The annual debacle/decision of where to play the semi finals of the CC has passed us again, we have international matches every other year, two big finals a year, CC and SL, with the lower division finals now on the calender at Blackpool, origin style game at Sheddingley.......

We need a home, just as the other code has.

Is anyone else out there sick of our sport having to beg soccer teams for a borrow of their stadiums?

The sport isnt big enough to have its own International Stadium

Its simple for me, The Grand Final's home, Is Old Trafford

The CC Final's home is Wembley.

The Semi's will be played across the RL/ Football Stadiums we have, Unless all the teams are involved.

For me the RFL just lacked the foresight, They should have asked Huddersfield at the start of the year, Not to plan a home friendly for the weekend of the CC Semi

i'm sure the RFL will happily take you up on your offer. £150m might cover it.

And even if the game had the spare money to build a stadium, the question is surely "where do you build it?"

Knowing the RFL, probably in Milton Keynes.

once the new Saints stadium is open, there will be a decent sized venue in the North West that is available for big games and semi's.

The origin game should be moved around each year to give wider groups of people chance to go to it.

The RFL apparently made something like £8m profit last year, which begs the question of what they're going to do with that money.

My view is that certainly, some should go into marketing, but surely that's an ideal deposit (even more so if they can continue to make that kind of money over the next two or three years) against being able to create an 'RFL Stadium'.

OK - our international game isn't big enough yet but why not play ALL England matches at our stadium, just like the Rah Rahs do with Twickenham, and the wendyballers at with Wembley?

Surely also there would be opportunities for corporate hospitality, rock concerts, other sports, conferences and what have you. I don't think there is any reason not to pursue it, and I have to say, i worry about the day coming - and it WILL - when Man Utd say we can't use their ground any more. What happens then?

There is also no doubt that our own stadium would raise the game's profile immensely, just by it being there.

The main questions would be capacity; no point building anything bigger than 50 or 60k, and location. But surely, Manchester or thereabouts, as Britain's second city, already home of the Grand Final, and close to the heartlands would have to be a front runner.

Knowing the RFL, though, they'd probably want it in either Leeds which although very nice is hardly the centre of the earth or very 'cool', or they'd want it in Huddersfield or somewhere else equally non-descript.

They will have in a couple of weeks time.

Racecourse Ground - Wrexham.

you are absolutely correct with that!

I'm pretty sure that the £8million profit will go into hiring more RFL community coaches....funding and facilities grants to grass roots club to improve their club houses and pitches etc....with the rest going into a "rainy day" fund account.

Accounts are available on the RFL website tell you what happens to the money - the RFL is not set up to be profit making and all the figures are there. the profit/loss account for the year was £59k.


lots of threads on here currently condemning the RFL. how many of those people have actually bothered reading the operating rules of the RFL, its annual report and it's accounts? to be frank - there's a lot of rubbish being spouted!

It will never happen, but if it did i'd build it in East Manchester, maybe the Oldham side of the city centre. Easy access for the Yorkies and Lancs. Let Oldham play there to keep the stadium ticking over and give a forgotten team a home.

The question needs to be "what will the stadium do for the 359 days a year that it won't be used for"?

Modern stadiums are seven day a week operations - just look at the facilities at Warrington (NHS centre) or Leeds (University campus, 30+ room hotel and conferencing centre) and other grounds that have facilities completely or largely unconnected to the playing of sport - that's how modern stadia finance themselves.

Is there a gap in the market in the northern conferencing / banqueting / hospitality market? Is there a need for (and finance for) another NHS centre or government department? Is the live music industry poorly catered for in the north? I don't think that you can answer yes to all of those questions.

At the moment, I think people are trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist. IIRC, we have a long-term deal and a good relationship with Manchester United, we have little trouble finding semi-final venues (and what trouble we do have is being rectified by new builds at Salford and St Helens) and the RFL is a stakeholder in Wembley National Stadium.

And do we really want the national side being "based" at one location (like the England football team)? Shouldn't the 'England' team be for everybody to watch, rather than a few people in one location? (IMO, England football was much better for the fans when they were 'on tour' during Wembley's closure, like many other national teams do, even if they did end up residing in Manchester towards the end).

I agree current setup for finals is fine they just need to play the internationals at larger venues to attract more neutrals, i think playing one game at wembley is the rfl's attempt to "test the water" on this front IF they get a 40k crowd then i feel we will see more international games there and lets face it internationals at Wembley are a bigger headline grabber than playing them at a Hull or Wigan.

