interesting point starbug. there is definitely a different process in getting people to play and getting people to pay. Indeed i would say they are two completely different cultures that sometimes overlap.
I do think however that pariticipation impacts in two different ways: one it injects rugby league into conversations, makes it part of the fabric of the area - a kinda of softening up so that efforts to generate support or awareness of the professional 'speccie' side isnt being sown in totally unfertile ground. Also: the best of those participating get professional terms and play for the local professional side are able to represent the area creating and deepening peoples attachment to the side. We've never had an established, top tier team for those players to go to. This will be the crucial difference in turning participation into support.

when it comes to comparisons i'd like to be compared to all other teams averages with their main derbies taken out. of course doing this would expose a weakness of the game that some people would rather not reflect on, headline figures are much nicer.

Derbies?? Aganst Toulose, Gateshead, Barrow, Whitehaven, -Workington (CC)????? Not exactly Derbies are they???
Widnes isn't exactly on the doorstep and from Rotherham isn't much further than s wales for the away game!

I'm happy for you to take away the crowds that Sheffield, Batley and Donny have on our average attendances........given the amount of away support it'd probably increase that average!!!!

Don't let the diversion of the M62 distract you though!!!!

So definitely not a true RL supporter then.

eh? How do you make that out! I watched and supported the game for 36 years since I was a lad of 12. And this from an area devoid of RL!!. But the way the politics of the game has removed opportunities for my club, I've become very insular in my attitude. Yet for the forums sake, you interpret that as not being a true supporter???


if you like!

Crowds will rocket once you guys start winning, which will happen as once you sort the leaky defence out the team isn't bad at all.

No he's a true Featherstone Rovers RL fan , in the same way as I'm a true Leigh Centurions RL fan

He is also a fan of the clubs that his team play as he watches them

As I am as long as they are all playing to the same set of rules , and if not to the same rules at least I know what set they are playing to

A holyer than though attitude seems a bit prevelant within the ranks of the fans of clubs in SL , maybe that is one of the reasons he has little interest in your clubs and their competition

oh give over this martyr crap gets on my nerves after a while. whatever the good or bad of rfl decisions its based on some sort of understanding of the reality of a minor sport trying to survive in a difficult set of circumstances. the idea that the rfl have just decided to persecute poor old fev or leigh is childish nonsense. obviously the heart and soul of the sport is in the vast array of smaller and amateur clubs but the rfl has a difficult job of balancing that against the growth and prosperity of the code as a whole. not a task i envy.
as to rotherham fev: i didnt read your post properly, i was talking about comparing us against the other superleague teams with their many derbies taken out, we are an outpost trying to bring new people and new players to the sport. some leeway should be given but i dont expect some people will ever accept that so we will just have to get on with it.

I think that's kind of missing the point. The derbies are a fundamental part of the appeal of heartland teams. Not to say they are set in stone, but just ask the good people of Humberside how energised the city is by a genuine competitive rivalry being re-established.

I was/am against franchising, though deifniteley not against expansion. My fear for CC was and is that the grassroots and fanbase have not been established sufficiently to support a SL club at this point, and while the great success of the colts is a lift, that doesn't mean that CC were right for a franchise this time around... the lack of derbies and the likelyhood of long, losing runs must surely have been a consideration in the first place.

But... while we're being controversial and exploring the point... I wonder if it might have been better to have TWO teams, a Swansea side and a Cardiff side, playing in the NL, to create exactly the kind of local rivalry and, therefore, coverage, that the sport enjoys elsewhere.

At grassroots level it works in my region... Jannerboy, you of all people will appreciate the significance of Exeter Centurions' last minute win over Plymouth Titans in the SW Nines semi final this weekend

PS...are you in Wales or do you want to get involved in SWRL? PM me if you're still in the westcounty.

PPS.. why couldn't Argyle get relegated and reinstate that particular derby game next year

U SUK

fair enough response.
to be fair to the rfl i genuinely think they want to see a flourishing championship, a strategy that makes perfect sense and is more then possible. i get sky sports next month and i look forward to seeing the thursday night game, i really enjoyed being in the national leagues, i miss it in some ways and not just cuz we won all the time.

But it's the NL club and it's fans that are being used as the stake in the rfl's gamble - not the crusaders!


So fans across the NL are being asked to "get behind the crusaders, forget that your club has been dumped on"???????
errrrrrrrrrrrr, no!!


I can see how some fans may identify the celtic club as the focul point for their angst, as that club has been the beneficiary of the direction the game is being taken in.
I think it is important to identify that my wholehearted disatisfaction is levelled at the RFL. I don't give a toss about the crusaders as a club. If they fail they fail. If they succeed they succeed. C'est la vie. My constant ramblings are unlikely to change matters but I'll never stop asking the questions I believe deserve an answer!