Well are we really surprised in this again I think we should just try and enjoy the rugby in the Championship and get behind our team. There is many smaller clubs in this league and all we need is a few big investors from companies. A start is having a competitive team will get bums on seats to attract better players. The more money we can generate the better we can do overall. Some clubs only have a fan base no more than 800 fans so let's get behind the club and one day we might get lucky. Teams like Wakefield, Salford, Castleford, Leigh and Featherstone are not massive just kept competitive. We have 2 years to keep improving and if sign a few loan players we can get into the top 4 this year. I am staying positive and supporting my team whatever happens. 🥖🥖🥖👍
Said it before, if I was Barry Hearn's lad, whatever his name is, I'd work to finance the top 5 or 6 SL clubs and the top 5 or 6 Union clubs forming a breakaway of a new hybrid game. It'd walk sponsorship by the million (both games on their own are struggling), nick all the best players and forge a new path for rugby in general. The rest of us would then be left to a regional RL comp, maybe semi-professional, that would be miles better than the limbo bollox we're enduring now.
As it is, we're handing money to IMG for nothing, we won't see any change or progress, union is dying at the same rate our game is, so on.
It's not necessarily what I'd want but it'd work. Not much else will.
The whole business is pathetic, subjective, open to dishonesty and goes against the principles of competitive sport.
@sinbad Spot on Sinny- sounds like an absolute pile of dog crunchie. We’ll be screwed over big time. Once again, we should pass our best wishes on to the previous charlatans
I am trying to keep an open mind about all of this, I can see some logic in trying to establish top division teams in cities as they are looking at the potential for expansion into a larger market for fans/investment. The question is will it work? I’d put us in Category B but I’d also have 4 super league and 4 other championship clubs in that category.
York, Sheffield, Bradford and Featherstone aren’t expansion teams as have been around for years so that only leaves London, Newcastle and Toulouse as expansion clubs in the championship. They have to start with grassroots to make a sustainable future for the sport, all teams should have to do a community service to schools and amateur clubs in the community which I’m sure they do but could more be done, absolutely
Being a person of a more mature age (50s), I find myself more and more dealing with the 'modern life is sh*t' conundrum. I get that some of it is me getting old but it's undisputable that some of it is that life IS actually getting shi**er.
This IMG proposal falls into the latter category.
I know what you are saying but I tend to disagree GPO - if you lived 150 years ago, say, there was no welfare state, even given the chronic state it’s in these days. No health, schools, public transport, education, electricity, indoor toilets etc, etc, etc.
I do think though that each generation reaches an age where you hear yourself sounding like your grandad saying, it wasn’t this bad when I was a lad. What they (including me - rapidly reaching 70) really mean is that the younger generation - the ones in control - aren’t a#sed about our opinion. 😁😁
So the game is no longer about rugby if only 25% is about performance!! Just ridiculous and is stacked in favour of the likes of york London Sheffield newcastle losing faith with the whole sport
Catchment is only 10% of the scoring. Hardly 'stacked'?
So the game is no longer about rugby if only 25% is about performance!! Just ridiculous and is stacked in favour of the likes of york London Sheffield newcastle losing faith with the whole sport
Catchment is only 10% of the scoring. Hardly 'stacked'?
In addition we'd wipe the floor with all of those clubs in the larger % category of 'fandom' - our attendances rival some SL clubs and our digital presence / subscribership is higher than a number of SL clubs.
In the 'stadium' category (also higher %), only York and Newcastle would compare.
@northstar it's ten per cent more than we can achieve how can you have a grading on location? Which cannot be changed or improved it's ridiculous so it's ten percent less we can achieve than say London or midland hurricane the obsession with expansion is bizarre you can't have a sport that no one is interested in and force it to succeed has London not taught us that
and rugby union clubs going bust after stopping the promotion relegation shows as well a closed shop doesn't work sometimes you need to drop to rebuild
surely building 20 clubs up to the standard should be the aim and sharing the money to have two competitions that are solvent and competitive
If they did it properly they would judge on fans per percentage of population of the town, catchment area my arse that could mean anything. its just wasted money paid to them by the clueless RFL who should be investing it back into the game. It,s nothing more than a glorified franchise/licence system and we all know what happened to that and all the cheating, promises and backhanders that went on. Heres to Sky pulling the plug and fudge the so called big clubs when they tumble to their knees.
All a crock of crunchie and a very grey area on judging clubs. If the Premier league did this in Football Bournemouth would not be in the league on grading. Sport should be on achievement on the pitch all bullshit to suit the ones in charge. I am cancelling my Sky Sports for Rugby league and many others should too. Bunch of walkers who run the game and don't want Widnes at the top table. 💩💩
@northstar it's ten per cent more than we can achieve how can you have a grading on location? Which cannot be changed or improved it's ridiculous so it's ten percent less we can achieve than say London or midland hurricane the obsession with expansion is bizarre you can't have a sport that no one is interested in and force it to succeed has London not taught us that
and rugby union clubs going bust after stopping the promotion relegation shows as well a closed shop doesn't work sometimes you need to drop to rebuild
surely building 20 clubs up to the standard should be the aim and sharing the money to have two competitions that are solvent and competitive
Not looked at the figures but surely our catchment area is the same as Sts Wire Wigan Leigh as we are in the same 25 mile radius, so we should get the same score as these teams. If it's town/city population then playing the Halton Borough card would give us approx 130,000. Leigh is in Wigan, so what is their catchment?
Paulie xx
@pauliewalnuts I'm not saying it's just us it's like halifax can only reach 90% but London , hurricanes , newcastle can reach 100% you can't have a system where people can't reach the same marks based on a criteria which cannot be changed !!you can improve finance or stadiums etc but you can't improve locations unless clubs fold and only 2 in each area
Thanks to the previous regime Widnes won't see SL for the long term.I'm not bothered myself,past caring.Us old arses have been lucky enough to see Widnes winning cups at Wembley,Old Trafford and Anfield.Beating the Aussies,Kiwis and Canberra.We have those memories forever but not so great for the younger fans.
Same here Frank, the fact that one of the previous regime still sponsors a current player show how hard faced they are. They killed OUR club and they’ve not got a shred of guilt. Utter scum.
@northstar it's ten per cent more than we can achieve how can you have a grading on location? Which cannot be changed or improved it's ridiculous so it's ten percent less we can achieve than say London or midland hurricane the obsession with expansion is bizarre you can't have a sport that no one is interested in and force it to succeed has London not taught us that
and rugby union clubs going bust after stopping the promotion relegation shows as well a closed shop doesn't work sometimes you need to drop to rebuild
surely building 20 clubs up to the standard should be the aim and sharing the money to have two competitions that are solvent and competitive
Not looked at the figures but surely our catchment area is the same as Sts Wire Wigan Leigh as we are in the same 25 mile radius, so we should get the same score as these teams. If it's town/city population then playing the Halton Borough card would give us approx 130,000. Leigh is in Wigan, so what is their catchment?
Paulie xx
I'd actually argue that we should score more than Leigh - they are completely surrounded by Warrington, St Helens and Wigan fan areas. We have N Wales and Cheshire to go after. Likewise Castleford - completely surrounded by other clubs.