Past few seasons every promoted team except Leigh has struggled extensively once in Super League, this wasn't the case prior to 2007. Why has the gap between SL and the championship increased so much?
In 2002 we finished 7th in our first promoted season. This wouldn't even be feasible in Super League without having buckets of money.
The SL clubs rely massively on imported 'stars'. There seems to be very little required to verify them as actual top talent whereas at one time they had to be internationally recognised and even then the number per club was limited to ensure that our home grown talent still stood a chance.
Inevitably this increases the financial need of the SL clubs who, presumably, don't think that the loss of the Championship clubs or competition would harm their position or reduce the fans who follow the game.
The Championship supporters, sadly, don't bother to travel to away games in numbers so Championship clubs are pretty well dependent on Sky crumbs to maintain their club.
In many ways TV coverage of the Championship games could kill the game's live support with unstable 'game days'. The Sunday game day suits many supporters and re-introduces the traditional pattern.
TV always needs 'new' attractions and will eventually bin SL ( imo at any rate). We struggle to fill stands for finals or Magic Weekend, many watching at home! The steady reduction in TV contracts will stiffen SL's demand for cash and the rest of the game has no answer.
At the moment, as many have mentioned, this season's Championship is very competitive and is enjoyable to watch, clubs should be encouraged to make more of an appeal to the lost supporters, as Widnes is doing!
Funding to non-SL clubs has dropped dramatically over recent seasons. It's only a matter of time before Whitehaven, Worky, etc go pop without 'Money Men' getting behind them, and it ain't going to happen. Beaumont and the guy at Wakefield are few and far between. It appears that there is nobody with lots of money, with a passion for Widnes Vikings, and so we will continue to struggle for major investment.
Paulie xx
Not sure there are any actual overseas stars in SL anymore SG, we can't compete with the NRL salary cap and can't afford the top players anymore.
SL basically relies on players past their best with good reps or talented players with discipline issues who come over here to get their careers back on track. I can't see a long term future for full time RL in this country without Sky or a benefactor and considering the last 3 TV deals have been on reduced terms , it's unsustainable.
@sandgroper I agree with many of your points but hasn't this always been the case? I'd argue there are less "Aussie Stars! in the comp now they were 20 years ago.
I came across an interview with big Jim Mills in 1995 stating how no RL club can survive without been in Super League but even teams were still getting promoted and surviving in SL. That doesn't seem plausible in 2024, has the standard in SL really risen?
Funding to non-SL clubs has dropped dramatically over recent seasons. It's only a matter of time before Whitehaven, Worky, etc go pop without 'Money Men' getting behind them, and it ain't going to happen. Beaumont and the guy at Wakefield are few and far between. It appears that there is nobody with lots of money, with a passion for Widnes Vikings, and so we will continue to struggle for major investment.
Paulie xx
It is amazing how Wakefield are seen as the next best thing simply because they have money behind them, they have had woeful crowds for 20 years.
Not sure there are any actual overseas stars in SL anymore SG, we can't compete with the NRL salary cap and can't afford the top players anymore.
SL basically relies on players past their best with good reps or talented players with discipline issues who come over here to get their careers back on track. I can't see a long term future for full time RL in this country without Sky or a benefactor and considering the last 3 TV deals have been on reduced terms , it's unsustainable.
Fully Agree, SL once had Andrew Johns, Steve Renoff, Menzies, Lyons, Gidley etc, any Aussie player worth his salt is on about £350k minimum in the NRL with best almost hitting a million quid.
Another distraction is that we see and have seen the NRL games live for ages now whereas in the era of Meninga etc we only heard reports, but clubs like Saints could afford a couple of Aussie 'stars' to boost attendances. Even clubs like Widnes could afford a couple to attract supporters but the Aussies weren't that much better paid.
When the Aussie game was sold to the TV giants their contracts exploded.
The success the British sides have had in the WCC is misleading I think, it’s a one-off game. Our SL sides wouldn’t be competitive in the NRL, I doubt any would be top 8 over the course of a season. If you watch SL/NRL games in succession, the speed and intensity of the games is a lot different.
When it comes to Aussie players over here, big name players came when the seasons didn’t overlap, it was more money for them. Now they’re on much higher contracts and the seasons are aligned. Plus, a top, top player isn’t going to give up an Origin chance, it’s the highest form of the game. If you look at the Aussie players here now, practically all either couldn’t make it consistently in the NRL or are after a 30+ pay day/extended contract. Look at the players Saints are signing for next season. SL is a lower standard than it was 20 years ago.
Over here, the gap between the standard of SL and the Championship widens every year because teams outside of the SL are gradually becoming worse off, and will continue to until they go out of business in a lot of cases. The RFL have ignored non-SL clubs for years. In fact, neither the SL nor the RFL really give a monkey’s about any teams other than Hull x 2, Leeds, Wigan, Saints and Warrington. Unless you have a money man, you’ve got little or no chance. What has been allowed to happen to RL in Cumbria is a shame, used to be a hotbed for the game. That will never come back. Unless we get some money through the door at some point, we’ll be a Championship side for ever.
On a side note, it can’t be long till IMG get the bullet and SL/RFL have another re-think about where to take the game. Inevitable.
Looking back Lindsay did the game a massive disservice, moving the game to a summer sport - having said that fixtures start in February which is summer in Australia.
we lost big bank holiday fixtures - Boxing Day and new tears day
the Aussies won’t come as the seasons are aligned and as stated we get second class players now - saints signing a 32 year old winger for next season as a massive signing !
the RFL need to change the funding to clubs otherwise it will be 2 divisions within the next 2years
maybe all clubs need to go back to semi pro and spread the money more evenly
With the TV deal ever shrinking, by cutting the funding to lower level clubs to keep the SL money at a similar level they are slowly killing the clubs lower down the ladder.
I'm pretty sure they're happy with that as they probably don't see the benefit of the clubs in Championship and League 1. They would probably just see it as a wider net to sign even more academy players.
Or the Championship teams become somehow attached to the SL clubs as the NRL teams are.
A few big names that we saw are Anderson, Cleal, Shearer, and a young highly rated prop who retired early with a bad back injury.
Another little pearl today is that Wigan have overspent by £1.7 million!!!! So are the SL looking at their financial management or happy to let it happen so long as somebody stumps up!!!!
So you can over spend on the cap as long as you have a backer to bail you out. Dosnt seem fair
@hans-moleman they never overspent on the cap, they lost a shitlload of money which the owner underwritten.