Super League was supposed to improve the GB/England team but it hasn't so should we scrap Super League,

Thanks for that, I'd not realised just how far away from you all those RU clubs are (apart from Quins of course who I incorrectly said were on your doorstep when in fact they're in your house with their feet up on the sofa!).



This bit resonates actually, I think that's partly true of Salford as a club for the former and Manchester folk generally for the latter and links plays into a much longer rant/thread I posted on the VT last week under the 'Salford going into Administration...' nonsense.

I know it is... and I always thought it was a stupid idea to call it that to accommodate one team.

The International competition will never compete with Union... not in our lifetime... and probably not that of any generation in the near future... Personally I gave up on it years ago... especially when the powers that be decided to get rid of the 'Great Britain' tag which I believe was our sports International identity in this country... and one the press were more familiar with than that of 'England RL'... which has always felt weaker to some tune.

I'd sooner the sport of rugby league just draw a line under it all and settle for what we have. The sport hasn't got any stronger nationally for me since I started watching it 30 years ago... In fact... despite all the efforts... apart from the SKY coverage it seems to have lost reputation and got weaker. Concentrate all the efforts into making our sport stronger nationally at all levels... and forget about the French... Let them concentrate on sorting themselves out... Lets face it... The international game has not got any stronger since the Dragons appeared in SL... and won't either.

Even if it was a huge success... we would still only have one country to compete with... England v France... every year... big wow.

Given that Broncos rent the ground, technically we're in Quins house, and I don't think we're allowed to put our feet on the sofa.
How I wish they were round the corner from my own house, like I said, two hours each way for a home game.

Perry,
I think I should tell you that coming on here and informing folk of rugby union sides playing at stadia not belonging to them could be met with some resistance.


I am led to believe union is the nemesis of rugby league and we are all doomed.


Interesting that the owner of a rugby league club,who doesn't seem to get criticised by his clubs supporters despite playing second fiddle to the soccer club who share their stadium,wants Oxford United,where he is chairman,to purchase the Oxford stadium for both his soccer club club and the union side London Welsh.
Some of the union clubs do carry some debt without the situation we find in league.
[url=http://www.swintonlionsrlc.co.uk/component/k2/item/271-club-statement.htThis today from a nearby club[/url
If Mr Hughes is to retire from his position at the end of next season,is there a replacement in place ?

Only if folk completely misunderstand the point. I don't care whether they own the ground or not, the point I was making is that most 'London' RU clubs don't play anywhere near the place.

To be honest most RU clubs are reliant on wealthy individuals as well. But lets have perspective here, there are plenty of RU clubs that have run into bother in the past. It's not unique to RL.

No replacement, no plan, no clue.

I couldn't agree more re the GB thing, Ideally have a mid season five nations competition and then pick the best for the GB squad at the end of the season for an annual tri nations (maybe play a similar thing with the south sea islanders and pick the best combined team to make it a four nations team).

As for the Catalans I would suspect they create a much bigger income for SL than London do (and shamefully Salford) so I'd certainly not deprive them of a place in SL. There are many fine French players turning out for Catalans who would be lost to French RU if it wasn't for the increased profile of RL created by Catalans. We can't expect the French national team to improve when they get a game here and a game there, them being involved in a proper series like the five nations I mention above would certainly provide them with this.

I would personally like to see the RL more involved with any London team as lately it has been proved that there are many fine RL players waiting to be discovered in the South East and this would never happen without a full time professional team based in the area.

Personally again I'd like to see a fully professional team based in South Wales with significant assistance being provided by the RFL/WRFL as without doubt there are huge numbers of extremely talented rugby players and other athletes throughout Wales That the SL franchise was left in the hands of out and out schysters was a travesty, funny that Bradford potentially get bought out yet the North Wales team were allowed to die at the last minute.

When I talk about assistance being offered to a Welsh team I mean in regards promotion, getting into local schools to identify talent and also initially with the running of the operation to ensure things are being run in a correct and proper manner. Doing this offers RL a chance to expand in a healthy way rather than a hap hazard way as has previously been the case.

I'd also potentially look at a SL franchise in Dublin as for me this would be a gold mine not only in playing talent but also in generating capital. Ireland is obviously not doing so well financially so you'd think that the prospect of a large number of visiting fans every other week throughout the summer months would be enticing to the people of Dublin and also the Government (who I'd think would back any SL franchise for just this reason). The lack of playing talent in Europe I grant you is an issue but one I'd think could be addressed by the powers that be.

What do you mean 'what do you mean'? About the relegation spot thing? I've seen a lot of people comment about how London shouldn't be in this league compared to 'Fax, Leigh, Fev etc. But in all the years of Super League London have never been relegated, and have been granted a license twice. So it's not like they've come bottom every single season and aren't playing to a standard to beat other teams.

If you mean the attendances, then the Salford crowd was much lower than others. Even a soggy Maundy Thursday evening match against Catalans had more spectators. So clearly there are other reasons (as I said before, continual poor performance, summer holidays, Olympics etc) for why this is such a low figure. 2,800 average is probably about fair, and currently I think that's up on the 2011 average attendance. Not the 10k you'd like to see but still.