I dont have the stats to back this up but I would hazard a guess that most grass root sports are diminishing in not just the UK but most developed nations. Its not the 80s anymore where there was nothing to do other than play sports or sniff glue. Kids these days would rather see how many likes on tik tok they can get or play fifa online with their mates, rather than partake in team sports.

The schools can't be made to start playing Rugby league, and where the schools use Union orientated heads of games you have no chance.

The kids who make it are the kids who go down to Milford, Dudley Hill, Oulton, Lock Lane etc....

As for the academies you don't explain your point. 10 academies will pretty much mop up the small numbers of talented kids who will make the grade.

20 academies would be ridiculous as the general standard would be poor and not stretch the talented kids.

If a couple of kids were tearing it up at school and on the local junior circuit then come 16 they need to be playing in a higher more intensive league.

Danny McGuire runs rings round kids at East Leeds, then goes to Leeds academy and is suddenly facing much better opposition and has to up and develop his game.

Players only develop if they move on to higher standards of Rugby,



.

Fundamentally, EVERY SL club should and need to be running their own academy.
It's quite ridiculous to preclude certain clubs because their academies aren't up to scratch.
They should be helped/forced to get them up to the required level - no excuses and it should be a pre requisite of being in SL.
A grace period for newly promoted clubs would be ok.

The previous licence period WAS the grace period.

Clubs knew this was coming and it should not a single club should have been caught out by the process.

In fact, it was scheduled to happen in 2020 and was delayed for 12 months because of Covid - there are no excuses for shoddy academy set-ups..

By the way, what the Wakefield poster forgot to mention was that another pre req of getting a SL licence was a stadium that was up to standard.

Bet you can’t get guess one of the 2 clubs that “promised” a SL standard stadium 10 years ago that still hasn’t delivered one?

Why stop there







If more academies is the answer then demand academies are set up at championship clubs before they gain promotion to Superleague.

Then when they go up they will go up oven ready for playing in Superleague.

No point just forming an academy once promoted, you can't set up a professional academy in just a few months after winning promotion can you? And then shut it if you go down?? You just can't do that.....

make it a pre-requirement of being in the Championship that you have an academy because according to you the more the merrier??

Lets go to 24 academies and have another 300 plus kids dragged out of community clubs none of whom will ever make a professional player.

Tell me this, how many out of every 100 players who currently join academies go on to make a professional career for themselves??

At a guess I'd say Castleford Tigers maybe.

No matter how many times you and people like you say this, neither Cas nor Wakefield, promised to have a new stadium in any given time frame.

It's a myth.

To be fair to him/her he/she's not the first, there have been others like leBron James, ruanne rebellion, AS108, and steph curry to name but a few have also said that.

Who let Steph back in?

I won't "be fair" to someone who just believes/spouts/repeats nonsense they have heard in the pub, or read on a forum.

Fwiw all the above mentioned posters are all the same poster currently banned on the Wakey board as well as on here I think. Hth.

[i"At present Castleford are a well run sustainable club that lives within it's means. Whilst hamstrung by an inadequate facility and the restrictions on commercial revenues and supporter base this causes, the club makes a good contribution to the Superleague.

Significant growth of the business is reliant upon the club moving to the proposed new stadium to enable further investment"[/i

WUMS spoil this site, the facts are what we need.............This is what was said by the RFL. There were no "promises"

Quote ="Donnyman"[i"At present Castleford are a well run sustainable club that lives within it's means. Whilst hamstrung by an inadequate facility and the restrictions on commercial revenues and supporter base this causes, the club makes a good contribution to the Superleague. Significant growth of the business is reliant upon the club moving to the proposed new stadium to enable further investment"[/i WUMS spoil this site, the facts are what we need.............This is what was said by the RFL. There were no "promises"'" You obviously didn't follow the utterances of Richard Wright. They did go back a long way. How about - news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 163521.stm.

Quote ="Donnyman"[i"At present Castleford are a well run sustainable club that lives within it's means. Whilst hamstrung by an inadequate facility and the restrictions on commercial revenues and supporter base this causes, the club makes a good contribution to the Superleague. Significant growth of the business is reliant upon the club moving to the proposed new stadium to enable further investment"[/i WUMS spoil this site, the facts are what we need.............This is what was said by the RFL. There were no "promises"'" You obviously didn't follow the utterances of Richard Wright. They did go back a long way. How about - news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 163521.stm.

There's a faux frenchman and some clown supposed to be from Knightsbridge who seem familiar "on the other side" but lets stay silent on that.....Here we go.......

[i[u"The club (Wakefield) continues to face a number of challenges. The stadium position is uncertain, and the significant challenge for the club will be to deliver the commercial and supporter growth required for the club to trade in a sustainable manner whilst improving competitiveness on the pitch"[/u[/i

[i[uTargets (for Castleford) for Castleford are to a degree based on the move to a new facility. They are a well run club that lives within it's means whilst hamstrung by an inadequate facility and the restrictions on commercial revenues and supporter base this brings[/u[/i

Neither club got any help from their local council on the basis that they would have to shell out to all three clubs (inc Fev) or none at all. Obviously other clubs have managed new stadia through being "advantaged" in certain ways including help from willing councils.

There were never any promises at all, just statements from the RFL stating the blooming obvious. However 10 years on both these fine clubs remain a valuable part of Superleague despite the pure bad luck on the stadium front. Having said that .Mr. Carter's hard work at Wakefield is admirable, despite some pathetic jibes.....

