Quote ="Lebron James"Its imperative that the game is taken to schools in America and Canada for the next generation of players to take up the game as Americans are for more professional than our rugby league playing youngsters who are more concerned with drug taking, drinking, falling out of nightclubs, beating up students and scribbling on their arms with biro than being proper professionals like the Americans. Americans also know the importance of an education whilst playing the game Regards King james'" [iEthan Westbrooks, pulled over for speeding near Bakersfield, Calif. Police found gun in his car and suspected him of carrying a stolen loaded firearm. Sean Smith, charged with felony assault for incident in Pasadena, Calif., on July 4. Accused of stomping on head of sister's boyfriend.[/i More examples here: https://www.usatoday.com/sports/nfl/arrests/

Quote ="Lebron James"Its imperative that the game is taken to schools in America and Canada for the next generation of players to take up the game as Americans are for more professional than our rugby league playing youngsters who are more concerned with drug taking, drinking, falling out of nightclubs, beating up students and scribbling on their arms with biro than being proper professionals like the Americans. Americans also know the importance of an education whilst playing the game Regards King james'" [iEthan Westbrooks, pulled over for speeding near Bakersfield, Calif. Police found gun in his car and suspected him of carrying a stolen loaded firearm. Sean Smith, charged with felony assault for incident in Pasadena, Calif., on July 4. Accused of stomping on head of sister's boyfriend.[/i More examples here: https://www.usatoday.com/sports/nfl/arrests/

Quote ="Damo-Leeds"[iEthan Westbrooks, pulled over for speeding near Bakersfield, Calif. Police found gun in his car and suspected him of carrying a stolen loaded firearm. Sean Smith, charged with felony assault for incident in Pasadena, Calif., on July 4. Accused of stomping on head of sister's boyfriend.[/i More examples here: https://www.usatoday.com/sports/nfl/arrests/'" One good way to shut a troll up I suppose.

Quote ="Damo-Leeds"[iEthan Westbrooks, pulled over for speeding near Bakersfield, Calif. Police found gun in his car and suspected him of carrying a stolen loaded firearm. Sean Smith, charged with felony assault for incident in Pasadena, Calif., on July 4. Accused of stomping on head of sister's boyfriend.[/i More examples here: https://www.usatoday.com/sports/nfl/arrests/'" One good way to shut a troll up I suppose.

Yup, just quote facts in the most blandest way possible!

I await a new poster joining from the USA with a certain Capdouze feel to his ramblings.

Its only a matter of time

Tom Edward Patrick Brady, is an American quarterback who was drafted in the 6th round of the NFL draft who later went on to become the GOAT. For the uneducated of rlfans, as a comparison, the 6th round is the standard of Wakefield, Huddersfield or Leigh. Americans have the work ethic that rugby league needs. When Tom Edward Patrick Bailey was only selected in the 6th round, did he turn to drugs? Did he beat up students? Did he resort to homophobic dialect? No, he got his down and through sheer hard work and determination became the best American football player ever. That's the demographic rugby league should be aiming at instead of drug taking, homophobic women beaters

Regards

King James

Keep digging - you can literally smell the desperation in your posts lately

Quote ="Lebron James"Tom Edward Patrick Brady, is an American quarterback who was drafted in the 6th round of the NFL draft who later went on to become the GOAT. For the uneducated of rlfans, as a comparison, the 6th round is the standard of Wakefield, Huddersfield or Leigh. Americans have the work ethic that rugby league needs. When Tom Edward Patrick Bailey was only selected in the 6th round, did he turn to drugs? Did he beat up students? Did he resort to homophobic dialect? No, he got his down and through sheer hard work and determination became the best American football player ever. That's the demographic rugby league should be aiming at instead of drug taking, homophobic women beaters Regards King James'" [iA Great Britain and England international representative forward, he previously played for Bradford Bulls in the Super League. During his first spell at South Sydney, Burgess won the 2014 NRL Premiership, the club's first in 43 years, and was named winner of the Clive Churchill Medal for man of the match in the 2014 NRL Grand Final.[/i Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Burgess

