The fact remains that people with deep pockets like to be seen as such and 'saving' the club with a big donation makes them feel good.
However, if it becomes an on-going payment, increasing as Sky's deal gets less, big money men will demand more of a say in where it goes, how it is spent, and why it is necessary.
All correct people, we stay as we are and await the fallout - salfraud the first to go, the RFL are going to look even more than inept than ever
also their continuation to support bradfraud with their postage stamp pitch - absolutely absurd
stay out of it and enjoy our season
onwards and upwards
I've just heard that Darts has now been awarded a Sky TV deal which betters that of Super League.Darts.A pub game.SL is toast.
I've just heard that Darts has now been awarded a Sky TV deal which betters that of Super League.Darts.A pub game.SL is toast.
If SL is 'toast' then RL is toast at every level.
Paulie xx
If our founding father's had had that attitude RL would never have got beyond 1900!!!
Sure we need a new direction or sponsor to replace Sky and Sky has chosen a sport that TV has already butchered in year's gone by, as it did snooker. Darts will have its day once again, but it will go onto the scrap heap again eventually.
If we accept that SL crowds are improving it's not because of Sky its because the RL public are buying tickets. In that sense the game is growing. The game has hamstrung itself by overstaffing, that is self-evident. RU is also struggling to hit the TV screens. The sudden popularity of women's sport has caught many napping, now darts is in the frame!!!!
Meantime other broadcasters are hungry for something to show and Sky's reduction in cash input must make their competitors closer.
Let's face it TV output these days is pretty 'cheap', quiz shows offering minimal prizes or repeats of repeats of repeats. A live game, even on local TV would be a change at least.
As has been said on this board before, our game has been managed poorly for some time and requires a shake up. IMG is an expensive attempt at offloading the RFL/SL responsibility which has a long way to go, judging by its present attempt.
In a previous post I suggested that the games big donors will not put up with the poor administration for too log. They will draw the line and we might yet see a real re-organisation of our game.
We already are,down here in the second division playing in front of dwindling crowds and no way up for the foreseeable future.99% of the clubs in the lower leagues.Surprised you haven't noticed.Super League will be forced back to its natural level eventually,semi pro and part time.It's inevitable.The reduced Sky TV deals with clubs still spending what they want, is unsustainable.
If SL is 'toast' then RL is toast at every level.
People have said this since 1996 and it won't happen do you know how much the Moran's, Caddick's Danson's are worth ?. Salford are the club we should be aiming to emulate and should be applauded on how they operate and perform yet people are slandering the club unbelievable.We already are,down here in the second division playing in front of dwindling crowds and no way up for the foreseeable future.99% of the clubs in the lower leagues.Surprised you haven't noticed.Super League will be forced back to its natural level eventually,semi pro and part time.It's inevitable.The reduced Sky TV deals with clubs still spending what they want, is unsustainable.
If SL is 'toast' then RL is toast at every level.
@prisoner I'm not sure if you have read up on Salford, but in March 2024 they secured £315,000 from the council to help keep them going. I'm not sure how in these current financial times they managed that. They also sold Dupree to Wigan and Ackers and Croft to Leeds for transfer fees. A bit of a rarity in the modern game so well done to them for managing to get transfer fees.
However despite the transfer fees and council money they had to get an advance on the Sky money in November 2024 for £500k. They are in special measures and it's been recommended they need to cut costs by £700,000 to be financially viable. Again how they do that remains a mystery will all kinds of players linked to rival clubs.
All of that has been reported in the RL press, they have done really well on the field but the facts are since Koukash left they don't have a rich backer, they don't own their own stadium and they have small crowds. You could say similar to Widnes. The cut in Sky money means they can't really afford to be a competitive full time SL side.
I feel sorry for them, but that's the issue I was raising as to why currently Widnes are better off in the Championship with a semi pro squad.
On the wealthy backer point, the owners of Saints and Warrington have both said they can't put £1 million a season into the clubs long term. Much like SOC wanted Widnes be financially self sufficient once he achieved SL promotion with a target of 7,500 home fans, that never happened. Since then the Sky funding is much less now than it was back then, putting the clubs with smaller crowds and rented stadiums in an even worse position.
