Quote ="MrMeat&PotatoPie"Anyone else feel the RFL don't do enough in trying to expand rugby league? Looking back over the years its never really taken off.... mainly international rugby league. Looking at the other code, there seems to be a huge interest in it. Im currently watching the six nations and its a sell out... had it been Rugby League there tonight would we of even made more than 20,000?
Also... its extremely annoying seeing talent from league moving to union. Shouldn't we be doing everything to improve our own code? Robinson, Ashton, Carney (I know he came back), Farrell, Harris, H.Paul and Vainikolo are just a few names who have changed. If its all down to money to hold on to players, should we not be raising the salary cap to match union in finances?
Its pretty depressing to watch the lack of interest in the game
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in terms of players leaving the game, there is unfortunately no short term solution with regards to keeping them in RL. increasing the salary cap is a non starter given that 2 clubs have recently gone into administration, and i don't think any of the other clubs in super league are able to make a profit. given the poor financial state of RL clubs, where will the money come from to pay the extra wages to players if the salary cap was increased?
the only reaal option to helping RL retain its best players is to make RL a better prospect for them. at the moment, RU is much more attractive given the state of the international game which is far more developped and far more competitive than that within RL. unfortunately, the international game in RL will never make any giant strides forward while players are allowed to pick and choose who they want to play for. it should be the case that once you play for a country then that is your country for life, and you don't get the chance to change your mind in the future because you think you will have a better chance of winning tournaments. if we stop players changing their chosen country every few years, then teams like tonga/samoa/fiji/png might actually get a bit stronger creating a more competitive international game. it would also prevent the top countries (aus/nz/england) from cherry picking the best players even if they have already played for other countries.
on another note, if we want the country of england to get behind a national team, then we need to become a national sport which at present we are not. the current expansion policy of putting a new RL team miles away from anywhere that has ever heard of RL is not a good idea, just look at the crowds that quins get, as well as how crusaders crowds improved when they moved to north wales closer to the RL heartlands. a slower, better structured expansion plan is needed by the RFL if we want RL to be a national sport.
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