Re: General Topic | Lack of talent recruit from union : Wed Jan 04, 2017 9:33 pm  

Bristol, Gloucester, Cornish Pirates (Penzance), Plymouth, Doncaster, Connaught, etc... not working class union clubs? Ooookay then.

Herein lies the problem, quite a few League fans have an elitist attitude which aside from being ignorant at times causes the sport to be quite needlessly isolationist to its own detriment. There are plenty of things which could aid both codes such as the dual registration of players? League structure needs to be changed as well alongside better coverage (much like the second tier of Union in England).

Re: General Topic | Lack of talent recruit from union : Wed Jan 04, 2017 11:40 pm  

RHINO-MARK wrote:

Go through that Squad that won the Cup there were plenty of internationals including at one point one of the All Black greats in Justin Marshall throw in Balshaw & Sneyman etc if that team wasn't attracting crowds which included a Trophy then i'll stick with what i put history PROVES as such.
Coulda woulda shoulda doesn't prove jack.

How many of these were current internationals at the time? Marshall could hardly run when at Leeds. Still avoiding the point that Leeds Union sides have never had the class or strength in depth to be a top 4 side and if they had and maintained it they would now be packing them in as Union has overtaken Superleague.

Re: General Topic | Lack of talent recruit from union : Thu Jan 05, 2017 5:24 am  

its all supposition and guess work. it may or it may not. until, or if, it happens, we'll have to go on the only proof and that's the pathetic attendances they had when they were in the top league last time

Re: General Topic | Lack of talent recruit from union : Thu Jan 05, 2017 7:40 am  

tad rhino wrote:

its all supposition and guess work. it may or it may not. until, or if, it happens, we'll have to go on the only proof and that's the pathetic attendances they had when they were in the top league last time

It is all only opinion in any case. However there is no proof to go on to make a case against my point as Leeds have never met the criteria that I said they needed to do.

Re: General Topic | Lack of talent recruit from union : Thu Jan 05, 2017 8:16 am  

Him wrote:

But nowhere close to it in England, Scotland or Ireland.

A very working class game in much of the southwest (or used to be at any rate). Bath is the exception, not the rule.

<Edit> Hadn't spotted Rinkadink's post when I wrote the above. He's right.

Re: General Topic | Lack of talent recruit from union : Thu Jan 05, 2017 11:41 am  

Rinkadink wrote:

Bristol, Gloucester, Cornish Pirates (Penzance), Plymouth, Doncaster, Connaught, etc... not working class union clubs? Ooookay then.
.

Indeed. Just because millionaires played it at boarding school doesn't make it elitist. I played all across the midlands during the 80's, Bedford, Northampton, Leicester. All classes, all backgrounds. The likes of Olney were as rough as any amateur RL side.


I also have to partly agree with Juan about Leeds Carnegie. The last time they challenged at club level seriously the club game was in a bit of a state in general. It hadn't really taken off and there were clubs struggling after the first wave of professional blowouts (E.g. Richmond). That Leeds team was nothing special and the momentum wasn't sustained.
However, I'm not sure about the market for it in Yorkshire. It would need a significant cash injection to handle a 7 million salary cap. The likes of Wasps lose 2-3 million a year at the moment. It's too risky.
If they intend to play at HQ then a plastic pitch would be first on the agenda also.

Re: General Topic | Lack of talent recruit from union : Thu Jan 05, 2017 4:06 pm  

DHM wrote:

Indeed. Just because millionaires played it at boarding school doesn't make it elitist. I played all across the midlands during the 80's, Bedford, Northampton, Leicester. All classes, all backgrounds. The likes of Olney were as rough as any amateur RL side.


I also have to partly agree with Juan about Leeds Carnegie. The last time they challenged at club level seriously the club game was in a bit of a state in general. It hadn't really taken off and there were clubs struggling after the first wave of professional blowouts (E.g. Richmond). That Leeds team was nothing special and the momentum wasn't sustained.
However, I'm not sure about the market for it in Yorkshire. It would need a significant cash injection to handle a 7 million salary cap. The likes of Wasps lose 2-3 million a year at the moment. It's too risky.
If they intend to play at HQ then a plastic pitch would be first on the agenda also.

I agree about the pitch and while I also agree about the risk I think there has been a big momentum shift in the last couple of seasons where now top level a Union is an entertaining product for fans and sponsors. Yorkshire and the North must be able to support a genuine star studded successful side and Leeds offer the unique set up for dual code top signings.

Re: General Topic | Lack of talent recruit from union : Thu Jan 05, 2017 6:03 pm  

Juan Cornetto wrote:

I agree about the pitch and while I also agree about the risk I think there has been a big momentum shift in the last couple of seasons where now top level a Union is an entertaining product for fans and sponsors. Yorkshire and the North must be able to support a genuine star studded successful side and Leeds offer the unique set up for dual code top signings.

I think that's the optimist side, not necessarily inaccurate though. Would need a long term investment of serious money, certainly more than Caddick is prepared to spend.

Re: General Topic | Lack of talent recruit from union : Thu Jan 05, 2017 8:33 pm  

As Juan says top level Union may be entertaining but one of the major probs for tykes/Carnegie is the complete lack of it from the games I have seen over past few seasons. They will never attract decent crowds without a decent brand of rugby, it may work down south but we expect more for our money up here.

Re: General Topic | Lack of talent recruit from union : Fri Jan 06, 2017 9:36 am  

Maybe there's an Odsal move on the cards for Carnegie.