Quote ="Ornery Optimist"You obviously didn't follow the utterances of Richard Wright. They did go back a long way. How about - news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 163521.stm.'" Where in that piece are you seeing the words "We promise to build a stadium by X date"?

Quote ="Ornery Optimist"You obviously didn't follow the utterances of Richard Wright. They did go back a long way. How about - news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 163521.stm.'" Where in that piece are you seeing the words "We promise to build a stadium by X date"?

I tip-toe into this debate with apprehension because I'm not a Wakey hater. But (and I could be wrong) wasn't it the case that Wakefield's application for promotion (I forget the year) was based on the pledge to improve the ground. And then both Hunslet and Dewsbury were denied that same right as champions, because they couldn't make the same pledge?

Yes. You are wrong.

Of course there was a commitment to improve the ground - and in truth there have been improvements. But no, gaining promotion was not conditional on the promise of "we will build this, by X date".

On which part?



I didn't say that. More of a pledge / commitment. I'm just wondering could Hunslet have made a similar fairly ambiguous commitment and thus been promoted? I know people use this as an issue to beat Wakey with which I'm not at all interested in, but that whole promotion lark for a few successive years was so sketchy. But then when hasn't it been?!

On the part where you said "I could be wrong...".

The irritation for us, on top of the fact that we are still battling to get the stadium/upgrade we want, we have to listen to this urban myth of "you only got in SL cos you promised X".

If you say it enough it becomes the truth, it seems.

Improvements have included; a new (proper), toilet block, 2 terraces roofed, changing rooms refitted (even added a heating system last year), and upgraded crush barriers on all terraces.

This year already; re-roofing of the building you will know as Cats Bar and new floodlights gone in in the last month.

The new stand should start in Sept.

Emphasize "should".

It may well be frustrating, but its not difficult to see why that will have taken hold. You get promoted after winning the 1998 Division 1. The next year Hunslet win it and get told they are ineligible for promotion due to their ground. The following year Dewsbury win it and get told the same thing. So either your ground was good enough, or you promised to make it so. You are saying it's the former. I don't know which is true, that's why I was asking.

https://www.webcitation.org/5roV185aT?u ... 722356.ece https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2009/ ... dium-plans https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... e-11606958 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bra ... 533503.amp https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ne ... wakefield/ Granted not a beacon of truth, but Wikipedia states that your 2007 application for the 2009 season mentioned being in a new stadium by 2010. You were told you wouldn't get a licence in 2011 without improvements of which you made none. You got in because Crusaders folded. Similarly, Cas according to those articles would be in a new ground by now and currently have what appear to be bushes growing out of the terraces.

https://www.webcitation.org/5roV185aT?u ... 722356.ece https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2009/ ... dium-plans https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... e-11606958 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bra ... 533503.amp https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ne ... wakefield/ Granted not a beacon of truth, but Wikipedia states that your 2007 application for the 2009 season mentioned being in a new stadium by 2010. You were told you wouldn't get a licence in 2011 without improvements of which you made none. You got in because Crusaders folded. Similarly, Cas according to those articles would be in a new ground by now and currently have what appear to be bushes growing out of the terraces.

Quote ="dboy"Where in that piece are you seeing the words "We promise to build a stadium by X date"?'" Will a headline which includes the word ' promises ' be sufficient? https://www.pontefractandcastlefordexpr ... ium-698678

Quote ="dboy"Where in that piece are you seeing the words "We promise to build a stadium by X date"?'" Will a headline which includes the word ' promises ' be sufficient? https://www.pontefractandcastlefordexpr ... ium-698678

Quote ="Egg Chasing"https://www.webcitation.org/5roV185aT?url=www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_league/article6722356.ece https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2009/ ... dium-plans https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... e-11606958 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bra ... 533503.amp https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ne ... wakefield/ Granted not a beacon of truth, but Wikipedia states that your 2007 application for the 2009 season mentioned being in a new stadium by 2010. You were told you wouldn't get a licence in 2011 without improvements of which you made none. You got in because Crusaders folded. Similarly, Cas according to those articles would be in a new ground by now and currently have what appear to be bushes growing out of the terraces.'" Not a single one of those articles contains an attributable quote, to any club official, promising a stadium by any given date.

Quote ="Egg Chasing"https://www.webcitation.org/5roV185aT?url=www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_league/article6722356.ece https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2009/ ... dium-plans https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... e-11606958 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bra ... 533503.amp https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ne ... wakefield/ Granted not a beacon of truth, but Wikipedia states that your 2007 application for the 2009 season mentioned being in a new stadium by 2010. You were told you wouldn't get a licence in 2011 without improvements of which you made none. You got in because Crusaders folded. Similarly, Cas according to those articles would be in a new ground by now and currently have what appear to be bushes growing out of the terraces.'" Not a single one of those articles contains an attributable quote, to any club official, promising a stadium by any given date.

Quote ="Ornery Optimist"Will a headline which includes the word ' promises ' be sufficient? https://www.pontefractandcastlefordexpr ... ium-698678'" No because it's the journalist who has written "promises" and they are not the words of anyone connected with that club. The word "promise" isn't even used in the article!

Quote ="Ornery Optimist"Will a headline which includes the word ' promises ' be sufficient? https://www.pontefractandcastlefordexpr ... ium-698678'" No because it's the journalist who has written "promises" and they are not the words of anyone connected with that club. The word "promise" isn't even used in the article!