Lease it to Cas, & Wakey.

Correct, it would be the catalyst for proper international competition and fund huge development of the game.

The SRU make 3 times as much as the RFL because of Murrayfield

The WRU make 5 times as much as the RFL because of The Millenium

The RFU make 10 times as much as the RFL because of Twickenham

That ain't as daft as it sounds . Big stadium built between NM and GH . Both teams share it . Could be the northen answer to Wembley . Middle-ish of the M62 corridor (although most of the RL SL community lives to the west of it ). Double-header weekend games could attract huge crowds . Hold the Magic Weekend there too . Current arrangements for CC final generally means a 400 mile or so round-trip for both sets of fans .WTF is all that about ? Could play big games in the heart of where the majority of interested parties reside . In the heart of RL land . Hudds would be a better location IMO , but as there are two teams with the intention of new builds so close together it could be a very good compromise , and the RFL could chip in and base themselves there .

Maybe the fans should insist that the RFL franchise themselves and demand an international stadium to give the game some stature. A stadium on the outskirts of Huddersfield close to the M62 would suffice with a capacity of 30 000 for starters, to be shared by a superleague team Huddersfield and a championship team.
It dosn,t take much vision to build one, think the RFL should start finance one and cough up the necessary £30 million.

So, we're playing our cup final and a double-header international with two home nations involved at Wembley... but a 30,000 stadium on the outskirts of Huddersfield as an alternative will give the game some stature?

I think for the past 100 + years you will find 99.9% of RL games are played in the North of England not in a rented one off ground 200 miles away. A national stadium should be in the very heart of where the game is played, unless you are a Harlequin fan of course.

I'm not talking about the last 100 years. I think you'll find that the percentage of RL games played in the North of England is above 50%, but I'd be surprised if it was above 75%. Don't suppose you're going to Bristol Sonics vs Northampton on Saturday, or Plymouth vs East Devon Eagles in the SW Cup Final on Sunday, though, otherwise we could discuss it in person.

The cost to build a new National stadium would be astronomical and out of the reach of the finances of the RFL. However, as one poster has mentioned and there is also another thread on the same subject, the Racecourse ground in Wrexham is up for sale for 2,000,000 for housing and the RFL already has a 750,000 lien on the property from the monies lent to the Crusaders. That would be very affordable and would be a lifeline for the Crusaders to enable them to continue operating. The RFL and the Welsh RFL could base world cup and four nations teams there, hold minor finals, e.g. Northern Rail cup or CC semi finals., saving themselves the cost of renting grounds from football. They could run the stadium for profit,organising concerts, maybe building squash courts, gymnasiuns etc to create other revenue streams.

Seeing s how they might lose their 750,000 if the whole operation at Wrexhan goes belly up the I think they should seriously have a look at what options and opportunities there are at the Racecourse ground.

I can't believe that people are suggesting that the RFL should build a 30,000 seater stadium, or buy the Crusaders stadium for that purpose. I also can't believe that someone has said that said stadium should be on the outskirts of HUDDERSFIELD. Are you out your tiny mind???

"And now to the RFL World Cup Final, live from Hudderdfield International Stadium." For Christ's sake.

If the RFL were to build one, it needs to be 60k so it can accommodate the Grand Final, other sports and rock concerts, needs to have state of the art conference and hospitality facilities and needs to be in Manchester. It's very simple.

Whether the RFL can afford it or not is another matter. And yet another matter is whether they would be inclined to, even if they COULD afford it.

I don't see why it HAS to be in Manchester? Why can't it be in Leeds? It's slap bang in the middle of the heartlands. In fact it's pretty central to a lot of things. Straight up the M1 that goes down the spine of the country.

The main issue is that we don't have the money.
The second main issue is that we don't have enough games to make it worth while.

Unfortunately if we wanted this to happen, we'd have to shack up with someone. Which to be fair, isn't that big a deal. There are a fair few other sports that shack up with someone else for their national stadium.

Now, let's think...
Somewhere central, with a big population, and a sport/club that needs to move and needs help doing so into a bigger and better facility (say 60k)...

Need about 13 games also (that's how many SL home games there are)...
CC semi finals DH, Magic Weekend (2 days), World Club Challenge, 2 mid-season tests, 4 end of season tests, Championship Finals, Northern Rail Cup Final, Nines.
Then any other SL big games local clubs may want to move to a bigger ground.

There's your only option IMO.

It would just be a black hole. Astronomists would probably come and study it.