I love Kendal & it would be great to go there to watch RL. But being an hour from Barrow & 1.5 hours from Whitehaven & Workington is hardly convinient.

That population for Workington is only for the actual town centre. There are many satellite connurbations that are within 10 mins drive of the town such as Seaton, High Harrington, Stainburn, Clifton etc. When you include all of those the population rises to around 49,000. The you have the smaller towns such as Cockermouth and Maryport which are all within 15-20 mins from Workington.

Similarly with Whitehaven, you must take into account places like Cleator Moor, Egremont and St Bees to get a clearer picture.

so what kind of figures are we talking about? and how many of those are interested in rugby league and would go to watch a cumbrian team?

But just to see the otherside Micheal, I am from South Cumbria, near Barrow and I regard myself as a Cumbrian, Barrow has been considerd part of Cumbria since 1974 (i think), I cant speak for everyone in South Lakes but I consider myself a Cumbrian, and not a Lancastrian

each to their own. im officially from greater manchester but im a lancastrian through and through.

I see your point, but I imagine you have never been given the opportunity to represent Gtr Manchester at Rugby League, being from (i think) Wigan you would have the opportunity to represent Lancashire, being from Barrow you would represent Cumbria, despite it historically being in Lancashire.

I was born in Cumbria, and its probably one of the only boundry changes where an identity has been formed in what was formerly another county.

Kendal has no history of rugby league, a union town I believe. 50+ miles to workington and whitehaven through the Lake District for 1hr 30? Not really feasible is it?

It is, I have heard some absolutley ridiculous suggestions over the years regarding a Cumbrian SL team but none moreso than basing the ground in a non-league town 50 miles away from west cumbria and 30 miles away from Barrow. Also Kendal is smaller than Barrow and smaller than the Copeland/Allerdale area where Rugby League already thrives.

I take it you're a Cumbrian? Shouldn't we ask the fans if a merger is what they want or like it how it is? What is your opinion? do you aspire for SL? What would be the dream situation? [size=75sorry for all the questions

[/size

and of course whitehaven and workington were in cumberland. neither have been part of the county of lancashire. that's the difference with barrow.
but i'm not going to tell you how to feel. ive had enough of that from mancs teling me wigan is in lesser manchester

I am mate!



Yes, I suppose we should, but it depends what the question is.
At the moment I dont think Cumbria even registers on the RFL's radar. Either as a merged entity or stand alone clubs.

As Derwent has said, the stand alone clubs are a mile off beng anywhere near Super League, I agree with that.

I also think merged Franchise in the west would alienate those fans in South Cumbria and vice versa.

FWIW the mid point between Barrow and West Cumbria on the A595 is probably between Ravengalss and Bootle, these are both very small towns/villages



Yes, of course, I think every club aspires to SL in some way, e.g Barrow have drawn Wigan in the Challenge cup and the buzz in the town is amazing, I have never seen anything like it in my life and it would be great to welcome the best sides to Barrow on a regular basis.



Barrow in Super League as South Cumbrias repersentative and Workington and Whitehaven either merged or one of (maybe both) as West Cumbrias representative.

I think your missing the point mate, when i was a nipper repping Cumbria, despite Barrow historically being in Lancs, Lancs and Yorks were "the enemy".

So because young Barrovian and South Lakes RL players only rep Cumbria we have NO affinity with Lancs.

You will find that the majority of people who have any affinity with Lancs in Barrow are over 60, the majority of youngsters only know Barrow as a Cumbrian town

no i'm not, im agreeing with you even if i didnt do a good job of demonstrating it


my cousin's ex is 30 and from barrow. she always said she was from cumbria.

I think if cumbria has a SL team it will be in Barrow, I work around cumbria quite regularly and its the only town with a population large enough, if only their new backer can afford a bridge they might get some more away fans!

blink and you miss it

ah see.....

Obviously I was joking, but I can fully understand anyone not wanting to be a Lancastrian.

Michael.

Classic expansionista arguments. "Get a club from cumbria in super league! Make a new club and chuck money at it!!"

