Re: Toronto : Wed Sep 16, 2020 5:39 am  

little wayne69 wrote:

Delusion springs to mind here, the sporting fans of this country as well as the sponsors don't agree with you for some strange reason, have a look around at the attendances which are dropping alarmingly in the most spectacular exciting sport in the world.

Probably because the game has a la k of stability nobody knows what format the game will be played from one season to another.

The people running the sport appear clueless on strategy having become dependant on Sky and have found themselves well and truly in the comfort zone.

Some will see this as parochial but RL is about local rivalry not going to France or Canada to play league games.

Finally playing teams multiple times is absolute turn off!

Re: Toronto : Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:45 am  

REDWHITEANDBLUE wrote:

I would rather go to Feb Dewsbury or Batley everyday of the week than the likes of Toronto. I also think the French should be cast adrift to develop the French game

I agree but perhaps a quota in place that says they can have same imports but can only have 1 UK signing. Even their fans are saying it’s getting a bit too dominant with players that are not French. Superleague should be saying you have 2-3 years to sort it out but then bring in new rules. After all they were brought in to make their national team stronger and this isn’t happening if the French players can’t get a game or playing in the lower leagues. On the flip side of it P & R has probably changed their mindset and if playing a team full of none French players keeps them up then they will always take this option.

Re: Toronto : Wed Sep 16, 2020 8:08 am  

supercat wrote:

I agree but perhaps a quota in place that says they can have same imports but can only have 1 UK signing. Even their fans are saying it’s getting a bit too dominant with players that are not French. Superleague should be saying you have 2-3 years to sort it out but then bring in new rules. After all they were brought in to make their national team stronger and this isn’t happening if the French players can’t get a game or playing in the lower leagues. On the flip side of it P & R has probably changed their mindset and if playing a team full of none French players keeps them up then they will always take this option.

As long as Catalans stick within the agreed criteria, they should, like everyone else be trying to be the best side that they can.
Maybe the criteria needs to change but, when every other club can sign whoever they want, to insist that Catalan field only French players, would put them a fair distance behind the rest.
They should of course have the required amount of "club trained" players (or whatever it's called these days) but, outside of that, it would be difficult to impose stricter rules just for them.

Re: Toronto : Wed Sep 16, 2020 8:51 am  

[quote="Redscat"]Agree with your post 100% MOPSEY, but what makes the whole thing so puzzling ie poor management of the sport, lack of investment , crowd apathy etc. is that we have the most spectacular, exciting sport in the world.

Just what do we have to do to make the rest of the country realise this fact.

I recall that not so long ago there was quite a lot of amateur RL activity in the Barnsley area, but not sure if it still is so.[/quote
My own personal view is that it's not an exciting sport anymore, most teams play the same way they are scared or reluctant to try any thing different. Its simply too much percentage boring rugby. Add to this thursday games or catalan or london and you have no atmosphere at all, its flat. End of last year in pub all of is had played the game and we were completely turned off by the standard of the game. We have simply not enough quality games week in week out and we are producing hardly any top class players and I'm not saying some cant be but they never kick on just stagnate.
Over the past 10 to 15 years in our area there is now no teams in ponty or knottingley there might be the odd junior team in airdedale but not many, one club in fev and a whole host of clubs gone to wall in cas and wakey. The player pool is shrinking year on year and when clubs sign a talented youngster for what they see they then start dismantling all the good in them and making them robots. Also let's take connor bailey for example, what you usually get with a young kid is they will play well for 3 games or so then their level will fall but theres no where for him to fall into, no a team to go to work his way back in.
As for rugby union and twickers the sport is constantly tinkering with it like us they've hot a product and they back it, they dont make it their job to make France ru successful, I also think the fitness and professional as simply overtaken our game now. I simply cannot see the game surviving in it's current format be either back semi pro or the leeds and wigan getting hold of it and deciding who goes with them.

Re: Toronto : Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:54 am  

Another facet of Rugby Leagues decline is that it’s largely hidden behind a SKY paywall.

