Well said Dunbar

Considering it's arguably the second biggest sport in the country and let's not forget a global leviathan, some rugby union club attendances are awful at best.
The thing is that a lot of union clubs don't rely on gate receipts. A sizeable part of their income comes from sponsorship and corporate.

Really looking forward to post number 70.........I am sure it will be as much b0ll0x as this.
FFS......RU in the UK may well be unballanced, but to think that the RU establisment isn't worth 20+ times the RL one (financially) is just plain stupid


Get south, get watching and Get a grip!
Harlequins RU 12,750 sell outs every week (EXCEPT WHEN THE SOUTH STAND IS RUBBLE)
Saracens......40k at wembley, London Irish.......17k regulars....I could carry on, but what's the point....

Just to add to GutterFax

Didn't Quins have 50 - 60 000 at Xmas and something similar the other week at Twickers.

They have a big sponsor in Ethiad and even with Bloodgate have recently brought Samsung or similar on board. The average salary of the fans at Quins is 40k plus I think I read. 40-50 pound a ticket for the infamous Leinster game which was sold out.

Big contract with Sky-International rugby is huge

Im not sure they have that many problems

I tell you what my friend - why don't we keep this civilised... the reason I come on here is that I live in Stratford on Avon and really miss chatting about Rugby League... I certainly don't enjoy being called stupid

I accept that Harlequins get good gates but to suggest that London Irish have 17k regulars when they average circa 11k is a bit of an overstatement (and a lot of that average is bolstered by the 20+ they get on St Patricks day... where are those die hard fans when they aren't wearing green hats and drinking Guinness?)

And that's the point - RU fans turn out for the occasion... Twickenham, Wembley etc. To be fair, I am jealous as hell that Saracens can get 40k at Wembley for a league game while less than that turned up for Millennium Magic in Cardiff and Edinburgh

Back to the point - there are a number of clubs... Wasps, Sale, Newcastle, Leeds etc that are without doubt living beyond their means and I really do think this will come back to bite them. RU will thrive (due to the International game) but it isn't all rosy

And that's the last from me on this because I am here to talk RL... and we have a fantastic 6 weeks to look forward to... Grand Finals in both hemispheres and a 4 Nations. I don't care what the national press make of it... I can't wait

In rugby union certain clubs command impressive crowds on certain occasions. On other less publicised times the numbers are a little more modest.
If we look at a random night, tonight for example, the average rugby league crowd was 4,263. The average rugby union crowd taken from the elite Guiness Premiership and Magners League was 3,760.
Make of it what you will.

Lets all hope and pray that rugby onion dies a slow and painful death like it almost has in australia.

Not sure that will ever happen, but some unions fans aren't happy...



Saracens chief executive Edward Griffiths has criticised fans who booed during Sunday's win over Gloucester.

Supporters jeered and slow handclapped during a lengthy passage of second-half kicking at Vicarage Road, a reaction Griffiths described as "astonishing".


[urlhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/my_club/saracens/8278528.stm[/url

Kyle Eastmond is another one about to announce he is leaving. Been offered mega bucks by 4 union clubs, wants to stay in league but said would be an idiot to turn money down. Looks like sale sharks is the destination

Something has to be done to stop the younger players leaving.

Should the RFL offer our best young players a central contract to prevent them going to Union. With players already gone and rumours of Sale sniffing around Eastmond maybe the RFL should step in and centrally contract some of these players (perhaps one per club) and not count it on the cap.

While the cap may very well balance up SL into an even playing field, it will do nothing for our chances at international level if our best youngsters are bought by Union because the cap prevents clubs from paying them what they are worth.

no, quite simply!

tried before and failed, all it does is push price up to union clubs, who frankly can afford to come and get who they want if money is the only motivator.

and where would the central money come from?????

we dont lose that many anyway and mostly they fail!

Yes, for the good of the game.

We must stop this crop of 2nd rate convicts at centre/wing/half back stopping our lads getting a game at an age when it matters

^^ this.

We can't really afford this as a sport at the moment.

Whichever club the player plays at they should ahve a top up payment for the 30 highest rated players, maybe a performance team could assess this. Problem being when one wants it they'll all want it.
I've no doubt that eastmond would be staying if he had another few grand tapped on.

Maybe the top ten players under 24 regardless of where they played could have a central contract, assessed every year

What would this achieve other than a lot of hassle, a less even playing field, and making us look desperate as a sport? All the players that have already gone to Union and all the players that ever will go are instantly replaceable.

You are kidding right?
They're only interested in our best, yes they might leave plenty behind but we'll never compete with aus if our best crop get cherry picked

I must have missed all these outstanding players that have left and damaged the national team then, or left big holes in their sides that haven't instantly been filled with no detriment whatsoever.

I'd rather see us spending the extra money getting our academy set up sorted out so we have plenty coming through when someone leaves. The fact our national team looks so weak has nothing to do with RU!

I hate to break it to you lot but you are not producing any players even worth looking at.


Who do you centrally contract? Wellens? Long?


Hell last time you tried it you gave millions to an over weight hooker who promptly told the RFL to shove it up their ar$e any time a test match rolled around and he might have to face decent quality opposition!

Best as in Chris Ashton (anyone remember him), Chev Walker, Karl Pryce?

Smith's a decent prospect and Eastmonds our best looking half back for a while, he's gone pretty much.
2 in a year who would have played for Eng over the coming few years, only 2 but watch them count up

If Eastmond goes it'll be a bit disappointing. Smith is decent but emminently replaceable.

The problem isn't the cap, the problem is money. Union has more because of its cash cow international matches.

In the short-term there isn't much that can be done about it.

hmm but would these players be tempted by even a little top up from the RFL?

Only if it's more then Union is prepared to offer and due to the reasons already identified that would be very unlikely. Spend the money on juniors who want to play League.

The only thing I can think of that would make more money available, without actually making more money, is reducing the matchday squad to 16 and the squad to 24 (actually gives you more depth proportionally over the season, though less during a match).

Would the cash this freed up be used to fend off Union or predate on the NRL?



Actually with limits being placed on imports, cash as well as opportunities should be freed up for British players.