Ive been saying for a few years now that the sport is in terminal decline. You are quite right in your assertion that the professional game will be gone in 5-10 years. SKY will offer us a reduced deal and given that no other broadcaster wants to show such a dull, boring game we will have no option to accept which will put a lot of clubs in trouble. I also agree that I doubt this would have happened under Lindsay's tenure.

Still no sponsor for the Challenge Cup .

If they do not get one maybe rugby fans .com can offer £10.50 p to sponsor it LOL

Only the sport of RL could turn a great PR triumph (Catalans winning the cup) into a farce by potentially denying them the opportunity to defend their title.

I agree. As you say people love a day out & even more so if they can latch onto a bit of glory to do with their city/town's sports teams. As has been mentioned you just have to look at Cas, half their town seemed to turn out that day, yet their SL average is around 7500. I think there's huge potential for decent numbers if some of the say more success-starved teams got there and that would have a positive knock-on effect in season tickets after that, especially if they won.

And all this talk about the current champions not being allowed to defend the title is not gonna help.

Quote ="rollin thunder"you said you could guarantee that a Salford Wakefield final would sell more that a warrington Catalan final, would you be prepared to put down 500k as a bond to ensure it did. really could not see a wakefield salford final selling more that 50k, and to be fair thats more to do with Salford, Wakefield against anyone else maybe would not be a bad attendance except maybe Huddersfield.'" I think you'll find that Salford were involved in the final with the 3rd highest recorded attendance back in 1969 princess..... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968%E2 ... llenge_Cup I've personally been picked up by at least 30k Salford taxi drivers over the years that have asked me "how did we get on?" so with just taxi drivers alone we'd more than sell our allocation. It's amazing how many glory hunters come out of the woodwork for a showpiece final...

Quote ="rollin thunder"you said you could guarantee that a Salford Wakefield final would sell more that a warrington Catalan final, would you be prepared to put down 500k as a bond to ensure it did. really could not see a wakefield salford final selling more that 50k, and to be fair thats more to do with Salford, Wakefield against anyone else maybe would not be a bad attendance except maybe Huddersfield.'" I think you'll find that Salford were involved in the final with the 3rd highest recorded attendance back in 1969 princess..... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968%E2 ... llenge_Cup I've personally been picked up by at least 30k Salford taxi drivers over the years that have asked me "how did we get on?" so with just taxi drivers alone we'd more than sell our allocation. It's amazing how many glory hunters come out of the woodwork for a showpiece final...

Maybe an insurance company could pick up free naming rights on the basis of underwriting the supposed loss of revenue should Catalans reach the final!?

Quote ="SaleSlim"I think you'll find that Salford were involved in the final with the 3rd highest recorded attendance back in 1969 princess..... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968%E2 ... llenge_Cup I've personally been picked up by at least 30k Salford taxi drivers over the years that have asked me "how did we get on?" so with just taxi drivers alone we'd more than sell our allocation. It's amazing how many glory hunters come out of the woodwork for a showpiece final...'" SO youve used 30,000 taxis over the years when going to a game. So lets say to the stadium and return, so 15,000 matches. Thats an impressive feat. When you started going to the games was the back line Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham and moses with a T-rex and Triceratops as half backs?

Quote ="SaleSlim"I think you'll find that Salford were involved in the final with the 3rd highest recorded attendance back in 1969 princess..... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968%E2 ... llenge_Cup I've personally been picked up by at least 30k Salford taxi drivers over the years that have asked me "how did we get on?" so with just taxi drivers alone we'd more than sell our allocation. It's amazing how many glory hunters come out of the woodwork for a showpiece final...'" SO youve used 30,000 taxis over the years when going to a game. So lets say to the stadium and return, so 15,000 matches. Thats an impressive feat. When you started going to the games was the back line Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham and moses with a T-rex and Triceratops as half backs?

Oh the irony of being called out by one of the biggest trolls on here!



I'm sure every Salford fan knows exactly where I'm coming from on this so I won't lose any sleep over you getting your knickers in a twist LeBron/Jean.

Quote ="SaleSlim"I think you'll find that Salford were involved in the final with the 3rd highest recorded attendance back in 1969 princess..... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968%E2 ... llenge_Cup I've personally been picked up by at least 30k Salford taxi drivers over the years that have asked me "how did we get on?" so with just taxi drivers alone we'd more than sell our allocation. It's amazing how many glory hunters come out of the woodwork for a showpiece final...'" Literally 50 years ago. Scrapping the barrel again.

Quote ="SaleSlim"I think you'll find that Salford were involved in the final with the 3rd highest recorded attendance back in 1969 princess..... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968%E2 ... llenge_Cup I've personally been picked up by at least 30k Salford taxi drivers over the years that have asked me "how did we get on?" so with just taxi drivers alone we'd more than sell our allocation. It's amazing how many glory hunters come out of the woodwork for a showpiece final...'" Literally 50 years ago. Scrapping the barrel again.

It's called providing facts rather than baseless waffle which most on here do.



Just one "p" in "scraping" btw, otherwise your sentence makes no sense (won't be the first or the last time though eh?

).

Nice one !