Years ago we had a number of competitions shown live on the BBC. The Challenge Cup rounds were shown with 2 live games at least then a huge amount of time dedicated to the Final showing features on teams, players, Towns etc. The Regal Trophy, again semi Finals and Final shown live We even had Lancashire and Yorkshire Cup Finals on the BBC.
We had Kangaroo, Kiwi, Lions and PNG Tours shown with Test matches being given the big event treatment and feel by the BBC.

The result was that Rugby League existed in the consciousness of the Nation and especially in the minds of young kids from Oldham, Castleford, Hull & many other Towns that otherwise never featured on TV.
Kids saw players on TV who went to their school or lived on their street and it bred aspiration to play the game.
Ellery Hanley, Andy Gregory, Martin Offiah, Joe Lydon, Paul Sculthorpe etc were recognisable names even amongst non Rugby League playing areas or followers.
Boxing went through the same in the 90s when it switched from ITV to SKY and became anonymous.

Now we have a minimal amount of coverage on the BBC, SKY’s audience is 200k people if we’re lucky and with the advent of Network TV like Netflix, apple, Hulu, Amazon, Disney and so on more people are opting for these other platforms and SKYs audience will shrink over the next few years.

How can we fix this when we seem to exist on SKYs money?

First thing I’d do is move the season a couple of months so that it doesn’t Co-terminate with the NRL!
This will open up the possibility of full Lions, Roos & Kiwi Tours
It would also open up the possibility of short stints by real Superstars again as players take advantage of the 2 months of being free just as like Meninga, Lewis, Kenny etc did.
We moved to summer to avoid poor weather but the traditional bad weather months also seem to have moved over the years and I’m sure we could move again without hitting the worst weather.

Secondly I’d reintroduce compulsory A Team competition, we can’t let greedy Owners & Directors dictate the structure of the game particularly Youth Pathways. An A Team competition offers a step up from Academy, it offers a step back for players getting a 1st Team experience who aren’t 100% ready & it provides a route back to fitness for established players recovering from injury. It also gives young players the chance to learn from seasoned quality players by playing against and alongside them. Finally it offers a route to the pro game for amateur players who’ve developed late or been missed by the pro clubs.

Where’s the money coming from I hear some asking?
We’ve had the money and we’ve squandered it for 25 years, I shudder to think how many of the tens of millions have filled bank accounts of overseas players & Agents over the years. Even our own players being overpaid to a degree. Cut the cloth differently to suit a better plan, if that means a step back in some areas then so be it because without some radical, tough decisions being made this sport is rapidly approaching a cliff edge.

Re: Toronto : Sat Sep 19, 2020 2:29 pm  

Trying to blackmail SL I see. Hope they get rejected from rejoining.

Re: Toronto : Sat Sep 19, 2020 2:34 pm  

Willzay wrote:

Trying to blackmail SL I see. Hope they get rejected from rejoining.

Wheres that come from?

Re: Toronto : Sat Sep 19, 2020 3:40 pm  

cheshirecat57 wrote: Wheres that come from? https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... gue-return Clearly it's the word if If they don't allow them in the new owner won't pay the players

cheshirecat57 wrote: Wheres that come from? https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... gue-return Clearly it's the word if If they don't allow them in the new owner won't pay the players

Re: Toronto : Sat Sep 19, 2020 4:33 pm  

Pay the wages and start in league 2 if they are that committed to TW simple .

Re: Toronto : Sat Sep 19, 2020 6:29 pm  

As Covid 19 is still very much an on going nightmare and it was the cause (possibly other factors involved) to there withdrawal from SL, have the proposed new owners factored in how they will manage if restrictions are still in place or that the world gets put on hold due to a second, third or just a continuance of Covid 19.

The original owner, supposedly a rich chap should pay them and pay them now it's his responsibility, yet another big man until push comes to shove and he shoves alright , shoves off in the other direct.