Re: ...and then Catalans : Thu Sep 07, 2017 3:10 pm  

Beverley red wrote:

you get your Barry Hearn type to run the game the first thing that will happen the small clubs will be forced out of existence. I class us at Rovers in that group. There are probably only 4 clubs in England that would survive as they will want only teams from large cities & a geographically wide spread across Europe & beyond. As it will be the way they will see TV revenue compete with Union & other sports. It may not be palatable but it is the modern way like it or not.

Agree. The current system isn't perfect, but it does leave the door open to new investment into the sport (whichever city or country that may be from), and give an opportunity for any club to reach SL.

Ultimately, if RL continues to struggle to expand beyond the confines of the M62, there's only so long before the media, the public, and most importantly Sky stop being interested. We're even seeing contraction in the heartlands in terms of player numbers, we only have to look at ourselves and the merged academy, which arose because the player pool in Hull has become too shallow.

A lot of this blame lies at the door of the RFL, not at the door of Catalans, Toulouse or Toronto.

Re: ...and then Catalans : Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:25 pm  

DGM wrote:

Agree. The current system isn't perfect, but it does leave the door open to new investment into the sport (whichever city or country that may be from), and give an opportunity for any club to reach SL.

Ultimately, if RL continues to struggle to expand beyond the confines of the M62, there's only so long before the media, the public, and most importantly Sky stop being interested. We're even seeing contraction in the heartlands in terms of player numbers, we only have to look at ourselves and the merged academy, which arose because the player pool in Hull has become too shallow.

A lot of this blame lies at the door of the RFL, not at the door of Catalans, Toulouse or Toronto.

I do not like to say this but I agree with you 100% we need cats and Toulouse and Toronto and if true new York and I would like to see a Spanish side and German and any other side that can bring in the money and some new blood in the RFL

Re: ...and then Catalans : Thu Sep 07, 2017 7:28 pm  

I want Catalans to succeed. That part of France has a great RL tradition.
The rest are pipe dreams. The game is good enough for TV just the RL governing body are a joke on a multitude of fronts.
The game continues despite them not because of them.
If Halifax ,Featherstone, etc had been helped like London etc the game would be even better.

Don't get me started on this.

Toronto will be gone when their owner chucks it in. Unsustainable. It's one thing the club's travelling to France once a year a whole other carting them across the Atlantic. Another joke.

Re: ...and then Catalans : Thu Sep 07, 2017 7:48 pm  

Burtons Forearm wrote:

I want Catalans to succeed. That part of France has a great RL tradition.
The rest are pipe dreams. The game is good enough for TV just the RL governing body are a joke on a multitude of fronts.
The game continues despite them not because of them.
If Halifax ,Featherstone, etc had been helped like London etc the game would be even better.

Don't get me started on this.

Toronto will be gone when their owner chucks it in. Unsustainable. It's one thing the club's travelling to France once a year a whole other carting them across the Atlantic. Another joke.

I'd add another French team personally they need a derby it would be good for the game like you say there is a hotbed of RL in certain parts of France and you could be right about Toronto they keep announcing 7,000 when the stadium holds 9,600 and it looks about a quarter full

Re: ...and then Catalans : Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:18 am  

Burtons Forearm wrote:

Toronto will be gone when their owner chucks it in. Unsustainable. It's one thing the club's travelling to France once a year a whole other carting them across the Atlantic. Another joke.

I always find this one an odd argument to make. Most RL clubs are reliant upon their owners or have gone through a period of reliance - both of our clubs have recently. We also saw the same argument when Pearson took over, "what happens when he gets bored and throws the towel in?", "he's not a RL fan", etc.

But think about it, why would Perez and the consortium running Toronto, spend all this time, money & effort just to "chuck it in"? Same for Pearson, these are businessmen and if they get to a point where they want out, they will make sure the club is in a decent position to maximise the sale value.

In terms of the distance, it's a 7hr 40min flight, it's not an arduous journey. This is the way sport is going. Football has similar journeys in the Champs/Europa League, Union has a league made up of sides from Aus, NZ, SA, Argentina & Japan! Some journeys in League 1 by coach won't be far off in terms of travel time anyway, Whitehaven to Hemel, Workington to Llanelli etc.

Toronto is a huge, sports mad, amazing city. Lamport stadium is a stones throw from downtown Toronto, which is home to some huge firms, a couple of which have already sponsored the Wolfpack, and they've already got their own broadcasting deal. Imagine what levels of sponsorship & support they'd be able to achieve in the Championship/SL. That's how the 'experiment' becomes sustainable. There's so much more money available in a city like Toronto than there is in Hull.