FWIW, I do think the less fashionable clubs gather a huge following IF they make it to a major final and it would be a massive boost for crowd numbers in subsequent seasons.


Btw, I think his spelling was correct, he was talking about getting rid of a barrel in the new year, everyone's on a diet in January

They are allowed to defend the title, thy just have to pay for the honour of doing so.

It could possibly be the most the cup is mentioned in the media if this was the case so maybe it would.

They are not Champions, they are Cup Holders.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-leagu ... challenge/ The RFL said in a statement: “We have been surprised and disappointed by the uncertainty over the Catalans Dragons participation in the 2019 Challenge Cup, which surfaced just before Christmas. “We have been in discussions with the club since then, and will continue those discussions to search for a solution.” The RFL, which reported a loss of £2 million in its last set of accounts for 2017, is still seeking a Challenge Cup sponsor after Ladbrokes failed to renew its backing.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-leagu ... challenge/ The RFL said in a statement: “We have been surprised and disappointed by the uncertainty over the Catalans Dragons participation in the 2019 Challenge Cup, which surfaced just before Christmas. “We have been in discussions with the club since then, and will continue those discussions to search for a solution.” The RFL, which reported a loss of £2 million in its last set of accounts for 2017, is still seeking a Challenge Cup sponsor after Ladbrokes failed to renew its backing.

The RFL is inept. I appreciate there is a money issue but they could/should be using the Challenge Cup to push the expansion and development agenda. Brilliant that RS Belgrade are in this year and shocking that Toronto, Toulouse and Cats aren’t involved but why not expand it and invite other teams from countries that are developing the game? The only condition should be that they can afford to travel. It would be great publicity and a great chance for these clubs to measure their progress against some of our top amateur teams. As it is, the RFL should be pushing Millom (the oldest amateur club in the world) Vs RS Belgrade all over the main stream media but I won’t hold my breath.

The playoffs and grand final are a 4/5 game competition, sometimes less

your show attributes of becoming an RFL employee, supporting the brain dead idea of bringing in teams from abroad but your asking them to travel over and now doubt will be in favour of that £1/2 million bond.

what your asking is for an international competition which I have now problem with but we need to leave the Challenge cup as it is and set a new one up if that's the case, expansion where are the boundaries do we stop a aussie side applying

Snowie, if you’d read any of my previous posts you’d know that I think the 500k bond is the lamest idea of all the lame ideas the RFL have had recently. I’m simply saying that the only financial guarantee needs is that clubs can raise the funds to travel abroad if/when they’re drawn away from home. Exactly the same as for any other team really. As regards boundaries - you tell me. Should Toronto be in? If so why not a team from Jamaica? No, not an Aussie team - that’s hardly development.

I'm against the french being in never mind toronto, its british league if they should sort they own league out, If I had my way catalan would be out of super league

Since the inception of Super League, it's a European League.
I dont know where the iead originally came from but, the idea (with London and Paris) was probably to persuade Sky, that Rugby League wasnt just played along the M62.
Paris went pop (along with other expansion clubs) but, whether we like Catalan in the comp and I certainly think they add something different (as well as it being a great trip

), I do think that they help "us" sell the game, both to broadcasters and sponsors and its bloody ridiculous that any side, especially a super league side, should have to come up with a bond.

The clowns that run our game could just as easily say that any club with an average attendance should pay a bond to be in the cup.

Catalan were invited to be part of our league (and cup) and they should be trated the same as everyone else and the double standards and hypocrisy of inviting Red Star into the cup and using the publicity, whilst at the same time making it impossible for Toronto, Toulouse and Catalan is just plain laughable or, at least it would be if it wasnt such a mickey poor decision.

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... ts-2432403 I think it's stupid in that regard," Lenagan told reporters at the Warriors' pre-season media day. "I think it's a poor decision and I think it's an ill-thought-out decision, to be perfectly honest. "Attendances being down at the Challenge Cup is not a Catalans-based problem. Those attendances have been diminishing because of poor marketing and poor promotion of the cup as a whole.   "The attendances during the cup aren't great, so we have to - through the RFL - address the Challenge Cup problem. Stopping the holders entering the cup unless they pay a premium is not the best decision." Catalans, who on Tuesday announced the departure of the club's chief executive Christophe Jouffret, have asked the RFL to reconsider its demand . The RFL is also seeking a new sponsor for the Challenge Cup after the deal with Ladbrokes ended last August.

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... ts-2432403 I think it's stupid in that regard," Lenagan told reporters at the Warriors' pre-season media day. "I think it's a poor decision and I think it's an ill-thought-out decision, to be perfectly honest. "Attendances being down at the Challenge Cup is not a Catalans-based problem. Those attendances have been diminishing because of poor marketing and poor promotion of the cup as a whole.   "The attendances during the cup aren't great, so we have to - through the RFL - address the Challenge Cup problem. Stopping the holders entering the cup unless they pay a premium is not the best decision." Catalans, who on Tuesday announced the departure of the club's chief executive Christophe Jouffret, have asked the RFL to reconsider its demand . The RFL is also seeking a new sponsor for the Challenge Cup after the deal with Ladbrokes ended last August.

So nothing to do with the 30 rounds before hand that have got a team into that position no?