Re: Newcastle Thunder : Fri Oct 13, 2023 12:05 pm  

Bull Mania wrote:

Gutted for the fans. Hope they bounce back.

RL needs a serious and frank discussion about expansion. Some are suggesting putting all 8 L1 teams in the champ. Sorry but putting Cornwall against the likes of Bulls, Fev and York doesn't do anyone any favours.

Does leave a bitter taste in the mouth Newcastle were given an elite Academy license and six figure funding towards it and we got ours taken away. A generation of Bradford players would have been lost if we had have decided to give up our Academy from that decision.

Sad to see any side struggle, we know all too well how painful it can be for the loyal staff and supporters.

The strategy has been wrong for a long time, in RL we expand in desperation rather than building on solid foundations.

Re: Newcastle Thunder : Fri Oct 13, 2023 5:46 pm  

Terrible news for the Newcastle fans and the people losing their jobs. Worrying times for the game.

Re: Newcastle Thunder : Fri Oct 13, 2023 6:57 pm  

I know this was rejected at the chairmen’s meeting last week but the remaining 8 L1 clubs are in a league which is unsustainable. The rfl need to show some leadership on this

Re: Newcastle Thunder : Sat Oct 14, 2023 8:36 am  

They must have seen this coming the RFL.

Any club dropping to L1 now is going to look at the cost for a short season with a lot of travel and I guess most outlying clubs would say it's no way sustainable and with the set up Newcastle had it probably adds up to a massive loss for the year.

Re: Newcastle Thunder : Sun Oct 15, 2023 1:23 pm  

Interesting statements from some clubs. Keighley and Hunslet keen to see a combined conference style structure, but they would, wouldn't they as both would benefit from visits from Championship clubs. Swinton, however, having worked extremely hard to stay in the Championship, are loath to see that hard work potentially diluted by losing fixtures against some other Championship teams.
Clubs like the Bulls are already into selling season tickets based on agreed fixtures and format so I doubt there'll be support from club owners at the Bulls, Featherstone, Wakefield, Halifax, Sheffield etc for a conference. The 'Rugby League Family' is a nice phrase but, in reality, sport is a business. No easy answer to any of this but dilution of the Championship doesn't solve the problem.

Re: Newcastle Thunder : Sun Oct 15, 2023 3:02 pm  

I'm still unsure what is happening next year, is it just a straight up league structure? Or is there still some sort of play offs at the end albeit no promotion so perhaps a but pointless unless it's how they're deciding the overall winners of the Championship?

Re: Newcastle Thunder : Sun Oct 15, 2023 3:13 pm  

Top House Lad wrote:

Interesting statements from some clubs. Keighley and Hunslet keen to see a combined conference style structure, but they would, wouldn't they as both would benefit from visits from Championship clubs. Swinton, however, having worked extremely hard to stay in the Championship, are loath to see that hard work potentially diluted by losing fixtures against some other Championship teams.
Clubs like the Bulls are already into selling season tickets based on agreed fixtures and format so I doubt there'll be support from club owners at the Bulls, Featherstone, Wakefield, Halifax, Sheffield etc for a conference. The 'Rugby League Family' is a nice phrase but, in reality, sport is a business. No easy answer to any of this but dilution of the Championship doesn't solve the problem.

You really can't be making long-term strategic decisions based on what x or y clubs want next season.

This is exactly why it shouldn't be up to the clubs to decide.