Level playing field

Quote: Rumpole "Why oh why does everyone on this and other sites go on about Gateshead.

As the owner of the club I read with interest the comments raised about our club and its special arrangements. I can tell you all (from the horses mouth) that Gateshead do not get any extra funding from the RFL. It has 8 possible players it can field from other countries but it actually has 3 used as the other players all have UK and or EC passports and could have played for any club in the competition using their status.

We are a developing club that has just passed its 10 year history mark who had one year in the SL and had its licence taken from it to go to Hull because they could not manage their finances so expansion in 1999 was given back to the heartlands due to mismanagment by a hearland club and some reward that was for failure!.

I come from the so called heartlands and have lived with the game for all of my 54 years and decided to go to Gateshead to support my son who played for them back in the dark ages when they were bottom of the then NL2. We are no longer in that era due to some good management, a bit of luck and a few quid lighter in my pocket.

We have come along way since those days and have invested both on and off the field to gain credibility. We won the NL2 cup on well within the salary cap and have survived this year under the same cap and the same rules as every other club in the competition. We are a developing club with little or no amature clubs around us but that is changing for the better. Expansion takes time.

No one likes to go down a step and we know what it is like in the NL2 lower league as we were there for so long. I wish the club well and hope that you do a Dewsbury.

Kind Regards

Steven Garside'"

I don't think the fans have a problem with Gateshead as such. The problem is with the RFL and the way expansion teams are treated compared to our own. The past failed attempts at expanding the game and the scandalous way Celtic Crusaders were fast tracked, has left a nasty taste in the mouth of heartland supporters and, as a result, expansion clubs are treated with a large degree of suspicion.

If expansion clubs were allowed to play as many quota players as they liked, but could only put licence bids in when they were competing on a level playing field with the rest of us, for the season prior to a bid, there'd be a lot less animosity and distrust of these clubs.

Surely it must be understandable even to you those Leigh fans, who have just lost a relegation battle with you, and have finished above Toulouse, and are still relegated, have every right to question why expansion clubs should be given such protectionist privileges? They had quota players turned down at the start of the season, and here Gateshead are with three!

They’re hurting, and quite understandably too.

I know Gateshead are not at fault, but you simply cannot demand respect from fans of a club which has fallen foul of advantages given to expansion clubs. Leigh are a great old club with a fine history, a decent level of support and a wonderful new ground. They produce an incredible amount of players, considering the size of the town, and would be a massive loss to the game, particularly in the lower leagues, should they now find themselves in trouble in CH1 and go out of business.

Until the RFL can behave in an honest and open manner, and bring through development clubs without it being detrimental to a fair competition and affecting heartland clubs ambitions so badly, it’s not going to be easy for clubs like Gateshead to gain the respect they feel they deserve. Suspicion and mistrust will always remain.

It’s the RFL who are to blame though. Nobody else.