what are peoples thoughts on the latest idea's from Mr Koukash? www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... 2xcdq.html Mr Hetherington would wobble at the knees at the thought of expanding the game to a global level rather than keeping it in the M62 corridor!

what are peoples thoughts on the latest idea's from Mr Koukash? www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... 2xcdq.html Mr Hetherington would wobble at the knees at the thought of expanding the game to a global level rather than keeping it in the M62 corridor!

Well, one thing is undeniable. We have to do something. The RFL have proved they have neither the ability nor the will to run a top quality sports competition in the 21st century. If we keep losing players at this rate, and continually fail or refuse to generate sufficient income to make these top players think twice before going elsewhere, we will eventually cease to exist as a professional game. On the international front, as things are we get next to no oxygen of publicity. Too many meaningless fixtures and the occasional drubbing at the hands of Australia don't do us much good in terms of our reputation and offer minimal excitement to the players who are inevitably looking for some kind of world stage.

That said, while I like the basic jist of Koukash's proposals, I'm not sure they're entirely practical. I can see half the British clubs, at least, opposing it. And why would the Aussies agree? They already have an awesome competition and are getting the best of most of the world's best players.

The Aussies would never be interested, even in the unlikely event that other ESL clubs were.

And whatever the failure of the game's administrators, both here in in Oz, I'm not overly concerned about the health of our sport right now. I remember when RU went (officially) professional, wise-guy pundits were queuing up on TV and the press to predict the rapid demise of rugby league. It didn't happen then, and it's not going to happen now.

Will be interesting to see how many games are sold out on week 1 after all the internal hype. No one outside of the game is interested in the new era. The fact is that we only have koukash with any kind of ambition and as a result ru and nrl now lght years ahead leaving rl in their wake. The wasp franchise has exploded in Coventry with 20k crowds whereas our attempts to expand fail.

Pretty soon It looks like RL could have a new threat....NFL.

Talk of an NFL Team in London could become a reality on the back of NFL games being hosted at Wembley in the last few years.

I like his ambition.

Totally agree and rl are only thinking now of holding a marquee game in London but it can't be at a big stadium just in case no one turns up! To had a bigger profilebefore the sky deal when crowds of between 30 - 70 k turned up for rl international without any major promotion. Hetherington has taken the game back 20 years with the new structure and I can't see the game recovering due to the lack of the kind of vision Mr koukash proposes.

NFL won't have a London team for at least 10 years.

From reading a few articles (Im not much of an NFL fan!) it seems like they are looking to also host games in different UK stadiums around the country.

Be interested to know what sort fo attendances they get.

And what happens to SL? I know British players are being stolen from our league now, but a team dedicated to British players on top of the talent already over there?

It would be exciting but it would just kill off our premier competition.

The only bloke on the planet who has self-funded an expansion team which went, under his coaching/management/ownership, to become financially viable and soon after won major silverware? You don't think that individual more than any other knows more about the importance of expanding the game?

I wouldnt be so sure about that although i cant see it being too much of a threat when it does it happen