Re: Cumbria Lakers? : Mon Mar 12, 2018 2:30 pm  

The region itself has 500,000 people and transportation has improved in the last few decades allowing people to travel around easier.

The area depends on tourism a lot so if they could get some backing from the local tourism agency that would help in a similar to the sponsorship Catalans get.

Regarding a stadium "Copeland Community Stadium" was supposed to be ready for the second to last world cup. You would suspect a permanent team would help in the construction of that. However you would suspect that the club would need to tour around to build up support. But they would eventually need a main base.

As with everything they need to have the backing to make it work. So if Koukash is in for the long term there is nothing stopping them.

Re: Cumbria Lakers? : Mon Mar 12, 2018 2:35 pm  

However if I was looking to create a new "regional" team, I would try North Greater Manchester. Oldham, Rochdale, and Bury.

Three good grounds.

Lots of Rugby League fans starved of quality rugby.

High quality local talent that is currently picked up by other teams in the region.

I don't understand why no one talks about this.

Re: Cumbria Lakers? : Mon Mar 12, 2018 5:12 pm  

Noel Cleal wrote:

The region itself has 500,000 people and transportation has improved in the last few decades allowing people to travel around easier.

It is 50 miles from Barrow to Workington. Even with a clear road that would take 1h45. Believe it or not, it takes even longer by train!

The area has some of the lowest density populated districts in England. Around 70 people per sq/km. And as for the tourism thing - the 'rugby league area' and the national park are completely different. Without Sellafield and BAe systems and a few multinational corporations, west Cumbria would be really struggling, economically.

Re: Cumbria Lakers? : Mon Mar 12, 2018 5:48 pm  

Sadfish wrote:

I have though about this idea for a long while and it could work, there is a huge RL following in the area however density isnt so great.

We should be suppoeting the region and this might do it. It might also cause grief amongst the current clubs

How huge is it, what are the combined average home gates of the three clubs currently? There's circa 115,000 population between the 3 towns, 60,000 population in the town boundaries of Workington and Whitehaven who are a scant 16 minutes apart by road (less than it takes most Hull KR fans to travel to the Kcom and vice-versa)
The 'derby' clash between Whitehaven and Workington is around 1600-1900 fans, is that "huge"? What other indicators are there that RL fans are numerous enough to make it work?

I just don't think there's a need/desire for it in the area, 40/50/60 years ago yes, not anymore. I don't think geographically it's ideal and has its own unique issues re travel in the winter months and the fact that there's a sizeable distance between Barrow and the two other clubs (over 40 miles to Whitehaven, 50 to Workington)
The nearest SL club is Wigan, this is 90 miles away, no other club aside from Catalan (which is a different kettle of fish) has this distance to travel to the nearest away game, even Hull and Rovers who generally travel the furthest over a season have almost half that distance to travel to Cas and a little more to Leeds and Wakefield.

I'm not saying I wouldn't like to see it and if it did somehow work out it would be great but I think there are too many obstacles to make it viable.

Re: Cumbria Lakers? : Mon Mar 12, 2018 6:06 pm  

Could play in Kendal. They have just built a new £11m stadium for the Rugby Union club there with a capacity of 3,500 http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/ ... _s_ground/ It's also on a train line that involves one change to Barrow and goes as far south as Preston and Lancaster touching into Lancashire/Manchester. And it's 50 mins and one change to Carlisle by train. It's within an hour driving distance of Whitehaven/Workington and Barrow. It's not far removed from the heartlands and good travel distance for everyone. Plus they can be sponsored by Mint Cake Perfect location for me and a nice shiny new ground with which to co-share with low costs in maintenance.

