Put the sport before the money and reduce the number of teams in the playoffs.

In terms of crowds, clubs ought to offer massive discounts. As for the hammerings, the fault lies with the losing clubs. Its up to them to do better.

The playoffs should be included in the price of the season ticket. Reduce it to 5 or 6, make it shorter in length with no repeat fixtures possible and a decent benefit to finishing top.

If every ST sold in SL was taxed £15 I bet it would cover the play offs gate receipts, which are pooled anyway. Clubs still make money on merchandise and food/drink sales.

The problem with the playoffs is purely the fact its an extra cup game you have to find the money for. Fans of the smaller clubs dont have any real belief their club will make it through so dont bother and fans of the big clubs assume their club will get through so also don't bother.

They should also do some clever things with tickets and make anyone who attends a play off game able to get Grand Final tickets earlier than general sale, incentivising people to turn up to them.

Really funny. Really, Really, Funny. I pay £99 actually.

It's still not enough though is it , these super cheap ST deals do nothing except completely devalue the sport

good on ya, iv'e alreay folked out 300 quid to help finance my club.

Maybe they should let fans into all CC matches as well if they buy a ST , might as well chuck in the 4 nations and Exile game as well

So basically you want the fans of the rubbish

clubs to pay for you to attend the play offs , you seriously think the Salford , Wakey , Bronco fans would be ok with that ?

Full stadia is bad for the sport people. Remember that. Starbug has spoken. We need to have tiny crowds in flatcaps.


But really, in what way does a club offering cheap tickets to their fans devalue the sport? Because really, how can large crowds be BAD for the sport?

So we had full stadiums ? , did we ?

Maybe we should just pay people to attend ?

because we care about the long term viability of the sport we are flatcappers

unbelievable.

Well Hudds cheap tickets are underwritten by their chairman, however Bradford has no rich backer so their cheap season ticket deal has been worked out to be financially viable.

The fact that you're coming down negatively on clubs attempting to increase their crowds is what makes you a flatcapper

I 'll have to take your word for that.

I take it as a compliment, the fact that you call me a flatcapper, because i believe an individual should pay a proper price for a proper product.
what does that make you, who wants something for next to nothing.

Starbugs plan for Rugby League

and I will buy a shirt, will go home and away and I will donate to the squad builder. Just because I pay less to watch my team, does not mean I love my team less. It does not mean I haven't paid a lot to watch my team, and I haven't put money into watch Rugby League either. I will aim to go to one of the Major Finals, and I will go to the Exiles game as well. I resent your one up manship here. I pay as much as I can.

Should be top 6,
Im pretty sure most people agree top 8 is a joke???

Maybe a discount for season ticket holders is fair, but I agree all stadiums should be packed for what should be the pinnacle of the season.

It wasn't really a one upmanship thing and i'm not saying you love your club any less.
What i was trying to express to you and others is what it costs to finance a RL club in the CC over 12 months, not just game time. by the end of the 2012 season it will be between 5/6oo quid that i pay to the club directely and in directly.others will pay a lot more and some of them will be on fixed incomes.
ATEOTD i suppose its the value you put on your entertainment.

I see nothing wrong with the top eight being in the play offs. While ever we don't have P&R the teams at the bottom of the pile need something to play for. If you reduce the amount of eligible play offs spots it won't mean teams will battle harder throughout the season to clinch a place it will more teams' seasons will be a write off and they won't need to play. Thus it'll reduce the intensity of the league overall.

The blow out scores are not indicative of the system being at fault. The blow out scores were reflection of the standard of rugby played during the 2011 season, which overall was pretty dire. We haven't had that many blow out scores in the play offs before 2011, certainly not in one comp. With the exception of Wire, who were consistently brilliant throughout the season, none of the teams in the 2011 played to their full potential for the duration. For example, the two Hull clubs' backroom set up didn't gel with the playing squad, Leeds and London had to get used to a new coach, Catalans, Hudds and Wigan didn't perform consistently to the levels that they can, Saints were hit by injuries and had to rebuild mid way through the season, and the likes of Wakey, Cas, Cru and Salford had Franchises, financial issues and so forth to sort out.

2011 was freak year in that nearly all clubs had to deal with some serious issues and as a result misfired for large portions of the season. This had the knock on effect of reducing the competitiveness of the play offs. 2012 should be different with a lot of clubs rejigging their back room and playing squads, with there being no Franchises, with new crops of young players coming through, with more clubs on a sound financial footing. The positive international campaign and the momentum heading into the WC will also have an effect, and Widnes being admitted into the league will have a very positive effect on performances. I reckon 2012 will be a belter of a season.

As for attendances; improved standards of play throughout the season will have an effect, but ultimately its up to the clubs to sell the games to the fans. The big issue though is that the Olympics will take place just beforehand, so it'll be interesting to see how RL fairs. Euro 2012 takes place before the Olympics as well. So, it could be that come the play offs everyone is a bit tired of sports or spent up after going to the Olympics/going out everytime England play. Or, the two media juggernauts have heightened folks' appetite for sport, but also made them fed up of watching wendyball and athletics, so turn out in numbers to watch a real sport live.

Make 'em shorter, sharper and easier to understand.

I'd go with table toppers get a first round bye, while 2nd plays 7th, 3rd v 6th and 4th v 5th.
Then straight into knock-out semis.

Another (longer-term) alternative would be two conferences, playing H & A vs those in the same conference, H or A against those in the other. You'd need 16 teams just to get up to 22 fixtures though. Conference titles, would, despite being smaller achievements, actually carry more kudos by virtue of being distinct - the hubcap is just the GF winners ugly cousin. IMO. Top 4 from each conference play-off.

I've been wittering on about this for a while. Back in the day we had the Yorkshire and Lancashire leagues within the league itself. If you were in the Yorkshire League your matches against Yorkshire teams counted towards your position in that table. All teams were placed in one league at the end, with all league matches contributing to it. If you followed that model with two conferences losely based on regions and planned it properly. You could have the conferences rapped up at the end of July, CC final end of August, League Leaders shield mide way through September, Grand final a month after that. If Magic continued, that'd be 23 games, opening up more space for a home nations comp. Planned well you have internationals monthly throughout season, CC cup round monthly, the local derbies played in the first half of the season and games deciding play off positions and League Leaders shield in the back end and regular chance of silverware. That should overall improve the intensity of matches throughout the season and help the international game.

Is that a photo from the Mc Alpine in 2001 ?

It is financially viable only because of the amount of SKY money SL clubs get , it isn't financially viable outside SL , put personally if you go too far with it for too long , you do serious damage to your brand value , all IMO of course

Should be a 10 team league.

Play offs

1st v 4th
2nd v 3rd

Winners play at Old Trafford. Simples.

Oh and bring back the Old championship trophy for the team that finishes Top.

Perhaps we should ask the fans who don't go to the play offs game why they don't. Pretty much all of the people I know who go on a regular basis go to play off games so who are the people that don't go and why? Without that information we're just shooting in the dark.

Well fair enough, but I put my heart, soul and a considerable amount of money into the club. I really, honestly feel for CC clubs, you're constantly ignored by the RFL, and you don't even know what the format is from season to season, yet you still put 100's of pounds into you club just to keep it afloat. I've seen Huddersfield in the same position, and its grim, and things have got considerably better for us, and I am sure it will be your turn too.