Now, there's all sorts of suggestions on how we're best to expand as a code. Some think don't bother; some think we should expand the heartlands; others say just be bold.

But here's something to consider.

Castleford and Featherstone are small towns with big rugby teams. Lower down the scale, towns like Swinton support teams whose presence seems more than the town itself.

In other sports, you see the same. Poole in Dorset is obsessed with speedway. Small Welsh towns are obsessed with rugby union.

In League, we see places like Hemel fly the flag for expansion.

So could it be that mid-size towns with little competition from football are worth the effort and investment for expansion-especially if centrally driven? I'm thinking places like Basingstoke, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Redditch, Cannock, Stafford, Newark, Melton Mowbray. You'd need focussed RFL and private investment on a particular place, flood it with marketing, a generally big effort.

Local pride + only game in town = success? Worth a thought...

That actually sounds like a good idea.

There wouldn't be much competition from other sports but RL would spread around the surrounding areas when it's been picked up.

Exactly what I'm thinking. This isn't my own original idea, it's based on what a friend pointed out about speedway being strong in towns where football is non-existent or the only game in town. Only problem- it needs the RFL to be brave and break out the cash.

True. It would make a massive difference to the game as we would be spreading out loads. If towns don't have any sport they are likely to want to see one.

Would the RFL do it though?

I have always said that some of the towns away from the main soccer areas should be looked at. The way to do it at first is to get the union sides into the summer game with a short summer league based local areas so as to cut down travel costs, push it at them as a way to keep interest in the club during the off season(Union) for this though the RFL would have to stump up cash for training of coaches Refs. If any show growth or real interest push them to go to the national conferance or consider the semi pro rout through the championship. But two words of caution it would be along haul 20 years plus, secondly the main super league clubs to stay viable need to get crowds well above 10,000 so it means towns of 75,000 population still would be to small, the push to full time pro has just about made the top league to costly unless you have enough people in the area, hence the struggle in Cumbria to get a super league side.

Using the conference as a kind of natural selection has always appealed to me. Allow clubs to establish an organic foothold in the community and use that as a base.

To establish and run a semi pro RL club , you need

A stadium , possibly council controlled non league footy team

£ 250,000 a year to pay for , a player coach ( possibly a near retirement SL player ) , a general manager ( possibly a retired SL player interested in staying in that side of the sport ) , 6 dual reg players from SL clubs , 4/5 quota players tied in through your community dept , the rest made up from local possibly RU players

You look to locate close enough for your primary personnel to be able to commute , as you have suggested in a town that doesn't have a top tier existing sports club

Yes they will need funding for several years , but you are attempting creeping expansion rather than satellite expansion as we seem to be currently attempting

I suppose Hemel looks a decent idea, small town but if badged as Herts would have a huge potential catchment.

No

Not viable and never will be

The problem is that the RFL couldn't advertise a jolly up in a brewery. They must spend millions sending marketing about Millennium Magic and Wembley and the GF etc to RL fans. Surely their computer shows that I attend anyway. I'm a rugby fan. I know when the cup final is.

They should have spent the money sending MM adverts to every house within 10 miles of Cardiff not to people in Wigan, Hull and Leeds. 5 I got.

I'm willing to invest £100,000,000 in Maidstone.



When I get £100,000,000

Not convinced it would spread throughout the region.

I could give various examples of where this doesnt happen with clubs that have been existant for over 100 years. Go a couple of miles south or east of Salford and the interest in rugby league is zero.

didnt that format happen in a small town called warrington,they use to play south of the river where polo,cricket and bowls where the top sports. but moved to the north side and bang looked what happened there great idea.

Leamington has a side, the Leamington Royals.

@LeamRoyalsRL - Current Cooperative RLC Regional Champions and Warwick District Council Team of the Year 2010.

As do Southampton @SpitfireGT
Swindon @SwindonStGeorge
Coventry @CoventryBearsRL
Shorpe @ShorpeRL
Devon (Torquay) @devonsharks
Uxbridge @BrunelRL
Bristol @BristolSonicsRL
Plymouth @PlymouthTitans
Nottingham @outlawsRL
Guildford @GuildfordGiants

and many, many others.

I think names like Swindon St George are great names to start a RL team off with, although I would think the team hasn't been going for long, it gives the club a unique name that any community can gather around. Leamington Royals is a good name too.

I can see that it could work in some towns but these have to already have some kind of semi decent ground (min 2,000 with areas to expand)to work from as a base rather than a roped field at a low standard union club.

The towns would also need 100,000+ population for it to have a good chance of pulling in the crowds.

I love the idea and yes we should plant teams in small towns but SKY just won't be interested in a game with loads of small towns playing in it.

On the other hand... (taking this to an extreme) SKY would be very impressed with teams from London, Wales, Scotland, Coventry, Ireland, France, North England.... a wide spread game would mean a higher sky deal IMO.

Obviously the RFL won't go this far but first we need to expand into areas which already play the game and have a history of it like Barrow and other Northern towns where the game has gone downhill in recent years. We must be missing out on thousands of fans for internationals etc.

Well said that man.

We're rugby league fans who have attended these events in the past, we have knowledge of when the games are and if we want to attend we will do.

Target train stations and towns/cities 10 miles around Cardiff and it will be much more successful than simply sending leaflets and letters to established fans. A waste of time and money.

Workington Town lease their stadium to the Workington Comets speedway team who are currently top of the British Speedway Premier League table. The Comets get crowds more than Town and neighbours Haven added together. However, those crowds rarely if ever top 2,000 and the nearest speedway track to Workington is Newcastle, Edinburgh, Berwick or Glasgow, take your pick but all at least 100 miles away.

So, I don't think speedway is a good example of what is being suggested although it might be different if the Comets rode in the top Elite League with international riders competing every week. The fact that the Comets are at home every Saturday, for about 40 weeks in the year, also gets people attending whereas the Town are lucky if they get a home game once a month!!!!!