Could play in Kendal. They have just built a new £11m stadium for the Rugby Union club there with a capacity of 3,500 http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/ ... _s_ground/ It's also on a train line that involves one change to Barrow and goes as far south as Preston and Lancaster touching into Lancashire/Manchester. And it's 50 mins and one change to Carlisle by train. It's within an hour driving distance of Whitehaven/Workington and Barrow. It's not far removed from the heartlands and good travel distance for everyone. Plus they can be sponsored by Mint Cake Perfect location for me and a nice shiny new ground with which to co-share with low costs in maintenance.

Re: Cumbria Lakers? : Mon Mar 12, 2018 9:39 pm  

Fully wrote: Could play in Kendal. They have just built a new £11m stadium for the Rugby Union club there with a capacity of 3,500 http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/ ... _s_ground/ It's also on a train line that involves one change to Barrow and goes as far south as Preston and Lancaster touching into Lancashire/Manchester. And it's 50 mins and one change to Carlisle by train. It's within an hour driving distance of Whitehaven/Workington and Barrow. It's not far removed from the heartlands and good travel distance for everyone. Plus they can be sponsored by Mint Cake Perfect location for me and a nice shiny new ground with which to co-share with low costs in maintenance. If we start aspiring to having 3500 sell-outs in SL, we may as well pack up now and go semi-pro.

Fully wrote: Could play in Kendal. They have just built a new £11m stadium for the Rugby Union club there with a capacity of 3,500 http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/ ... _s_ground/ It's also on a train line that involves one change to Barrow and goes as far south as Preston and Lancaster touching into Lancashire/Manchester. And it's 50 mins and one change to Carlisle by train. It's within an hour driving distance of Whitehaven/Workington and Barrow. It's not far removed from the heartlands and good travel distance for everyone. Plus they can be sponsored by Mint Cake Perfect location for me and a nice shiny new ground with which to co-share with low costs in maintenance. If we start aspiring to having 3500 sell-outs in SL, we may as well pack up now and go semi-pro.

Re: Cumbria Lakers? : Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:15 pm  

Channel Islander wrote:

The area has some of the lowest density populated districts in England.

on the surface it does. however we are mainly talking about the coastal strip from barrow in the south to cockermouth/maryport in the north. do your figures include the lake district national park area, which is the main geographical hindrance to those travelling in and out of west cumbria, but also the main draw for a weekend away apart from the rugby

by the way, i've thought more about having the stadium at sellafield. makes sense. its fairly central for west cumbria, there is a lot of money there, plenty of land. a lot of local people work there, its well signposted and transport links are as good as it gets in that area. just lay on free travel from barrow, whitehaven and workington.

of course that is assuming the locals will drop the 3 main teams at the drop of a hat and go and support this new venture

Re: Cumbria Lakers? : Tue Mar 13, 2018 2:22 am  

Roy Haggerty wrote:

If we start aspiring to having 3500 sell-outs in SL, we may as well pack up now and go semi-pro.

the least supported 6 sides in SL XXII averaged just over 6.1k last year.....that figure is 5,800 this year so far.......when Wigan, Leeds, Hull and St Helens leave to play with their North American Friends we will be semi-pro........or worse.

Re: Cumbria Lakers? : Tue Mar 13, 2018 8:23 am  

Hang on hang on hang on. So it's too far to get to Cumbria but not too far to get to the USA?

Re: Cumbria Lakers? : Tue Mar 13, 2018 10:15 am  

JEAN CAPDOUZE wrote:

Roy Haggerty is completely correct.

I would prefer for Marwan to put his millions into the London Broncos, to make them a powerful Super League presence in the near future. That would do something good for the game.

It would take far more than just money to make London Broncos a "powerful Superleague presence".

They already have a multi-millionaire bankrolling them, and he has done for some years, in the shape of David Hughes. In spite of that and after being in existence for 37 years they managed to draw a crowd of 526 for yesterday's game.

I honestly thought that when they got to Wembley in 1999 it would capture the imagination of the London public but it made no difference whatsoever.

We all love the game of Rugby League but if people aren't interested you can't force them to come no matter how much money you throw at it.