I don’t think this point gets mentioned enough but how do people expect the game to thrive when all the glory is essentially shared by a maximum of four clubs.
What is the appeal for the young Wakefield, KR, Hudds, Widnes, Leigh, Salford, Halifax fan etc, to follow their team home and away knowing they haven’t seen their team to gain any sort of success nor are they ever likely to.
As a result, we lose fans to football in these towns including ours, while Wigan, Saints, Leeds and co, continue to dominate the game and consolidate their large fan base.
The game has been slowly regressing since 1995 when Super League and a move to Summer Rugby was confirmed to start the following year.
The game prior to that wasn't awash with mega money, but it was ticking over quite nicely.
Had Super League not come to fruition, Wigan's dominance in the game at the time, would've come crashing to a halt soon after due to massive financial problems.
But, I suspect Maurice Lindsay knew this a good while prior, hence the reason why he was so in favour of it.
I think there is too much focus on 'competitor' sports and events:
RU has more money. Cricket is a national game. Football is the Number One.
RL should focus upon and embrace its strengths which are the players themselves and the community representation that it provides.
I think there is too much focus on ‘competitor’ sports and events: RU has more money. Cricket is a national game. Football is the Number One. RL should focus upon and embrace its strengths which are the players themselves and the community representation that it provides.
Rugby League was more than holding its own prior to Super League.
Unfortunately due to too much self interest and greed, the whole game (Amateur game included) is now kneeling at the mercy of our puppetmasters (Sky Sports).
The more the game gets squeezed by Sky, the more irreparable damage is done to its foundations.
The only clubs that will survive are those with rich backers (Wigan, Saints, Leeds, Warrington and Hull), whilst the rest of us cling to the wreckage...
I think there is too much focus on ‘competitor’ sports and events: RU has more money. Cricket is a national game. Football is the Number One. RL should focus upon and embrace its strengths which are the players themselves and the community representation that it provides.
I absolutely agree with this. For years what made rl great has been completely discarded in search of pointless expansion that has continued to fail. The Manchester area has lost its appetite for RL as a result and Cumbria can say the same.
Reaching back to my point, what is the attraction for fans outside say 5 clubs, who haven’t seen their team win a major trophy for decades and will very unlikely ever see it happen. If Saints, Wigan and Leeds had lean periods in terms of success, their large fan base will survive, if a team like Wakefield suddenly has a “few years” of success, suddenly Rugby becomes attractive in the town again. In the NRL, success is largely shared out between a wide-variety of teams and the game over here will regress unless the game grows for the smaller teams.