ageing faster than the rate at which the country is ageing, we're losing players, we're losing revenue, we're declining off the field and we're not keeping up with our competitors.
Much of that can be attributed to the decline of the traditional working class in many other walks of society, but that is the reality in which we live in today, and RL is not immune from that.
I get that North America represents a leap into the unknown - a degree of uncertainty. My argument is that that particular uncertainty is the better option than the certainty that we currently have - a further decline in crowds, a further decline in the player pool and a further decline of the sport whilst those around us get stronger and stronger.
I'd love to think that we could redress the problems we face by persisting with what we have, but try as I might I can't see it. And what's telling is that those who decry expansionism don't seem to have an answer either. Their response is just "we're happy with what we have", "it is what it is" or "it's all the RFL's / Nigel Woods' fault".
Quote inverse snobberyYou want to emulate the NRL then fine but do what they did, spend decades sorting out the grass roots. Making the game strong at every level, producing fans and players. Make Rochdale and York as strong in there own way as Leeds or Wigan.'"
And how do we do this? It's down to Rochdale and York to bring themselves up to that level, rather than bring those above them down or to rely on an increasingly dwindling (in real terms) pool of central funding. It's down to clubs to engage with their communities to increase the talent pool and to develop players through high quality academies that offer the right facilities, the right player welfare and the right "after rugby" support. I don't envisage a situation where enough clubs could offer that.
As a Leeds fan it's arguably in my interests to retain the status quo. The team I support will keep attracting a better share of the limited talent, and will keep getting to Grand Finals, whilst smaller clubs will keep being happy fighting for the few crumbs that there are and doing what they can to keep HMRC and the administrators at bay for another month. But I don't think it's "snobbish" in the slightest to think that the sport can be better than that.