Time will tell whether it works or not, but I've seen no evidence so far to suggest it's "unsustainable", quite the opposite.

Re: ...and then Catalans : Fri Sep 08, 2017 8:13 pm  

DGM wrote:

I always find this one an odd argument to make. Most RL clubs are reliant upon their owners or have gone through a period of reliance - both of our clubs have recently. We also saw the same argument when Pearson took over, "what happens when he gets bored and throws the towel in?", "he's not a RL fan", etc.

But think about it, why would Perez and the consortium running Toronto, spend all this time, money & effort just to "chuck it in"? Same for Pearson, these are businessmen and if they get to a point where they want out, they will make sure the club is in a decent position to maximise the sale value.

In terms of the distance, it's a 7hr 40min flight, it's not an arduous journey. This is the way sport is going. Football has similar journeys in the Champs/Europa League, Union has a league made up of sides from Aus, NZ, SA, Argentina & Japan! Some journeys in League 1 by coach won't be far off in terms of travel time anyway, Whitehaven to Hemel, Workington to Llanelli etc.

Toronto is a huge, sports mad, amazing city. Lamport stadium is a stones throw from downtown Toronto, which is home to some huge firms, a couple of which have already sponsored the Wolfpack, and they've already got their own broadcasting deal. Imagine what levels of sponsorship & support they'd be able to achieve in the Championship/SL. That's how the 'experiment' becomes sustainable. There's so much more money available in a city like Toronto than there is in Hull.

Time will tell whether it works or not, but I've seen no evidence so far to suggest it's "unsustainable", quite the opposite.

I hope you are right...but fear you are hopelessly misguided.

Cost of flight to Catalan....cost of flight to Toronto. Pay to fly your squad and staff to Toronto...cripples your average team in RL.

Tv revenue for wolf pack....tv revenue for southern hemisphere union.

How long sponsors hang about...not long if they don't keep tv viewing figures.

Traditional clubs have generations of supporters. One owner goes another with a love of the club steps in. How that club is financed usually depends on the success of the owner's other business and their integrity.
Once the novelty and the cost starts to bite Toronto may go the same way as Crusaders, Paris etc.
For me better having a competitive competition and this would have come through supporting the likes of Featherstone, Halifax, Bradford, Barrow etc.
Football never abandoned the likes Preston, Blackburn, Stoke, etc and chased pipe dreams at their expense.

I hope Toronto succeed but fear its to become another embarrassing failure

Re: ...and then Catalans : Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:21 pm  

Burtons Forearm wrote:

I want Catalans to succeed. That part of France has a great RL tradition.
The rest are pipe dreams. The game is good enough for TV just the RL governing body are a joke on a multitude of fronts.
The game continues despite them not because of them.
If Halifax ,Featherstone, etc had been helped like London etc the game would be even better.

Don't get me started on this.

Toronto will be gone when their owner chucks it in. Unsustainable. It's one thing the club's travelling to France once a year a whole other carting them across the Atlantic. Another joke.

I see this argument appear ever so often, London have never ever been given extra help (especially money) over other clubs that I can find the only thing that could be described as favouritism is that they were put in super league without gaining promotion as were Paris & others. I would love to know were this urban myth started?

Re: ...and then Catalans : Sat Sep 09, 2017 7:17 am  

Beverley red wrote:

I see this argument appear ever so often, London have never ever been given extra help (especially money) over other clubs that I can find the only thing that could be described as favouritism is that they were put in super league without gaining promotion as were Paris & others. I would love to know were this urban myth started?

If being put in superleague isn't favouritism was the hell is.
They got years in the top league without a stable ground. They had no media deal (only coverage on local radio...the superleague show wasn't even shown on BBC London) other than sky. F&ck they didn't even have a stable name...broncos....mannequins..etc

Re: ...and then Catalans : Sat Sep 09, 2017 7:18 am  

Beverley red wrote:

I see this argument appear ever so often, London have never ever been given extra help (especially money) over other clubs that I can find the only thing that could be described as favouritism is that they were put in super league without gaining promotion as were Paris & others. I would love to know were this urban myth started?

The trouble with London was and is they never have been in 1 place long enough to get a fan base and after 30 odd years they should have but for some reason they do not like Rugby League in London why I do not know maybe they just love football and nothing else