Okay I'll give answering this one another go.
Blackpool couldnt afford to move forward in any capacity, they were done, broke. The RFL offered them a branch and to get a sustainable business plan to move forward together in a week and they couldnt. Crusaders could, wakey will, widnes did and keighley did, agreed?
The key word here is POTENTIAL. Sky came out last year and said they noticed a 31% increase in viewing figures from the Crusaders in Wales, they would be worth saving because there is POTENTIAL. They also averaged abotu 5000 in wrexham, like it or not it was a club worth saving.
Blackpool had none, no fans and all the guys used to meet on the Swan Carpark in WARRINGTON for games. If they couldnt live within their means then they had no chance of survival with the way the club was run.

Crusaders = One of the lowest ever crowds at a SL game = 1100 ?

At least our lowest gate was 3200, and we were getting mullered every week in 2005.

Some teams in SL have nothing to offer. SL deserve them.

I will be happy to see my Town team play in an excellent division playing in one of the best RL stadiums in Great Britain.

Oh, with also mainly local talent, and not with 33 year old overrated Aussies !

Are we then to believe that the terminology 'Member Clubs', means Sooper Dooper non relegation league only?

high school in the mid 80's , they used to travel down for ' home ' games , maybe we should have given up on them back then ?

Maybe should have.
Leighs potential is limited without them getting off their backsides and doing what Widnes have done. Your retort will be find a sugar daddy, weellllll it makes life easier. For Leigh to be truly successful you need to crack Bolton.. or somewhere.. Leigh just isnt big enough. period.

And Snowy you're picking up one game that was played in South Wales, their average was perfectly healthy for the season. I haven't got the figures but I bet theres more Welsh developed players in the Crusaders squad than Leythers in Leighs. Could be wrong but there wont be that much in it

John Duffy is the communtity staff that covers Bolton and we are doing really well in that area already.

Also Leythers in are team, how wrong could you be





how about Govin, Goulden, Bibby, Ridyard, Hopkins, Taylor, Donlan, Higson, Nicolson, Pownall, Meekin, Gorski,Littler and the ones like Chris Hill who form Wigan but came through our acamedy and also Duffy from Wigan, who mant Wire players are from Warrington, oh let me see now.........................

To be honest with you that argument is total Boll*"!s, Players want to play for their home club that is obvious, However as everyone in employment knows, they will work for the company who pays them best for the same job. Generally players on their way out will go back to their home club to finish their careers off. Superleague is different becuase its all about money. Championship teams have many local lads playing in their teams, putting themselves in the shop window until a time that money talks and players walk,
Fev are a good example here with Hardacre and briggs, but you cant blame wanting to play in the elite and earn the cash and recognition that goes with it. Crusaders probably have a team full of welsh becuase they have no money, and no respected RL player wants to live in wales.

To be fair they dont have to live in Wales now with them reallocating to Wrexham

Very valid point but i wanted to have a little dig.

There average was 'perfectly healthy' as you put it due to a 10,000 bumper free ticketed crowd for their first game against Leeds. Attendances didn't come any where near that for the rest of the season. Two sub 1500 crowds at Neath, and at Wrexham 3 sub 3000 crowds

Just to add a different perspective to that balance, the first game wasnt free, its a myth thats been running around for ages. Discounted tickets were given, why shouldnt a club entice new fans? but it wasnt freebies given out everywhere at all, ask anyone local to them.
You cant bring up the lowest crowds and then discount the highest crowds.. thats just not cricket, an average is an average. I did say in my original comment that they had a healthy average in WREXHAM, I was discounting the neath games as a failed experiment myself but there you go.
To answer the other point I didnt actually realise a few of those players were from Leigh, eg Duffy came through Warringtons system and I thought Littler was from Salford, Bibey I knew was from Leigh tbf but he came through Wigans system didnt he? Im not massively up on Leighs youth activity tbf but Crusaders have about 11 welshmen in their first team squad.

To turn it round a little does anyone actually feel Blackpool were worth pumping money into when they themselves could not come up with a sustainable plan to move forward with?
Its quite strange because most clubs congratulate the RFL for their help in times of need it just seems to be old bitter fans who have a chip on their shoulder.

it does seem a little pointless doesn't it ? - the RL fanbase does appear to have their fair share of chips on shoulders who seem to be the same people holding the game back...

Splitting hairs Dico and you know it

Their average was 20+% up on 2009 though

You can make figures say whatever you want, for example do a graph of the attendances over the season and you would notice the trend.

Did you take a look at the attendances across the season? Interesting reading! They had very large drop offs before a few very healthy crowds at the end.
I was curious and asked someone close to the club and they said in the beginning there was a nice marketing budget, having about 4 games in 11 weeks didnt help and then the money dried up. As a last chance for the remaining few home games they pumped some more money into the marketing hence the much improved attendances, in reality the writing was on the wall about the financial troubles long before it came out

My own view of the RFL at the moment is that there is too much emphasis on Super League & not enough support is given to the Championship particularly with regards to Sky money. For me Blackpool could & should have been saved although they needed restructuring & moving into the conference league. We need four divisions of pro RL, Full time at the top two divisions of part time & the Conference paying travel money etc. Historically RL clubs are based in smallish towns, but at full time club level you need at least 10000 crowds coming each week, its not easy to get the crowds, most clubs are trying to tap into alternative fan bases but it takes time to develop. The welsh club at Wrexham is good for SKY & RL as a whole, just wish they have done the same thing in Scotland, Ireland & Northern Ireland!

Good post tbf.
I hope that with the next TV deal, comes money for Chp clubs. Sky must be suprised at the viewing figures; some weekends its beat saturdays Guiness Premiership figures. Its not just figures though, its based on revenue generated for advertising and the demographic of the audience.

Leighs potential is now limited by it's location , you mention sugar daddies , well yes it seems that is now a criteria ( but once again , only for some , ) , unlike many I am fine with us being in the Championship , as long as the governing body treat it with respect , unfortunately they don't

How many of those ' Welshmen ' are from north Wales ? , or are there as a result of work done by the club in Wrexham ?

Explain how fans of clubs ( with or without chips on shoulders ) are holding back the game ?

Are they stopping people in London watching the Quins ?

Are they making businessmen in Bridgend bring players in on the wrong visas ?

Are they forcing the businessmen in Wrexham to borrow 700 K from the RFL ?

Are they the reason nobody in Gateshead wants to watch the game ?

Ditto London Skolars ?

Is it their fault we can't beat the Aussies?

Is it their fault that France can't beat the ' English ' Welsh ?

Maybe they need a ' sugar daddy ' ? , oh sorry I forgot , Leigh were criticised for too much reliance on director input , so how do you ' quantify ' that ?

Why did they have only 4 games in 11 weeks ? , in the Championships most clubs have situations like that every year , so why would it be a problem for a club with 1.2 million in SKY money , not forgetting 700 K in ' services ' ?

Or are you suggesting it just isn't viable without massive extra funding over and above the regular TV money ? , if that's the case they are no different from Blackpool , or even Leigh for that matter

From the statements coming out of the RFL it looks like there might be some recompense from SKY for the televised games , but it also looks like the RFL will be spreading the money very thinly if they are looking at bringing in several new clubs from the off , and then they suggest that if clubs merge they get double money ( sounds like ' bribery ' , which tends to come with ' corruption ' ) , well that is ' expanding ' the sport , paying clubs to shut , will they also waste another couple of hundred thousand bringing another French club into the Championships ? , it certainly wouldn't surprise me

They have no idea what the fans want , or what the clubs need , they actually seem to believe the ' spin ' they put on everything