After a lifetime following and supporting our game let alone our team,is anyone else fed up of the way the sport is heading.

Can anyone with rose tinted glasses paint a better future than the bleak outlook me and many supporters of my age can see and forcast?

A game that seems to have no structure a game that when you talk to the man in the pub says ,yeah I use to watch that game live/on bbc

A game that when the man in the pub says its no point as you can't get promoted ,but, aha you argue back with the 3 years to grows and your turn over is zzzzzzzz and you have 5000zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz oh and you are 8 miles from anozzzzzzzzzzzzzz he tends to drop off and you doubt yourself after a while[well two sentances in anyway remember when you went to work and argue about the game coming up ,yes the local derby with a team yes not a stones throw away but you actually got excited about it.

Now its expand this expand that,well how far can you expand a elassic band before it either snaps or coming flying back at you.

People say the world is getting over crowded but looking at rl games and the emptyseats, teams going to the wall we seem to be missing the over crowded bits?????

When super league was announced it promised a brave new world and were as this brave new world got us? new team outskirts of widnes and a team flung out at the bottom of france


Internationally how close are we really to the aussie now? closer? doubt it.

Our game as no house hold names to the man on the street

So what furture for our game now?

Franchise nonsense season as begun with clubs drawing in phatomn crowds financial genius who can turn sows ears and magic beans into mega profits and crowds.

To me when you discuss the game to either the man at work or pub and he counters your arguement with whats the point you can't go up and you try to explain franchise you know you have lost.

So in a nut hell our game as been destroyed just to protect london[who will be out of business in the winter crusaders[who will fold end of next season and a french team who are followed by a brilliant die hard crowd but are kept afloat by the rfl and what of the teams who started this great game?...just cast aside by people trying to belive in the emperors cloths

Are you one of those VT expanionists playing Devils Advocate........

Point one, ask Jesus when he eventually comes.
Point two, stop talking to men in pubs.
Point three, support your team because that is what fans do.
Point four, if teams have been cast aside it is because nobody is watching them anymore, refer to point three.

Can't remember reading a more miserable, nonsensical post on here for a good long while.

Get behind your team, enjoy watching good RL and forget about franchises, turnover, SL, P&R, teams going bust, comparisons with Australia, etc, etc, etc.

If you're not enjoying our game, perhaps it's because you're focussing on the administration of it, rather than the playing of it??

Is it the best sport to watch? Yes
Do I support my team? Yes

Yeah things aren't good atm, however we should never give up on the sport we love. If the RFL get their wish they'll have their elite SL europe and kill off the dreams of the likes of Batley and Keighley etc.
In fact we are very lucky to have tasted SL as most teams in our league will never get the chance.

Well personally i still love watching RL and MY team Leigh Centurions, i can see where you you are coming from about the way the games being run, but i now don't really thing about us getting into SL till we are ready, i am just enjoying the comp we are in as i think its very competitive and entertaining at the moment, so lets enjoy what we have now and look forward to tomorrow night COME ON LEYTHERS.

Lets see what happens next year and if the RFL run true to form Championship clubs must break away to create their own identity so that the depression that is SL can be removed. They can create their own vision and control what happens next.

and some people on here have the bloody nerve to call me a whinger

I was waiting for you to pipe un Peawapp! Fair play that you didn't mate!

I've enjoyed the past few seasons of watching Leigh and the up's and down's, but sometimes you can't get away from the fact that this sport is completely and utterly bent and corrupt, and statements like the one on the Widnes website this morning merely confirm that. It's very off-putting for hardcore fans, so god only knows how it'll affect the likelihood of any new fans

Ian C the very fact you mention we are not ready is a phrase that the RFL have forced upon on us. Any team that wins its competition is ready. Forget finances sports is built on passion and local pride, until the RFL realise this we are only a matter of time before the game is swallowed by the RFU.

So ste what odds are you giving on the Widnes faux pas being removed or at least changed slightly by tomorrow

NOPE JUST FED UP WITH MOANING, despite our ups and downs i throughly enjoy watching Leigh centurions and will continue to for remainder of my life

Knowing them d, it will be changed to read do you want to buy a 10 year SL season ticket!!

Now i know we have been saying that Widnes are most likely to be in SL come 2012 but they haven't been told officially yet {or have they

} as i understand it won't be until March yet they are offering a price freeze for SL season tickets i'm shocked ,well not really

I know what you mean Ste, but as yet i don't think we are quite good enough to win the com, in no way do i agree with all the other nonsense the RFL put on us. PS hope i am proved wrong and we win the grand final, COME ON LEYTHERS.

I know what people mean about losing faith in the sport and it's governing body etc. Up's and downs with our own team is enough but when the governing body of the sport constantly let the "heartland" clubs outside of SL down you do sometimes wonder if it's worth bothering.

The only thing thats keeps me going is the need to see Leigh progress and the passion that our club still produces. One big push in the play off's could prove to be the one big step we need.

Fair enough does sound like a goood old fashioned moan,but think about it how can we attract fans when a teams simply gets promoted by a day trip to blackpool and how many pies they sell?

The general public are no mugs

Us rugby league fans are by the sounds of it,fair enough we'll all be there again next year god willing

But were is the clear progression a team can make through the leagues?

You get to the championship and thats it,nose pressed against the super league window,now someone mentioned all the super league shirts they see around town,well the simply answer is bar one year we have been in the wilderness and any kids watching the games at home as more chance being poached away by local super league clubs as they can afford to offer better tickets deals

I suppose the plus is now the great leaders of super league are struggling to pay themselves there great salaries and keep 3 super league teams afloat,so its crunch time and the fat men with thier noses in the super league funds,do they slash there money or which is more likely bye bye london

Certainly will be a vary interesting off season this one, if I could Id have a pound on Widnes playing in SL next year!

isnt ther chairman giving a statement on friday before the game?

It's NOT the same without promotion/relegation, after all that is what Sport is REALLY about. I still enjoy watching Leigh, but don't get nervous/excited anymore, as it doesn't matter where you finish. I HATE SUPER LEAGUE and it's principals, although that has to be our ultimate aim, I wish the 'championship' teams/divisions were stronger, and were capable of knocking SOOPER LEAGUE teams out of the Challenge Cup on a regular basis.

What is the fundamental difference between a club in SL , and one in the Championship at the moment ?

financial situation/sponsorship/attendances/ability to attract 'young' talent. (well 4)