The other thing that could really kill the game is the lack of amateur sides and kids particpation in the game, in 10 years time that will filter through to the pro game, and we just won't have enough quality youngsters coming through as they will all be playing lower league football or darts on much more money!
It sounds negative, but you can see it coming a mile off. I love RL, it's a fantastic game to watch, probably more so in the 80's and 90's but still good. It's also a great game to play. But if we don't get more TV money into the sport and get the youngsters playing the game again in numbers we are in real trouble. Eddie Hearn has commented on it and the RFL can see it with the attempt to get IMG involved, that so far at least has failed to produce results. To end on a positive, the NRL seems to be flourishing, if darts can do it, surely RL has hope?
@prisoner Joking aren't you.Salford ?
I guess your interpretation of sustainable is different to mine.
Agree with much of what you say Dan, but the SL clubs are makers of their own destiny, choosing to expand off the field rather than on it. You need backup staff etc but at a reasonable level. I doubt that in its heyday our game had the hangers on as it has today.
THe Aussies are sport mad though population is much less than ours. Certainly in the past the clubs had fitness centres and leisure clubs open to fans with membership tickets, much like we tried with discounts for petrol etc , but on a bigger scale. In truth the Aussies are still struggling to establish the game in the west, but their game doesn't have the challenges in Sydney.
Certainly Maurice Lindsay wanted to reduce the number of clubs in SL, to increase attendances, but that wasn't the way the speccies wanted it! The big idea was (and still is?) to deposit clubs in cities whether there was a desire from them or not! Even London can't drag enough spectators to really stand tall on their own feet.
That was and is a dead duck. Like it or not we are a regional sport like clog dancing.
Our game, played properly, is our future, even RU coaches can see that. Trim the excess staffing, live within our means (like us!) and play the game as well as we can and that will test the local populations. At some point our future will depend on those much younger than you or I and if they prefer fiddling on their phones to sitting and watching the game that will determine its future.
AC, I guess, can see this and that is why he is so passionate to increase our regular support.
We have to re-establish the father/son/daughter attendance habit with regular match days determined by the clubs with an ear for their supporters rather than games set to satisfy the TV timetable. Maybe a free pass for kids into the West stand if accompanied by an adult ST holder?
Really sensible comments here, one thing to look at is the age make up of our crowd- lots of older ones, very few young ones, appreciate the product to watch has been poor but improved last season
we need kids to come and watch and feel part of the club (remember bull and cougar mania ?)
ignore SL and plough our own furrow
@prisoner People were saying the game is in its death throes in the early 1960s way before concern because of SL in 1996.
We already are,down here in the second division playing in front of dwindling crowds and no way up for the foreseeable future.99% of the clubs in the lower leagues.Surprised you haven't noticed.Super League will be forced back to its natural level eventually,semi pro and part time.It's inevitable.The reduced Sky TV deals with clubs still spending what they want, is unsustainable.
If SL is 'toast' then RL is toast at every level.
100%
There are better run Amateur clubs, that bring more to the party, than some Pro-clubs.
Just an example; HFH have produced more players for SL than WV. That's the reality of how RL is below SL. The Clubs 'exist' on SL deadwood or stalled developers.
Paulie xx
Is that because SL clubs scouts attend amateur matches and if they spot a young player with potential, they will offer him a contract, and if Widnes also offered him a contract, he would obviously choose the SL club?
Is that because SL clubs scouts attend amateur matches and if they spot a young player with potential, they will offer him a contract, and if Widnes also offered him a contract, he would obviously choose the SL club?
We had our own Academy for years, quite a few lads played 1st team until 2019. I can only, off the top of my head, name Danny Walker, Matt Whitley & Chris Atkin (who never went straight to SL) in SL from it. Any others are just Champ/ Champ1 players. The potential is there in Widnes, but for a prolonged SL career, being in our Academy wasn't ever 'Elite' enough.
Paulie xx