In what way is it in free fall? Attendances are probably than they were in the 70s and 80s, my only issue with the sport currently is that, the excitement level during games is decreasing, mainly due to how teams play. Financially, any player who truly loves the sport would be content to earn nearly three times the average working class wage.
In every way. – Reputation of the game has been irreparably damaged by multiple expansion failures. – The majority of Super League clubs are skint. – The majority of Lower League clubs are skint. – The game itself has become stale and boring, and unattractive to investors. – Cost of admission is pricing a lot of people out of the game. – The games 2 governing bodies (SLE and The RFL) don’t have a clue what they’re doing. – International game is a non-existent joke. – Amateur game is dying because people don’t want to play Summer Rugby. And that’s just off the top of my head…
Yes, all that is true, but other than that everything is OK! It really does need those running the game to have a long term vision of the game, which includes the game at all levels and not just SL; and to consider how best to use central funding for the benefit of the game as a whole and not just a few clubs.
That's like your house burning down, and saying its alright because the foundations are ok 🤣🤣🤣
Only problem is, the foundations of the game are not ok, and the root cause is the incompetency of the game's governing bodies.
The same governing bodies that are entrusted to protect the game for future generations to cherish are the ones making sure it's consigned to the history books.
The title of this thread is misleading.
In economic terms, Rugby League is, supposedly, a professional commercial business. The aim of most businesses is, basically, to make a profit. Investors expect a return on their investment and employees expect payment for their work.
At the moment potential backers, investors and employees of this business see more lucrative opportunities elsewhere. As a result the standard of management has and still is falling. This in turn means the business is even less attractive to backers and potential employees which has become a laborious downward spiral.
As the quality of the business has suffered existing customers (spectators) have found alternative forms of entertainment and potential ne customers never get as far as going to a match. And repeat the cycle, over and over.
Sinbad’s post earlier in the thread is spot on- take the game back to where it came from. It survived quite nicely for a hundred years without the need to either force expansion or try to be something it clearly isn’t.
Wade Deacon got to the Wembley final about 2/3 years ago. I know from an educational point of view the change to summer is not ideal as it clashes with the run up to and sitting of exams, so maybe that puts some kids/parents off around the age of 15/16. Finney said we had barely any Primary School age season ticket holders, which I think is of massive concern though!
When i was that age all kids who played RL in the junior schools received a free complimentary ticket every week, you had to use just one turnstile at the top end of lowerhouse lane near the popular bar, Roger Harrison was the teacher who doled out our tickets each week, why cant the club do the same thing now ?
Because the parents of the kids aren’t interested anymore. Sad but true.
My Great nephew who is 8 plays in a team Halton Farnworth Hornets and there are 20 teams playing there. His team are unbeaten this season with one match left. So there are still quite a few children playing RL in Widnes, even if they aren’t playing as much at our schools.He is also a season ticket holder, but perhaps not everyone who plays there is, maybe the club should be targeting the children who play there, and trying to get them to come to the games, and bring their parents/Grandparents[/quote]
I have mentioned something on similar lines tbh. As a community based club we should be relating to the amateur game on our doorstep and looking at combined events like the club's Summer Camp. I hope that there is a much more co-operative Board now than it was previously and we will need 'the town' behind us if we are to manage without a sugar daddy!
In what way is it in free fall? Attendances are probably than they were in the 70s and 80s, my only issue with the sport currently is that, the excitement level during games is decreasing, mainly due to how teams play. Financially, any player who truly loves the sport would be content to earn nearly three times the average working class wage.
A player has a reasonably short career. If you know rugby and nothing else then if you're lucky you finish mid-30's and then have to start a new career again.
What do you class as the average 'working class' (Not sure what that has to do with anything!) wage, and how many people in Super League are on triple that?
£9 x 40hours x 50 weeks is 18k for minimum wage.
You make it sound like every player in Super League is on 54k, and should be happy.
The average salary is around £26.7k in the UK.
An average SL player may earn 30-40k more than that, but maybe only until the age of 32/33 and then they will generally revert back to closer to the national average wage, unless they have a particularly successful business or job.
I would doubt very much that an average Super League player is on 60k a year.
In fact I would say that at almost all clubs the vast majority earn a lot less than this, and only the best players are on that number or more.
In fact I would guess that a lot of squad players will probably only be on about the average UK salary of 26k a year
I googled it and what I found was a quote 5 years old from Phil Clarke saying that the average wage was 65k.
Weren't we supposed to be paying £80,000 to Marsh and my guess is that he was not amongst the highest earners at the club?
I googled it and what I found was a quote 5 years old from Phil Clarke saying that the average wage was 65k.
I know Sean Long was on £10k a month when he was at Saints (daft bugger dropped his wage slip in my Father-in-law's taxi 🤦🤣) And Star players will always get paid considerably more than your average squad / Fringe players, so £65k probably isn't that far wide of the mark.
The game can't afford that plus all the SL hangers on.
Nobody would begrudge a player a fair wage but SL gave the impression that you could earn enough to see you through to retirement, as soccer does.
Even the NRL only pays massive salaries to the star players.
You could try reading the “Ragged Trousered Philanthropist” RV.
The book is over 100 years old but still has resonance today.
@former-chemic Read it in my young socialist days. As you say it was written over a hundred years ago when there actually was a class distinction.