Overseas Quota

[johnf]

Where are all the teams outside SL gonna get the money from to form a breakaway league?

Sponsorship, fund raising, wealthy owners, altruists, spectators, merchandising - same as SL really but a proper game with sensible rules and a governing body that has business nous and doesn't sell the family siler like the current hierarchy did.

[steve1066]

I don't think its the RFL who call the shots its SKY. If they can get SL teams from all over the UK it could mean more people subscribing to SKY sports

[LeedsViking]

I don't think its the RFL who call the shots its SKY. If they can get SL teams from all over the UK it could mean more people subscribing to SKY sports

I think that's a load of old tosh... Sky would get more new subscribers to Sky Sports off the back of a single advertising campaign, than they would if they introduced a Super League side into every major city in the country.  We all like to think the world revolves around Rugby League, but then as fans that is understandable... the reality is that RL is not all that important in the grand scheme of things.

[Spelly]

I think that's a load of old tosh... Sky would get more new subscribers to Sky Sports off the back of a single advertising campaign, than they would if they introduced a Super League side into every major city in the country.  We all like to think the world revolves around Rugby League, but then as fans that is understandable... the reality is that RL is not all that important in the grand scheme of things.

It is to those of whom follow the Greatest Game on the Planet!

I'm the only RL fan at my place of employment, but I still fight my corner with 'em as to what a wonderful product we've got!

Rugby League is (unfortunately) the best kept secret in the world!

Spelly.

XIII till I die!

[LeedsViking]

It is to those of whom follow the Greatest Game on the Planet!

I'm the only RL fan at my place of employment, but I still fight my corner with 'em as to what a wonderful product we've got!

Rugby League is (unfortunately) the best kept secret in the world!

Spelly.

XIII till I die!

... which doesn't include the executives at Sky, nor the vast majority of the 'Sky Dish' buying public...........  unfortunately 

[King Viking]

Sponsorship, fund raising, wealthy owners, altruists, spectators, merchandising - same as SL really but a proper game with sensible rules and a governing body that has business nous and doesn't sell the family siler like the current hierarchy did.

So where are all those entities now?

A breakaway league wont be sustained on crowds of 1500, which (outside of the top 4 NL teams) is the maximum crowd any NL team gets.

Sponsorship, fund raising etc - all the teams do that now, and are surely maximising the benefit, so dont see how that would change.

And surely if wealthy owners were as common as bad Frank Endacott signings, NL1 would be able to run full time as a lower division to SL?

[brett kinghams mul]

we at haven signed saia makisi in november as a non quota player sancationed  by the RFL,  he arrives next week and now the rfl have said he is quota and would not issue him clearance as a non quota player for the home office

dont you just love them

[johnf]

we at haven signed saia makisi in november as a non quota player sancationed  by the RFL,  he arrives next week and now the rfl have said he is quota and would not issue him clearance as a non quota player for the home office

dont you just love them

Sponsorship, fund raising, wealthy owners, altruists, spectators, merchandising - same as SL really but a proper game with sensible rules and a governing body that has business nous and doesn't sell the family sivler like the current hierarchy did.

 

So where are all those entities now?

A breakaway league wont be sustained on crowds of 1500, which (outside of the top 4 NL teams) is the maximum crowd any NL team gets.

Sponsorship, fund raising etc - all the teams do that now, and are surely maximising the benefit, so dont see how that would change.

And surely if wealthy owners were as common as bad Frank Endacott signings, NL1 would be able to run full time as a lower division to SL?

Totally agree - a breakaway league under the same conditions as we currently have would not work - why would it ? the current set up doesn't work .... That doesn't mean that a breakaway league wouldn't work, if run properly. I don't see why professional rugby league has to be geared towards making a pound for a sports broadcaster for a start - surely the game should be aimed at appealing to those of us who actually like the game for the sake of the game ? If that means going all 'flat cap and whippet' and having a solid fan base in the North of England that supports a semi-professional / part-time structure then, my question is .... why not ? The (perhaps naive) prospect of watching local lads playing a good standard of rugby (even if only in the context of the local competition) is infinitely more appealing than watching 'professional' teams throw good money after bad on aging or 'neverwozzer' foreigners and waching any money actually being generaqted by the game being bled away by a busnch of tv executives who wouldn't have the first clue where Huddersfield is - never mind the George Hotel and what it stood for for the better part of a century.

[Sandgroper]

THere are many good players who don't want full time rugby as they have good jobs - they are now lost to SL. The game that I grew up with was all part time and the players were working lads.  Even Vinty, Mick Adams, Mick George, Ray Dutton, Ste O'Neill, Tony Myler, Jim Mills etc etc were part time.  So they weren't paid as much as 'full time' players but I seriously doubt that they weren't as fit. I would guuess that Nanyn is on as much if not more this year with a job as well as a contract than he was last season.

At least we would get some honesty back into the game.

Shut 'our' game off to the SL pirates.  Have our own Real Rugby League Challenge Cup! Of course there will always be some clubs who are better supported, and better financed than others, that will always happen. But clubs in the old days seemed to be closer in competitive terms than the 'top four' are now.

Who know, the lack of support for some clubs may be generated by the lack of any real chance to win anything.

[johnf]

There are many good players who don't want full time rugby as they have good jobs - they are now lost to SL. The game that I grew up with was all part time and the players were working lads.  Even Vinty, Mick Adams, Mick George, Ray Dutton, Ste O'Neill, Tony Myler, Jim Mills etc etc were part time.  So they weren't paid as much as 'full time' players but I seriously doubt that they weren't as fit. I would guuess that Nanyn is on as much if not more this year with a job as well as a contract than he was last season.

At least we would get some honesty back into the game.

Shut 'our' game off to the SL pirates.  Have our own Real Rugby League Challenge Cup! Of course there will always be some clubs who are better supported, and better financed than others, that will always happen. But clubs in the old days seemed to be closer in competitive terms than the 'top four' are now.

Who know, the lack of support for some clubs may be generated by the lack of any real chance to win anything.

Excellent point Samdgroper. The problem is that the game, or at least the current version of SL, can't sustain itself longterm without someone like Sky propping it up. Left to it's own devices and minus the handout (sorry sponosrhip) the level of spectators who 'pays their money' wouldn't sustain a fully professional game. Some of the players are aware of this and chose an alternate path (was it Ian Watson not so long ago and Mr Agar when we were promoted to SL ?). Interesting that the game survived for over a century with part-time players - one or two of whom weren't too bad and who, in their prome might have got into the current Widnes side 

[King Viking]

infinitely more appealing than watching 'professional' teams throw good money after bad on aging or 'neverwozzer' foreigners

To be fair, Trent Barrett and Matt King are hardly "neverwozzers". "Neverwozzers" in terms of imports appear to be a gradual thing of the past. If you look at the majority of overseas signings now, they all bring quality with them.

[johnf]

For every Trent Barret and Matt King there are still two or three Troy Wozniak's or Owen Craigie.