[urlhttp://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12553_6786935,00.html[/url

15 seconds into this interview, looks like the Union boys have their eyes on the Tomkins brothers.

The RU 'tapping up' turns its attentions to Sam and Joel. Seems like we're now a 'feeder' for the England RU backs!

Rugby League has always been a northern england sport... im not sure if its more popular than Union up here but we need to promote the game darn sarf. Just look at the media attention Chris Ashton is getting, one or two trys for England and everyones up his ... its an attractive offer made by Union. Big cash on the table and the chance to make a name for themselves. In Rugby League, Sam Tomkins is probably the biggest star going at the moment but hardly makes the headlines. I seen Unions premiership rugby... its not impressive, my guess is its the international stage that plays its part. And this is the problem that the RFL alone can not do, we need other countrys to promote the game. France, Italy, Ireland, Wales, Scotland etc all have a huge interest in RU.... at the moment if England RL won the world cup no one would give a rats . You would expect a mension on Sky Sports News and thats about it



Would increasing the salary cap attract players and keep hold of the talent? No. We have to get the media attention, promote the game around the southern part of the country and get bums in seats. England RU have their own 80,000 seater ground... we usually have to play England games at a 25,000 seater and struggle to sell outicon_biggrin.gifEPRESSED:

Either way something needs to be done, im no saints fan... but watching the likes of Eastmond and other players switch code is quite depressing. Is that a young players ambition these days? Come through the ranks and hope that a union club comes knocking on the door for them? The interest in international rugby league is the main issue, until other countrys give a cr*p our game will always be in the shadow of union.

And thats the very reason why both Sam and Joel were gien 5 year deals. Where Saints were slow was in getting him on a long contract 18 months ago. From what i can see i am more bothered about the NRL getting players from SL than Union. Think Graham will be going to the NRL next season.

5 year deals mean zip in sport.

Let's assume next year Sam said he wanted to go to RU.

Are Wigan really going to say "nope, sorry, you can stay here for 4 more years"

I don't think so.

NRL is a great league to watch and I highly recommend Rugby League fans watch it, and also firmly believe it will strength the English team massively if their was a higher representation of English players in the NRL.

Cesc Fabregas would disagree.

Apologies Paul I was juggling about 10 windows on my pc while typing that so either i didnt explain it properly or you got all hot and bothered with the wigan lot ...
But pointing out what an organisation can do when it gets off its backside and does something positive was exactly what I was doing

maybe because i called the idea a beauty( a positive phrase i know) you thought I was being sarcastic

the NRL is doing a great job especially given the fact it has a lot of players that generally are doing their best to give the sport a bad name by getting ed up at every opportunity

A bit of co-operation from the RFL might help. I contacted them the day the WCC poster came out, asking if any were available. It took them over a month to reply, and they eventually sent me ONE (which went in my car window). I'd have happily stuck hundreds up in local pubs, libraries, fitness centres, anywhere, if I could have got hold of them.

Credit their marketing department for producing such a brilliantly designed poster, but a massive FAIL for getting it visible anywhere.

Football doesn't have a CC

you think we have declined from this...?
the last winter season in 1995/1996

Wigan..................1st........Central Park.........11,947
Leeds..................2nd........Headingley..........11,595
Halifax.................3rd.........Thrum Hall..........4,657
St Helens .............4th........ Knowsley Road.....7,144
Sheffield Eagles.....5th........ Don Valley...........3,106
Castleford............6th........ Wheldon Road......4,073
Bradford Northern..7th.........Kirklees, Odsal.....4,594
Oldham................8th........Watersheddings....3,188
Warrington...........9th........ Wilderspool..........4,922
London Broncos....10th........ The Valley.........2,387
Workington Town..11th........Derwent Park......3,062



people like you would rank Rugby League just ahead of gymnastics but a little bit behind the Luge..

imagine back in 1996 someone saying:
"I tell thee lad in 2009 Warrington will call umselves wolves and will be playing a team from France....... in't tholympic stadium in Barcelona.....reet in front o almost twenty thousand fans. and it'll just be a league game.. nailed on a tell thee......"

you'd call for the men in white coats

as Graham Taylor once said "well you worry, but dont make the 'kin rest of us worry"..