Quote ="Lebron James"Tom Edward Patrick Brady, is an American quarterback who was drafted in the 6th round of the NFL draft who later went on to become the GOAT. For the uneducated of rlfans, as a comparison, the 6th round is the standard of Wakefield, Huddersfield or Leigh. Americans have the work ethic that rugby league needs. When Tom Edward Patrick Bailey was only selected in the 6th round, did he turn to drugs? Did he beat up students? Did he resort to homophobic dialect? No, he got his down and through sheer hard work and determination became the best American football player ever. That's the demographic rugby league should be aiming at instead of drug taking, homophobic women beaters Regards King James'" [iA Great Britain and England international representative forward, he previously played for Bradford Bulls in the Super League. During his first spell at South Sydney, Burgess won the 2014 NRL Premiership, the club's first in 43 years, and was named winner of the Clive Churchill Medal for man of the match in the 2014 NRL Grand Final.[/i Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Burgess

In reply to the op,
What do the supporters of RL want and what do the RFL want from the game in 5/10/20 years time and, more importantly, how do they expect this to be achieved.
It does appear that the North Americans are trying to build something over there but is there really any appetite for a 10/12 club SL, which includes, say 2 french clubs and 3 "North American" clubs AND what effect would this have on RL in general and more importantly, RL in the UK.
Personally, I believe this model would kill the game in the UK and that if "we" are serious about "helping" the North American game, it has to be in addition to what we have and there has to be significant extra sponsorship to make it worth while.
We look as though we are going blindly into this and hoping for something good at the end, which could be the mother of all mistakes for RL in the UK.

That's a sensible post.

That's an interesting concept, and makes a presumption that Halifax (West Yorkshire) would be granted an initial licence should the concept of licensing reappear. Bear in mind that the previous rounds of licensing only covered Super League. Also note that each professional club is not only a member of the RFL, but is run by a limited company registered in its home country. I would think that enforcing a geographical movement of membership of a club (with all that would mean for the associated limited company) between countries would probably be unlawful?

Barry McKenzie (your first alias on here) would be proud of that post cobber..

He has more names than a phone book

While were at it lets move Catalan to Barcelona, for the same reasons.

Not a stupid idea if the circumstances were right.

If Catalans Dragons could guarantee at least 15,000 fans every week in Barcelona (they got 18,000 there for a one off game against Warrington), then moving there, assuming a decent stadium, would be a great development for rugby league.

The original club could be renamed Perpignan, and hopefully have great Super League local derbies with the new Barcelona-based Catalans Dragons and Toulouse Olympique.

If the potential for RL in France is so great, then why in the last 80 years hasn't a home-grown league managed to flourish to the extent that we're not now talking just about how SL can catch up with the NRL, but also Elite One? And looking forward to a nailed on Australia / France world cup final?

What's different now compared to the last 80 years+?

What's different now is the rise of a French-player based club named Toulouse Olympique, which will soon be in Super League. That rise to SL will put in motion a local derby that will attract fans, and a growth in the junior structure already in existence at Toulouse, and thus the growth of the French player pool divided between Catalans and Toulouse. Should Avignon in southeast France also join Super League, given its rich junior history, then the player pool will expand further, giving the French national team a world competitive roster of players by 2025-2027.

No Vichy Government?

Rugby league was banned in France 77 years ago. Clubs had all of their facilities, kits, equipment and money handed over to rugby union and volleyball clubs. French RL spent decades struggling after the ban was lifted. They weren’t even allowed to use the word “rugby” as part of their sport until 1991.

Whereas now RL is looking like it’s as strong or stronger in Southern France as it was in the 1930s when it was becoming highly popular.

I’m very pleased that Catalans stayed up and look forward to Toulouse’s rise. I too think the rivalry between those two sides will be great for the game.

So basically what you are saying in response to HXSparky's question is...

The home grown French league is dire at best as French teams are desperate to get into SL.

For those who like a decent read [urlhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Forbidden-Game-Untold-French-League/dp/1901347052#reader_B006X38B1I[/url

There's no doubt about it, this will happen. People may laugh and joke but give it 10 years and the majority of players over here will be from part of America.

