Nero (RFL) fiddled whilst Rome burned comes to mind. Does anybody know what Brian Barwick does to promote and increase participation in our game.

Toronto have received absolutely no financial assistance from the RFL, they are the only club who don’t receive any central funding and pay for away teams travel and accommodation. I don’t see what Barrow’s Whitehaven’s and Keighley’s financial problems have to do with Toronto. In fact when those clubs hosted The Wolfpack, they got their highest attendance in years,

And?

Who says that reserve teams are the best approach for player development pathways? Why are reserve teams suddenly a panacea to the games issues?

The lack of reserves certainly doesn't seem to be holding back young players at Headingley?

They have a reserve team - it's called featherstone, and rightly or wrongly it's likely to be worth over £1/2 million to the champ club

That is quite a simplistic generalisation which is highly likely to be unfair. Maybe they can add up, it is just that what money is coming in is less than the money going out. Have you any experience of budgeting, managing finances on a tight shoestring?

Fax have a reserve team and it works very well for us. The biggest problem for the reserve teams has been a lack of opposition clubs to play. Keighley one of the teams that we've played this season (three times I think) and they've not pulled out of fixtures at late notice (unlike some other clubs). Hence my point, which I made rather poorly first time round.

It’s not unfair at all. Read the article. The previous management either were too arrogant and had their heads in the sand or simply didn’t care and sodded off. You don’t sign players to extended contracts with associated wage rises when your income is going down. Also clearly not enough effort was put into increasing income as the new management were able to increase sponsorship/commercial income significantly.
You have forecasts for income generation, you can see what the trend has been over the previous time period, you adjust your income forecast and then your expenditure accordingly.

The club does not get in to the state it is by simply being a bit unlucky one season.

Those three clubs provide rugby league in the community via participation its not always about finances. Toronto will probably not contribute to the player pool for decades and we will probably see more clubs disappearing in the meantime.

The RFL is responsible for the image profile of the game through marketing and "big time sponsors" the clubs are providing the playing product and are struggling with the supporter base because the game is spiralled down to a "third world" sport.

The erosion of British Rugby League has well and truly set in. In ten years time there might be hardly any clubs existing outside SL, which is clearly what Eric Pollard and McAnus (and quite a few posters on here) want.

When the clubs take any major decisions in the game then surely they are at least equally responsible?
They are also responsible for their own finances and their own marketing and attendances.
It is the clubs that have taken more and more of the money in the game and yet their performance both on and off the pitch has not improved.

The RFL makes mistakes and isn’t how I would like it to be, however the blame for the current state of RL should be laid firmly at the door of the clubs past and present management in my opinion.

You are correct but its the RFL marketing model thats atrocious that doesn't give clubs a chance to increase finances. If the RFL are only good for Mushy Peas, Dacia, Foxy Bingo then we can't expect clubs in context to get the likes of Guiness, Landrover and Betwin.
Losing Barrow, Whitehaven, Keighley will eventually filter down to losing more Sport England Funding...... Lenegan is right in a way that at the moment the RFL are trying to do everything and are making a bad job of it, Superleague does't want to be dragged down to lower standards, so the game needs to be remodelled at both lower and higher levels otherwise we are going to get fragmentation on a big scale.

Why should it be laid firmly with clubs? If the only option available is central funding with restrictions.

If you want progression, then leave SL to their own devices. But for the sake of the game stop involving CH/L1 with pitiful pay offs.

The future without SL, is a start for the lower tiers.

Not sure how the RFL getting “inferior” sponsors affects Leeds/Wigan/Salford etc from getting their own sponsors. It is the clubs who are primarily responsible for getting their own sponsors and for increasing their own attendances. They take by far the biggest slice of income into RL and yet, for the most part, that is squandered.

I agree RFL marketing isn’t great and when it is good it’s not sustained or directed well. However if the clubs want the RFL marketing to be better then more money needs to go to the RFL and not the clubs.

Again, the clubs call the shots. They agree any major changes. They can’t then try and lay the majority of the blame at the RFL’s door.

What I’d blame the RFL for is allowing the clubs to have so much power. They’ve proven themselves totally inadequate at running the sport and indeed nearly killed it 20-30 years ago.

Congratulations Coventry Bears who got their record attendance of 1465 today

Congratulations to Bradford Bulls for taking a 1000 fans !