Embarrassed to be a Leyther.

Quote: Scooter Nik "I know I'm going to get torn to peices for this post, but it has to be said. I'm not even going to come back to defend myself, not because what I am saying is indefensible but because I'm sick of going over the same ground with the self congratulatory little clique on here, and know that no matter what is said, whatever suggestions are made, some people will never get over the great big chips on their shoulder. I'm getting more than a little sick of the knowing ss and finger pointing exhibited by a small handful of narrow minded posters on here.

Firstly Crusaders... Two different companies have been involved here, the second one inheriting the first ones debts due largely to the RFL insisting that the business had to be sold quickly to keep them in SL. I'm not suggesting that the RFL is blameless in that aspect, but to then wish a fellow RL club ill, and to fold, is completely beyond the pale. If this club should struggle financially through it's own mismanagement then yes, let it fold. But to hope that it doesn't even get that far is just sick.
Change the situation... imagine that AT walks out on LCRLC and leaves us up poop creek and owing thousands to HMRC, with no way to pay it off. What would you prefer? That LCRLC folds, and a new club works it's way up from the depths of the conference (as has been suggested that Crusaders should do) or that a new owner is found quickly that enables us to continue to play at this level, debts paid or no? I know that the self righteous amongst you will insist that you'd rather we paid our way in the Conference than dodged their debts, but you know, and I know, that you don't mean it.

Secondly, promotion v licencing. Firstly, some of you may have noticed that I've pretty much stopped defending licencing on here. Not because my opinion has changed, because to be honest, it's not really worth arguing with people who don't actually know the difference between a licencing system and a franchising one, you're only showing your ignorance.
That said, lets get this one out of the way.. I'd prefer p&r any day. Unlike those who can only see 'the British way', I'm willing to accept that the game cannot survive with it. Look at what happened to Leigh last time we were promoted, it nearly broke the club. It wouldn't just be us, it would be pretty much every club that was 'lucky' enough to win promotion. The gulf between a semi professional club like ours and an established SL club is huge, and without the one season of grace given there would be no surer way of completely bankrupting any club that made the transition. If you want to see Northampton playing in SL then wait 20 years as they will be getting promoted as every other club will have been bankrupted by succesful promotion.

Next up, Sky TV. No, I don't like having them involved in the game, but the game couldn't survive without it, and for them to have a marketable product, then we need to accept that they have a loud voice in the game. If you want to trace this back far enough, then the root cause is with (of all people) Wigan RLC and their purchased domination of the game back in the 80s. Without that domination of the game by them, there wouldn't have been the need for other clubs to attempt to bankrupt themselves trying to play catch up. The answer should have been to introduce a salary cap back then at semi professional levels, but sadly the stable door was well and truly bust open by this time and it was too late to close it. At the end of the day, professional RL is here to stay, and the money has to come from somewhere.
Sky isn't a charitable organisation for the support and furthering of smaller sports, it is a commercial business, and sadly that is the bottom line. 'He who pays the piper calls the tune' to coin a phrase.

Attendances. Oh, I love this one... trying to attach the decline in RL crowds to licencing. Despite crowds falling in every other sport - even football away from the Premiership - it has to be the fault of licensing in RL. Nothing to do with people finding other ways of spending their money, no - these thousands of people have sat down and though "You know what? I don't agree with this licencing malarky andso I'm going to stop watching my RL club that I have supported through thick and thin". Read that again, and think about how absurd it sounds.
People these days have many other leisure options in front of them, and less money to spend on them. RL is only a game at the end of the day. It isn't the be all and end all of life. I don't attend Leigh as often as I used to due to changing crcumstances in my life. I get there when I can, but I can no longer justify a 250 mile round trip once a fortnight to watch some mediocre rugby. It's nothing to do with licencing, it's entirely to do with the product. Once upon a time I was there week in, week out. No longer. I, and I assume many others, are sick of the game that is shown to me week in, week out. Give me a team to watch that is worth the £50+ that it now costs me to attend and I will become a regular again, but until then I will pick my games.
The bottom line is that attendances have fallen because people have less free cash. You may possibly have noticed that we're in a recession at the moment, maybe it has escaped your attention. This leads to a tightening of belts and a saving of money.
It is nothing to do with an unpopular decision (that I still believe will be proven right) by the RFL to introduce licencing.

Thats all... had to get that off my chest. Thanks for reading it, feel free to tell me I'm wrong, that I don't know what I'm talking about, whatever... I'll not be returning to this thread as I know that the narrow, blinkered minds out there will not accept any other explaination for the games ills other than:

"Traditional RL

You sir are a sensible human being.
Im not even going to bother reading the rest of the thread but just to tell you I cannot believe a person from Leigh sees a spade as a spade and doesnt call it a chimp.
Where are the rest of you???