And that's the millon dollar question, right? Because what this forum regularly shows is that supporters have vastly different views on what they want from the sport, and how to achieve it (not that that's necessarily a bad thing).

From my own personal view, what I would like to see from the sport is competitive fixtures, involving the best possible players, playing in front of full and modern stadiums, developing in modern facilities and earning a good living from the sport.

The way to do that is to increase the level of money coming into the sport - from commercial, television and from supporters. Thats the reality of modern, professional sport. Where I think I disagree with some people in this forum is how to do that.

To achieve the above, the game needs to be talking to new audiences - the audiences that advertisers and broadcasters want to reach - and my belief is that expansion and licensing is the best way to do that.

If we want to achieve the above, we need to change the fact that the sport in the UK is strongest in the areas where the economy is amongst the weakest. When we insist that the future of the sport lies in small towns and cities where the High Streets are made up predominantly of bookmakers, pawnbrokers and takeaways, we have no right to be surprised or outraged that the only brands that want to support the sport are online bookies and canned mushy peas.

North America, whilst I agree it should be approached carefully, represents a very real opportunity to do that. Canada and Amercia represent new audiences, in big cities, big media markets and big commercial markets. Yes, they're crowded markets, but I believe RL does offer something of a USP in those areas. A small slice a big pie can offer us more than an big slice of a small pie.

The heartlands of the sport are and should always be important, but we can't continue to permit a situation where clubs can continually vote to make it harder to retain our existing talent by voting against even inflation-linked increases to the salary cap, or where clubs cannot sell tickets without pricing them at rock-bottom prices, where clubs opt out of competing in the World Club series because they don't think they can sell enough tickets, or where clubs don't produce elite talent through their youth structures, without that being challenged.

Different people may have different views on what they want from the sport, or they may have different views on how to achieve those aims above, but that's why I support expansion and licencing.

A very sensible and thought-provoking post, bramleyrhino (unlike the original that started this thread). What you say makes a lot of sense, but I'm not sure that the world at large will ever want to welcome the game we love with enough enthusiasm to make it work? It's not that we shouldn't try, but the game's administrators have demonstrated a large degree of ineptitude to be able to progress in any meaningful or strategic manner for many a year. Everything we do seems to be a knee-jerk based on who has a few pounds/dollars/euros to flash around.

I still maintain (and I've said this before) that expansion and licensing is the bees knees for many fans... just so long as "your" team is included in the party. What would a poll of all SL fans be if the question was whether they supported licensing or not if their own team was deprived a licence? An easy response here of course would be "of course we'd be in support", but if it was for real...?

As an example, if we take expansionism to it's extreme, let's assume that West Yorkshire has just one licence in the new world order of rugby league. Given recent history, the RFL may decide that Odsal is where the West Yorkshire team should play. Would Cas, Leeds, Wakey and Huddersfield fans all be happy to abandon their team to trek over to Bradford? I think not.

"Assuming that west Yorkshire had only one licence" is not what expansionists are aiming for. Serious expansionists want to see a strong roster of west Yorkshire teams like Leeds for certain, and some out of Bradford, Huddersfield, Castleford, Wakefield. But we don't need all of them, esp when there are two strong Humberside teams, and strong teams at Wigan, St Helens and Warrington to be accommodated. Expansionists can tolerate 8 M62 teams, but demand at least two French teams, and two north American teams, with more to follow.

[uIdeal 14 team Super League for 2021[/u:

[iWigan, St Helens, Warrington,
Leeds, Huddersfield, Castleford,
Hull FC, Hull KR,
London,
Catalans, Toulouse,
Toronto, New York, Montreal[/i

[uIdeal 16 team Super League for 2025[/u:

[iWigan, St Helens, Warrington,
Leeds, Huddersfield, Castleford,
Hull FC, Hull KR,
London,
Catalans, Toulouse, Paris
Toronto, New York, Montreal, Boston[/i

The latter will provide the ideal setup for the 2025 World Cup, which will have to start in mid-October to avoid the snow.