"Are there other rugby league clubs in cumbria? We didnt know that cos we have our super league blinkers on!!!

"Force the cumbrian clubs to merge to make an SL club - great idea. What happens when the people who support and run rugby league in cumbria complain and try to suggest a better way? - Who cares?"

"What happens if it all goes wrong? - Who cares, we were generous enough to give them a go"

I agree, cumbria should have a club in SL. One of the three that exist now, let them build in their own time so the whole club will be ready for promotion when it comes...............oh hang on

This subject keeps coming up year after year and the bottom line is that unless a new club is formed playing in a stadium half-way between Workington and Whitehaven then it will never happen. The directors of both clubs in west Cumbria keep talking about "oneday" getting into SL on their own but if it ever happens it will be the rock that that team perishes on. Haven are in Copeland district which has a population of 75,000 within 30 minutes of Whitehaven and Town are in Allerdale with a population of 96,000 within 30 minutes of Workington. If a new club was based in a new stadium at Lillyhall, which is near Distington, the half-way point between both towns then that would give a total population of 171,000 within about 40 minutes of the stadium. Sadly, though both councils have been sucked in to the SL talk from the clubs and they are both planning on building new stadiums in the the two towns. Many questions are raised about what would happen to the two existing clubs if a new club was formed and they would have to become feeder clubs. Other questions are raised about a new club if it lost its licence after 3 years, would that see the end of RL in the area at professional level. The area is earmarked to become the "Energy Coast of Britain" with a new nuclear academy and new reactors for Sellafield and talk of goodness knows how many billions of pounds being spent here. Neither town would support the other if they managed to get there alone as it was proved when Town were in SL1 and still carry the debts from that season. Barrow is 60 miles from Workington on a very poor road so they could never be entered into the equation and would have to do it on there own and good luck to them. Nowhere else in Cumbria would support a SL team so unless local bigotry can be put aside then I'm afraid it will remain just a dream for rugby league enthusiasts of west Cumbria.

Barrow could do it on their own with some big ground improvements. Barrow are getting just shy of 2000 crowds for their home games this season. Barrow is 60 miles away from Whitehaven and Workington so can't even remotely be including in any merged Super League team proposals. But surely it could stand alone and prosper? Barrow due to it's proximatey to the Scottish borders also offers interesting possiblities for expansion into Scotland if it did have a Super League franchise.

Barrow although geographically situated in the county of Cumbria has very few links with the areas traditionally considered as the County ie Whitehaven, Workington, Carlisle and the large amount of small towns in the vicinity of these towns such as Egremont, Wigton and Maryport. Therefore i would discount them imediately from any Cumbria + Super League equation.

If Haven or Town we're ever to be admitted into SL the old rivalrys would be forgotten over a short period of time and im sure alot of fans from the 'other' club would soon attend games. When Town had their couple of seasons in the top flight quite a few Haven fans would go and watch the games purely because of the teams visiting Derwent Park. If they'd established themselves perhaps more would have followed and become regular visitors to the ground. The people who witter on about the rivalry and 'hating Town' are as a rule of the older generation. There isnt much of a rivalry to speak of these days bar the poorly attended NRC/Friendly games.

Theres is a definite hunger for top flight RL in West Cumbria, nobody has the appetite however to achieve it.

You should have paid more attention in Geography pal. To discount Barrow from any merged Cumbrian SL side in one sentence and then mention Barrow and the Scottish borders in another is absolute idiocy.

Ignorance like that is the reason there isnt a SL side in Cumbria in the first place.

Just because Barrow have had few decent crowds this season doesnt automatically put them in the box seat for SL. Haven have played in 2 grand finals, 2 semi finals and a NRC final in the past 5 years and averaged over 2k for a few seasons during this time. Surely that puts US in the box seat (ground improvements pending of course).

There wont be any SL team in Cumbria in the foreseable future. Toulouse and Widnes are almost shoe ins for 2012 if you ask me.

Typo fixed!

Barrow is alot easier to get to, it's about 20-30 minutes from the M6 turn off at Kendal.

and how far from workington, whitehaven? the road up to barrow was a shocker the last time i went up there.