Not sure where you got those stats from (I can't believe Saints crowds were ever THAT low), but even assuming they're right I'd still make the following points:-

1. Some clubs have increased crowds since the 90s, due to better facilities - including Wigan. Unfortunately these better facilities are much more expensive to build and operate, which can be seen in the fact that despite bigger crowds at some stadia RL clubs are able to spend 30% less in real terms on player salaries than they were in the late 90s. RL will not be able to support a full time pro competition in the long term unless this is addressed.

2. The demise of a number of clubs on that list - I remember when Halifax for example were one of the better supported clubs with 9 thousand average attendances - shows how unstable SL clubs are and how poorly managed RL is.

3. The opening night of SL saw almost 20k fans in Paris watch PSG play Sheffield Eagles. I'd say the game has gone backwards since then!

4. In the early 90s GB were competitive with Australia. By the mid 90s the decline had started and nowadays international RL is just a joke

1973 1st Test GB v Australia at Wembley att: 9,874

There was more for the test against the Aussies last year at Wigan than there was for the corresponding fixture in the halycon days of 1986.

Don't let facts get in the way of your reasoning though.

Todays RL Fans made up fact.

Did you see how Headingley looked the other night on tv?

They filled the bottom tier.... 38k



I reckon we could get a crowd like that at Anfield for wigan saints if enough effort was put in. I think Leeds v Bardford could fill up ER.

Seems you can't handle facts - they are average crowds from that season. Do you accept the game is better attended now?

1. You seem to suggest clubs should ignore the facilities for the fans at the expense of paying players more money. Lunacy.

2. Halifax's problems started when they spent beyond their means on playing staff and sent themselves bankrupt to the point of selling their ground. A salary cap would have prevented this.

3. Those 20 thousand moved to Barcelona the other year. Your right the game has moved south a fair few miles.

4. I'm interested to hear about all these close series because I don't recall them. The closest series I remember was the fairly recent one when the Aussies won all three tests by a score in the closing minutes.


I really believe that you have managed to brainwash yourself to the extent you actually believe what you say is true despite all the hard facts suggesting different. Classic signs of paranoia.

Weren't we seconds away from winning the series at Old Trafford before Stuart set up Meninga?

I'm sure we were drawing the game with minutes to go, with the series level at 1-1.

Yes. And it only came after something like 8 minutes of injury time.

Those who forget that Test series can only be doing it out of convenience for their own argument.

It was a classic trio of matches.

The Aussies knew they'd almost met their match. It was the same a couple of years later at Wembley in the World Club Final, when only Steve Renouf (and referee Dennis Hale) were the difference between the two teams.

How those days seem to have flown.

Edited for accuracy



PS

I seem to remember there being 60/70k + at Wembley, and then 50k at O/T with 40k+ at Elland road?

We didn't do too bad in 92 & 94 & the 95 World cup were we pushed the Aussies close in the series and then close in the World cup (Beating them once and narrowly losing in the 2 x World cup finals).
All in front of pretty Healthy crowds of 40k plus arenas and 70k crowds at Wembley for the WC Finals?
I also seem to remember 35k against Fiji at Central Park in a very profitable World Cup?

But I guess none of the above will fit in with the "Everything is rosey in the Garden Brigade?"

The stadium (Wembley) set the international record crowd for a rugby league game when 73,631 fans turned out for the 1992 Rugby League World Cup Final between Great Britain and Australia.

Still, we had better not let the truth get in the way of the "head in sand brigade" had we?

If the codes did eventually merge RL would get swallowed up big time.
If RL is not careful one day there will be one code of rugby,and guess which one it is.

It was the 2nd test at OT with GB 1-0 up. We were drawing at the time, Maninga scored and we got gubbed in the 3rd at Elland Rd.