He’s never one to shy away from the headlines... and now former Salford owner Marwan Koukash is hoping to tap into Liverpool’s sporting market by forming a rugby league club in the city. Together with Liverpool-based property magnate Luke Backhouse and founder of St Helens-based businessman Andrew Mikhail, Koukash is keen to form the new side following his failed takeover attempt at Widnes Vikings, League Weekly report. https://mobile.twitter.com/LiverpoolRLF ... sh-2503995

He’s never one to shy away from the headlines... and now former Salford owner Marwan Koukash is hoping to tap into Liverpool’s sporting market by forming a rugby league club in the city. Together with Liverpool-based property magnate Luke Backhouse and founder of St Helens-based businessman Andrew Mikhail, Koukash is keen to form the new side following his failed takeover attempt at Widnes Vikings, League Weekly report. https://mobile.twitter.com/LiverpoolRLF ... sh-2503995

https://twitter.com/LiverpoolRLFC/statu ... 69282?s=20

https://twitter.com/LiverpoolRLFC/statu ... 69282?s=20

IS that who that is? i saw that pop up last week with initial tweets being fairly snotty and wonder d what i had missed. makes sense now

if done properly with a good solid long term strategy, it can only be a good thing, i hope Marwan as learned from his past mistakes and realised you cannot just throw money around it needs to be step by step growth.

Yeah Luke Backhouse is a big kid and not someone to jump into something like this with.

Whilst bidding for Widnes, he was constantly on Instagram having a go at Widnes fans from our other messageboard.

That being said, if all is true there won’t be a club in England with more money than what these 3 have. They mean business and it’ll be very interesting to follow, Liverpool is football through and through and I can’t see it taking off.

Would they not be better off buying Widnes and just moving it 15 miles to the left?

I've often mused what the perfect conditions would be to set up a new Rugby League club. You look at how it's happened in the past and other variables and I've decided that what you definitely need is:

Set it up in a virgin area with little to no grassroots knowledge or interest in Rugby League (it's imperative not to have a thriving Amateur scene first).
Make sure you have fickle moneybags owners who will give up on the project quickly if it doesn't mysteriously work in year 2 or 3. The guys that were at Doncaster, Featherstone or Bridgend to name just a few, being the ones you need to mimic.
Try, if at all possible, to go into an area which views Soccer as close to a religion.

They both went in to buy Widnes only to spit their dummy out and slag the club off straight after.

No doubt if we had been bought, we’d have been rebranded straight away.

Out of all the towns and cities to try and start a RL team, Liverpool is quite possibly the worst choice you could make. Absolute non-starter.

Why?
Scousers love sport, it could work really well if promoted properly.

Why give yourself such a challenge though. Starting a new club will already be hard enough wherever it is. But in a city with two huge premier league football clubs that lives and breathes the sport? I can't help but think they'd have better luck elsewhere.

why, it may be a soccer city but virtually every city in the country is, there is plenty of appetite for RL in Liverpool and plenty of scousers like RL, if we go with the attitude that we only go to cities without a football presence then we may as well just not bother. i would struggle to think of a major town or city with a population above 80k that does not have a football side, and the ones that don't are already RL places.

Where would they play, Tranmere or similar?

Toronto have proved what can be achieved. They dont just have 2 sporting teams to contend with, but 12 other professional sports teams and have still made a success out of it

I’m from Widnes and work in Liverpool, it gets referred to as funny ball sport and beyond that, there’s no interest on any level.

Rugby union is a little different but still not a great deal.

Strange, is that why Anfield is hosting games, I have never heard anyone in Liverpool refer to RL as "funny ball game"

Yeah well I hear it daily.

And you believe because the RFL chose Anfield that instantly means they like rugby league?
The one good thing th RFl has pulled off and made a success of was magic weekend in Newcastle, but they still balls up by changing that. Anfield is in one of the worst locations for a big event like that, I don’t mean the estate itself or the people, just the facilities.

I’d want to see a success of it more than anyone but Liverpool RLFC will not work like they want.

I don't agree. Their two main loves are football and themselves. I'm an out and out expansionist but even I think trying to contrive a club in Liverpool is a terrible idea. Such ideas only fuel the scorn of flatcappers.

they love stealing fighting mouthing off and running away, thats sport in Liverpool but so is ride by BMX shootings.

i used to work with a lot from Liverpool and went to the Liverpool branch often and they would always ask me about the game as they new i was an RL fan and lots of them watched it on the Tv. seemed to be plenty of locals at the NZ game aswell, it may not be anywhere near as big as football but there are enough people interested to get a team going and build. might only get 1000-1200 to start with but if they move through the ranks do not see why they cannot get a decent following.

Refer them to my user name and explain that perfectly spherical balls are not normal but rugby shaped balls are.
I'm married to a scouser and she doesn't see the point of either game. Thankfully both the offspring are keen rugby fans and understand which game plays with proper shaped balls! Let me know your workmates' reaction when you explain this to them.

How can anyone be negative about this news?

It's literally a no-lose situation for the game. If it doesn't work, the only damage is to the three investors wallets. If it does work, then fantastic.

Liverpool had rugby teams in the 30s,40s & 50s, the hay day of RL. Liverpool Stanley ,then City ,then Huyton ,the Runcorn Highfield ,then oblivion in the end.

exactly its the flat cappers and traditionalists irrational fear of anything out of their comport zone or a team that might overtake them and put there noses out of joint.

If it comes of great hurry up bring it on I am all for it