Neil Hudgell, Hull KR owner, is threatening to withhold further funding for the club until he gets assurances about promotion and relegation. He also suggests that:
“This is a chance to restructure the whole game. The professional game cannot afford two executive bodies [Super League and the Rugby Football League run as two separate entities], and it cannot afford 30-plus professional clubs. We need a streamlined sport where only clubs with top-league ambitions are professional. We need a united front and we can best do that as one whole entity.”
Is this just his way of saying that the Sky money should only go to the 12 SL clubs, of course, after the threat of relegation is removed from his club and let the rest of the game fade away with no funding.
His suggests that the professional sport should only include "clubs with top league ambitions" and also that the game cannot afford 30 plus professional teams. There is a contadiction here in that most, if not all, of the Championship and League One clubs must have ambitions to reach SL, particulalrly clubs like Widnes, Leigh. Toulouse, Featherstone, Bradford, Halifax, York and no doubt others. I am sure the so called expanionist teams in North America also have such ambitions.
I agree that money from the game is wasted by paying for two executive bodies. Can the game afford to pay Directors, Executives, coaches and players contracts worth £100,000 plus? Why not a salary cap of say £50,000 with a higher cap for say two marquee players. Whilst this may preclude the signing of some overseas players, it may encourage the development of home grown players.
In my view, we need two competitive leagues, with promotion and relegation and funding distributed fairly between the two leagues, so that promoted clubs can compete and relegated clubs not being sent into financial melt-down. There should also be funding below that level down to the amateur game, to ensure development of the game at grass roots level for the development of future players. Whether or not the game can afford this, depends very much on whether clubs are full-time professional, semi-professional or a mix of both, the funding from televised games, attendances, sponsorship and other locally generated income.
I am also not sure that any priority should be given to bringing in teams from North America. Let them first develop the game in those countries.
Makes me laugh.....
Would he have been saying that when Hull KR were in the Championship?
Why should Rochdale or Batley get folded to save Hull KR? (or Widnes for that matter?)
All part of the politics to stop relegation....
Can you see any benefits from allowing clubs to approach players in May this year?
If, by any chance we get to finish this year's fixtures at all how will players already going away be able to give their best?
I just hope that our club, and players, stick together for next year. If not it could destroy what we have managed to preserve.
Can the game afford to pay Directors, Executives, coaches and players contracts worth £100,000 plus? Why not a salary cap of say £50,000 with a higher cap for say two marquee players. Whilst this may preclude the signing of some overseas players, it may encourage the development of home grown players.
Whilst not disagreeing with most of your points, I think the highlighted bit is most important.
Everyone on here went mental at Rule et al for taking a fortune that the club couldn't support, which is absolutely correct. The exact same should apply to the entire RFL board. Some of the numbers bandied about are eye watering and they should also have a salary cap for their wages.
This is from 2 years ago! The total remuneration of the chief executive’s senior management committee is £905,000. In what other professional sport does the committee pay itself such a high % of the average clubs yearly turnover, and more so for this enormous sum what the hell do these clowns achieve? 0
Should be scaled back in terms of wage and numbers, as they could clearly do no worse than at present. Disgraceful, but these clowns will make sure they're paid (Minus a small pay cut) during all this turmoil.
Fat Nige was on £300k and I would guess that Rimmer won't be on less! The main gain for leaving the May date operational could be that the RFL won't need to change anything.
The worry is that the game could go into freefall. As has been suggested now is the time to think things through ( USA/ Canada etc) and look at the games wider image.
Steady on DD, winter rugby? (Lol)
Rugby League is a cancerous odious sport, a game once built on socialism and unity but now a game that full of selfish, deplorable people who put their l and their clubs interest ahead of the game it’s self.
I do think, if you want the likes of Toronto and the French clubs then they should create a world league separate from Super League.
The Championship is a great league in its own right and is very competitive with a good standard of entertainment. It's also more self sufficient and sustainable than SL as most teams are part time and players have full time jobs to fall back on.
I could understand it if the Champ was full time, but it isn't. If clubs have 1,500 to 3,000 fans willing to buy season tickets or pay £20 to watch games then the club's have every right to pay the players some of that money.
The American idea is stupid, they should be encouraged to develop an American league with American players. They can then get the international game going and also the top team's could possibly be involved in a world championship tournament in years to come if they get to a good enough standard.
The RFL needs to raise the games profile in the UK to attract more sponsorship opportunities and get a better TV deal. You can then raise the salary cap to compete with the NRL and Union to increase the quality of imports from those leagues. This will again raise the profile yet further. The best way to do this is by putting more emphasis on the international game and less of the selfish short term club centric attitude we have seen for too long.
How much attention does domestic cricket or rugby union get? Virtually none but when it's England it's all over the news and press. And when England play in a football tournament, people with no interest suddenly get involved.
If you do have to expand the game then you have all of Scotland, Cumbria, Ireland and the whole of southern England so why mess about with America and Canada that are absolutely miles away, have no existing player pool and have no chance of generating any kind of away support.
The Government has given a £16m loan to keep the sport going.
Great, and will help the sport tremendously in keeping going, but how in the hell will this ever get paid back?
The Government has given a £16m loan to keep the sport going. Great, and will help the sport tremendously in keeping going, but how in the hell will this ever get paid back?
That should cover Toronto's wage bill for 3 months or so.
Sonny Bill's wage bill at any rate.
My first thought was they'll all be aftrr a bail-out now but listening to Rimmer on Today this morning he made the very fair point that this help is recognition for the social investment put into local communities by clubs - academies, RL Cares, Offload and all the other things the clubs do.
I've no idea whether the likes of Pontypridd or Crawley Town do similar things in their sports. And anyway, how much of this loan will get gobbled up by the Hull KRs and Wakeys of this world is anyone's guess.
Interestingly Rimmer also mentioned a reshaping (he might have used a slightly different term) of the game but the journo didn't pursue it.
Just amend the laws of the game, back to the future if you like, and reinstate the law that prohibited any player from relying solely on RL for his income.
In simple terms, you have to have a job! In effect for most players in the postwar era it meant that the player could double his 'normal' income. Of course most players were manual workers at that time, but possibly that would apply to teams like ours.
The RFL could still negotiate for TV coverage, hopefully on a competitive basis.
Who knows, it might allow us to qualify for a 7 a side team in the Olympics!!!
I like the idea of RL being Semi-Pro in principle, In the 25 years before SL different teams were able to win the league and other cups, not just us or Hull KR but even the likes of Dewsbury and Bramley. Compare that to the 25 years of SL.....
That being said, there would surely have to be an acceptance that the best players would go to Union or the NRL and that any England International Team would be picked from NRL players.
But I can't honestly see McManus and Hetherington going for that, they would be more likely to advocate a closed shop 10 team SL than go PT.
Fair enough, so long as they are happy to go it alone, with only the same handout as anyone else.
Even now our top players don't earn as much as top RU players but there doesn't seem to be a massive rush to poach from the SL.There seems to be more interest in coaches etc.
Who was the last one? Burgess? Charnley? Didn't work out well. I would agree that as a general rule our youngsters are much better skilled but the RU don't seem to use or need those skills.
Even the Paul bros weren't appreciated in their day.