I am a 54 year old bloke who has been a total rugby league fan since my dad used to take me to games when i was a nipper . i have seen some desperate times at my club Dewsbury but i have also witnessed some highs as well , i will never forget winning the championship with dewsbury beating leeds at odsal when i was 17 .
This morning i have been reading your forum and one post got me really thinking , it was this one .
" Coming off the ground last night, listening to the moans of the crowd who had been subjected to yet another poor performance. I realised that I wasn't really bothered. When we had promotion and winning the GF was paramount, I would have been devastated last night, it would have taken me days to get over it. But today, I'm just not really bothered. Nothing has changed. We weren't going into SL anyway. All it means is we don't have to suffer another match next Friday. That is the most worrying thing I think. If I feel like that, someone who has watched Leigh home and away for over 40 years, how do the casual fans feel?"
I think this fan has hit the nail on the head ,from the last ten years or so or really since the inception of super league my anticipation and of games has diminished markedly and one thing that has certainly happened is that clubs have been politicaly set against other clubs in order to try to improve their own lot .It used to be the case that when a big or important game was coming up that i was on edge for days beforehand almost desperate for the thrill of the match . That feeling has largely gone , i was putting it down to getting older but that aint the case . The reality is that since the poisoned dwarf instigated the news corporation deal and formed super league the authorities running the RFL have beaten the crap out of non super league clubs to the extent that the clubs and the supporters on the outside are on an ever accelerating spiral towards oblivion with currently little hope of the situation being reversed .
The game of rugby league is somewhat of a laughing stock amongst supporters of other sports who cannot believe that there is a proffessional sport with no promotion or relegation into or from the top tier , some of my work collegues who live in nottingham and are soccer supporters cannot believe that the clubs stand for it and do not rebel .
It is a fact that espescially in these recessionary times running a RL club is totally unviable financially and eachand every club is on its backside and in some cases relying on benefactor handouts to conduct its business , without those handouts those clubs would be indeed in a parlous state .
I fear that the situation will get worse in the near future and we are at risk of seeing the demise of some long established clubs both in super league and ouside as well and i do not have a clue as to how the situation can be reversed .
I firmly believe that the only way that the RFL can stop the rot is to form a radical plan involving ALL the member clubs of the RFL reinstating promotion and relegation but reorganising the distribution of sky monies for the benefit of ALL the clubs and making the salary cap more constraining all the way down the rugby league ladder so that the richer clubs cannot cause over inflation of player wages throughout the game , much as what the poisoned dwarf did at wigan during the eighties turning 20 grand players into 80 grand players . Clubs should also be made to invest more in producing young players and cutting down on the overseas imports thereby giving a better chance to produce quality homegrown talent rarther than squandering good money on holidaying antipodeans .
I would like to read other fans thoughts on the subject and i look forward to revisiting this thread later .

He's currently poisoning Preston FC now

Interesting to note as well the increase in crowds in the kick and clap premier league who do have P&R and is a winter based program.

I agree Super League is killing the fabric of the sport and the alright jacks in our game should hold their heads in shame.

On reflection Leigh improved immensley on last season so progress made.

But to be honest even if Leigh would have won the grand final, I firmly believe it would not have got them into the promised land.

possibly oh well onwards & upwards...... eventually LOL

When Uncle Mo launched SL he made a direct quote about concentrating on the elite and getting rid of the "dross clubs" from the game. At least he was honest about it.

The current Red Hall incumbents are much more sneaky and are continuing Mo's philosophy through stealth. It'll take a bit longer but they'll get their wish in the end.

I honestly dispair at how so many people have been taken in by the Lewis & Wood show. Its all smoke and mirrors, despite all of their "innovations" there has been very little actual change in the overall status of the game. Media coverage seems to be getting even worse, the majority of clubs are still struggling financially (even some of the top ones), there are still dozens of average overseas players trotting about in SL, we've made little progress internationally, but its fine because people keep telling me that Richard Lewis is the game's saviour and is doing a fantastic job. This is the same Lewis who people describe as the successful ex head of the LTA, yet people in the LTA describe him as someone who spent a fortune and achieved very little progress for British tennis. Move over David Copperfield, you're an amateur illusionist compared to this guy.