Speaking of away support the Crusaders have sold more tickets than ever for an away game. They have sold 250 tickets already for the Warrington game. I know it's still a low number but it shows that the location in Wrexham may have a positive effect on gates.

rlhttp://www.crusadersrfl.com/article.php?id

I'd argue that the situation in south Wales was pretty exceptional and that the Welsh RL/club's hand was forced. Fortunately there aren't too many Leighton Samuels knocking about and hopefully the club will have learned many valuable lessons form the whole experience.


Fully agree. Sale getting relegated would be a disaster for rugby union in the region. If they go down I really can't see them coming back up anytime soon.

A club in the middle of the three is a complete non starter for a few reasons. I have lived and worked near Windermere and Ambleside so have seen the area you suggest first hand.

There are no large population centres in these areas, they are filled with small towns (not much larger than villages in some cases) with small populations and villages and the size of these is restricted by the landscape so there is not a large potential audience to draw fans of this cumbria club from.

Fans would have to come from this area though in the main as it takes as long to get from Whitehaven and Workington to the Ambleside area as it does to get from Wigan, Warrington or St Helens to Ambleside and is an awkward journey. Fans from Whitehaven and Workington would not want the hassle of travelling miles to support a club they have little affinity with as even if they lost their semi pro clubs there are still many amateur clubs in the area that they could more easily see. Similarly why would the fans of Barrow want to travel into the middle of the Lake District or put up with the RFL disbanding their club (in the league since 1900) in favour of creating one miles away that is harder to get to for away fans with a smaller population rather than helping them get the stadium up to scratch. They would be alienated.

The area you suggest also has the problem of being within a National Park and so is subject to strict regulations regarding planning, building and alteration. Even if there were a site large enough to allow for a stadium of SL standard along with all the necessary infrastructure it is unlikely that it would recieve planning permission. There is a RU club in Ambleside but they play on what is basically a field with rugby posts at either end.

The only way cumbria will get a club that meets the standards is if Barrow can get a new stadium and then meet the other criteria and enter as Barrow or if a new club was started in Carlisle leaving the other three as they are in CC and CC1. A merged club won't happen and would fail anyway within 18 months you would have a white elephant stadium in the middle of nowhere and three phoenix clubs in Barrow, Whitehaven and Workington.

Basically agree with me then. I thought of Carlisle but i was trying to stick to the original points of speaking of mergers and Carlisle is a long way from the other 3.

The Irony is somebody did try to form a Cumbria side, and somebody did tell Warrington and Widnes to merge. The same person also suggested the 2 Hull clubs should merge and form 'Humberside' (which nobody from Hull would ever have classed themselves as belonging to).

This forward thinking genius was Maurice Lindsay while chairman of the RFL and negotiating with Murdoch about the formation of Super League.

You know, the same guy that can indirectly be blamed for our big financial problems and losing all our best players......

It's funny how 15 years later things go full circle.

Extend the league to 18 and have a relegation playoff at end of season as well as the winners playoff. Relegation to championship every season instead of this license bull, excitement at both ends all season.