Quote ="JENKY"Since SL has started I feel we have gone from having a sometimes skillful International team capable of filling large stadia to having a set of muscle bound athletes running around in small regional stadia.'"
I posted about this before. Once England/GB start to look like we have a chance to beat them Aussies the crowds will be there. Its the set backs that do have an impact on fan. A bit like when we missed out on SL season after season.
Quote SL has seen more money invested in the game at the top level than at any other time in the games history, that means the most professional players ever, the most professional coaches ever, the most professional off field staff ever and more staff on the wagebill at each club - ever.'"
Its not that great. The money 6 of the clubs in SL (the ones that have been in it since it started) have accumulated over the 15 years doesn't match the worst premier league clubs earning for 1 season. Its pennies in comparison. Staff wages again pennies in comparison to cricket/fooball/RU.
Quote In the quest to beat the Aussies we have switched the time of year our game is played , stopped promotion & relegation, scrapped the 'A' Teams , created clubs in the South of France, created clubs in Wales and generally spent millions trying to get near the holy grail of competing with the Aussies.'"
We switched to summer because the game was broke at professional level. We stopped relegation because it didn't work (done to death), and crowds only showed interest in it if there was a last game of season decider scenario - very rare and not a healthy focus.
Quote The question perhaps should be Have we seen a return on all that money in the game at the top level since SL began
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Depends. If its about developing players and competing with Aussies - not really. Clubs will always look after themselves. For the profile of the game and marketing, SL with the help of switching to summer it has helped greatly to bring new fans/players to the game.
Quote I'd bet you a team of Harrisons, Jacksons, Schoefields, Offiahs , Clarkes, Gregorys, Wards's, Hanleys, Davies's, Edwards's etc etc that the answer to that is no, we havn't seen a return on all that money since SL began.'"
Of course these where great players. But the backdrop with then and now is totally different. RU turning professional, football on the up again. The very fact you can look at a small country like Scotland that had a very good team in 80's, with big name players - then look at now. What went wrong? 2 similar scenarios where Scotland probably reached a peak because of how weak their domestic comp is. RL a minority sport in 80's reached maybe its peak, and on a downward slide later.
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