I know this has been done to death but surely the fans could make this a success if they truly wanted to. After all the fans are the game and without fans there is no money, no club, no game.

Games like this would give our lads, well yours if you're talking England, a platform between club level and international.#

If any fan has the game at heart then they will attend and try to make it a success. I know sometimes finances dictate and feelings sometimes don't have a bearing as people can't afford it but I'd love to see a sell out at out say the DW Stadium or Odsal for such a game.

Do people think this could work? I can't see why people don't get behind this? It would solve a lot of old arguments over best prop, Graham or Peacock and the like. If the player performs better than the other head to head over the three game series then there would be no doubt.

Another poser is what would the squads look like and who they would contain.

I think if it is down in black and white it is a mouthwatering prospect. I would certainly attend and as a neutral as I think it would be something great if sustained and persisted with.

Nobody supported it last time though. It's alright saying that fans could make it a success, but it's been shown that British RL fans don't care for contrived Australian-style exhibition games. It also encourages the image of RL as a regional sport, and players moan that we play too many games as it is. Correct decision to scrap it and I hope it is not brought back.

Lancs v Yorks to Australian State of Origin is what Bullseye is to Darts.

It is because it is not done properly.

If we feel we have players that can compete with the Aussies then why can't we reproduce something that is close to Origin.
It isn't going to happen overnight but can't understand why fans don't buy into this as it will definitely give our players more of a stepping stone between club and international level.

If not then we need more international games.

the clubs won't take it seriously so the fans won't pay to watch it for me its that simple.the only way this would work is if it was tied in to being picked for the priviledge of waring the England jersey in the 4 nations or the WC.two many players cried off the last time it was tried or there clubs pulled them out.make your own mind up.

But why do we need to reproduce Origin? It's not a British concept, no other sports do it here. The Australians are strange and have strange ideas about representative sport, that's fine if it works there but we don't need to copy everything they do. More internationals would be great but we need more competitive nations to play them, constantly playing against the Aussies and Kiwis would get boring fast.

I agree with J.C make it as a selection series with performances in the games being used to pick the England/GB squad. This will then up the intensity levels of the series straight away.

If we can produce a spectacle any where near the SOO it could be marketed well and help spread the game.

i might be wrong on this HH but its not new lancs yorks cumbria once played regular.

they didnt give it long enough to bed in, origin down under started poorly

midweek games were never going to take off either

I went to a few of these games and really enjoyed them - thought they had decent enough crowds as well to be fair. Mind you, bein a Wakey fan, at the time I'd have thought 6000 was a big gate lol

Never a truer word spoken.

Whilst I agree that it is a bad idea at superleague level, I think this could be something good for the Championship players, I would hazard a guess that 80% of players in CH and CH1 are from lancashire or Yorks, and it would give a good chance for lower level players to compete at a stronger level, players in championship one for instance could put themselves in the window to higher level clubs, whilst the grassroots fans would have chance to see the best of thier leagues going head to head.

I would make the thing a one off game each season though.

We had a county championship for the best part of 100 years, starting in 1895. How long does it need to bed in? The attendance figures tend to back up the assertion that the fans have never been all that interested.

As for 80% of the championship players being from Lancashire or Yorkshire - seems unlikely when you have Gateshead, South Wales, London Skolars, Toulouse and the Cumbrian clubs out of your 21 team total. Some of the clubs who are in "Lancashire" or Yorkshire would have less than 80% of the first choice team who were even born in England.

Don't see the point really. The RFL should concentrate on improving attendances for internationals, play off's, quins, the magic weekend and the challenge cup before biting off something else too big for them to chew.

if a player over here is in either state squad, they arent allowed to play for their club on the weekend before the state game, so all star players are missing for three games of the season , more if injured or rested the weekend after the state game, but teams are happy for players to play representative footy and miss club games as they see it as an honour, english teams need to adapt to the same mentality for a origin series to take off, otherwise its just a waste of time

IMO a two match series held immediately before the post SL test series/4N tournament would help prepare English players for matches against the Roos and Kiwis much more than the Super League. From 2001 to 2003, the match attracted the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_League_War_of_the_Rosesfollowing attendances as sourced from Wiki[/url:
2001 - 10,253 on a Wednesday night, described by Dave Hadfield as [url=http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/rugby-league/lancashire-end-yorkshires-run-of-origin-glory-673027.htmla hugely enjoyable match[/url.

2002 - 10,000 for the first match, midweek, and 9,283 for the second match, held on a Tuesday night, described as a [url=http://www.rleague.com/db/article.php?id=11968British Origin Classic[/url, featuring
2003 - 8,258 for a match held on a Wednesday night.

Given the matches were held midweek, the attendances were very good. Compare this to the average annual attendance for SL club games, and note that SL has never had a higher annual attendance than the Roses series achieved. The highest SL attendance was 9,877 in 2008, falling below the Roses high in 2001. Many SL clubs have attracted match day attendances that were far smaller than Roses - if we scrapped clubs that attracted a tiny crowd, there would be no Super League!

We should note that over the years that the series was held, the national team was very competitive. GB won the first Ashes test in 2001, and was awarded the drawn series in 2002. A return of the Roses series would only be one of a series of reforms that would help give England/GB a realistic chance of winning a major tournament. Finally, consider this article:
[url=http://www.rleague.com/db/article.php?id=17201WAR OF ROSES - A SUCCESS IN DISCOVERING TALENT[/url

If this event were staged on a weekend like any club fixture, and were supported by the clubs, it could equal or exceed the record attendance of 18,000.