Another nail in the coffin for some heartlands clubs maybe. www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... eague.html Any thoughts?

Another nail in the coffin for some heartlands clubs maybe. www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... eague.html Any thoughts?

Quote ="Eastern Wildcat"Another nail in the coffin for some heartlands clubs maybe. www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... eague.html Any thoughts?'" Could be bad news. Talk of NY getting straight into SL by 2020.

Quote ="Eastern Wildcat"Another nail in the coffin for some heartlands clubs maybe. www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... eague.html Any thoughts?'" Could be bad news. Talk of NY getting straight into SL by 2020.

What next Las Vegas RLFC

Was there last week and didn't hear anything.

It'll be at our expense unless we've got a new ground by this point. It won't matter how well we're doing on the field, if we don't have a decent ground we will get relegated

They've got their hands full with the Raiders movng out there.

Probabaly right but the article also seems to think that the the RFL are expected return to licensing. Fact is whatever happens and wherever new teams pop up, we need a new stadium.

A return to licensing would probably the the worst thing for us as a club unless we get a new stadium

Not against expansion at all, but only in the right way, and not at the expense of traditional established heartlands clubs.

Getting the interest in the sport into the Americas, with the amount of funding that gets invested into sport in general, can only be good for the game. As for our game at national level, I feel this is a nail in the coffin.

I did, a few months ago, mention the fact that there is interest throughout America in the sport, and that it would benefit the sport more if a healthy league was set up.

My hope would be that they establish a few North American teams who compete in both SL and perhaps NRL prior to the USA world cup. Then after they have held the world cup, establish a proper professional North American league system

Sorry but why don't they just get their own league? Not exactly going to be the top domestic league if more overseas teams are being included. The obsession with expansion will ironically erode British Rugby League.

IF there is New York, plus Toronto, Tolouse and maybe a couple more "overseas" clubs in SL, at some point in the future, it wont just be Wakefield's place under threat in SL.
Everyone would go, with the exception of probably, Leeds, Saints, Warrington, Wigan and Hull.

The sport (and more importantly The RFL) needs to decide just where it wants to be in 5/10/15 years time.

The practicalities of having a 10/12 or 14 club top flight with so many overseas clubs are far from straight forward and the travelling and other costs involved would be huge, not to mention a substantial drop in away support, which would affect all clubs.

There needs to be a proper strategy, agreed by all clubs and a plan, for the good of the game as a whole.

If they (the RFL) make a mess of this, it could completely kill RL in this country.
However, IF the sport could take off in North America, France and the USA, there are some major opportunities.

Spot on.

its a joke the RFL can't keep get a reserve league going properly

Wembley for the Challenge cup was always a sell out year in year out look at it now

Spot on.

Scrapping the A team was a ludicrous and ill thought out decision.
Wembley is just not what it was.
If NY does come off and some SL sides are excluded in the future, perhaps a split may be on the cards. I think the RFL seem to have their sights on bossing an international league. I don't want to be part of that as a supporter.

Back in the day, The Challenge Cup was THE big event of the year.
Nowadays we have Magic, Challenge Cup and the Grand Final.
Most people dont have endless cash so they have to choose which "events" to go to.

As I said, Wembley was the end of season celebration of the game, whereas nowadays everything builds to the grand final.

RL struggles to attract new fans and the "growth" only comes from taking more from existing fans, so, no surprise that things like the Challenge Cup fall back a little, even though, for me, it's the best event, attended by the broadest range of RL fans.

I think they call it progress.

I don't mind the game expanding in foreign lands but I take great issue with the fact that it is potentially to push out the established teams, even though ours is perceived most at risk I feel for the other clubs too.

Why can't they set up a North American league and get on with it. If they want transatlantic matches then maybe we could have a kind of Champions League competition like they do in football.

The whole idea of licensing is not one I warm to and is too open to subjectivity and even claims of corruption. Teams should be at the top on merit based on what they achieve on the field.

I'm surprised more people on here haven't agreed with you, it's one thing trying to expand in the British Isles and France but who seriously wants teams' in from North America at our expense, let the NRL be the pathfinder's.

I totally agree.

All for expansion, but by encouraging and promoting leagues within countries, from which national teams evolve. Then international expansion.
How could the game really go forward here if we only had 3 or 4 teams to support?

I've never been a particular fan of expansion, particularly in foreign lands. call me old fashioned but I would rather have spent the expansion money on the Likes of Oldham, Swinton and the Cumbrian clubs. I agree with wrencat, if a traditional side has to be forfeited for every North American club the likes of us Salford, Huddesfield and yes, even Cas will fade away as have the previous mentioned clubs. Let's concentrate on the M62 corridor and Cumbria.

I would say its out of our control as fans, three set of fans stopped the merger of Calder but I'd say each weak team will just disappear when it comes down to money
you only have to look at such a great year we've had and our stadium has been empty to what it should of been, I can't explain it

There's an apathy in Wakefield Snowie, that's been evident for years. May be because RL is not promoted enough at grassroots but the more likely explanation is that the Wakefield public in general cannot be bothered to get off their a$%^ and show support. Only the faithful who do support the club deserve a SL club.
God forbid a football club starting because that would be the same.

Much of the apathy would disappear is Trinity actually won some silverware.
Like it or not, people want to watch a successful team and although we are doing superbly well this season, compared with the "usual" bottom 3 or 4 finish of the last 30 years (with the odd exception), to attract large numbers of glory supporters, you have to be winning stuff and to keep those new faces, we would have to keep winning or, for those fans to enjoy their matchday experience and want to keep coming back.
The reality at Trinity is that we've won nothing of note for over 50 years and during the SL era, it's been easier for folk to follow the Bulls and Rhinos and now, Cas, that it is to come to Belle Vue.

A new ground could be the catalyst to attracting new fans but, on field success wins every time.
Without silverware, the invaluable community work is a real pull for new people coming along and we do seem to punch above our weight in this area.

Although a new ground would certainly help it's the on field product you have to sell first and foremost, there's a classic example not 5 mile NE of Bellevue, when they were in the doldrums under Millward and their crowds dropped, they didn't return under the promise of a new stadium they've flooded back with the team and it's brand of rugby.

I know quite a few people who no longer go down to Bellevue for various reasons' none of which has anything to do with the state of the old ground or any apathy to the club, and I doubt any Wakefield Trinity fan whose ever called himself that, would ever dream of going to watch Cas or Leeds or Bradford, hopefully the club is now going down the right path with a bit of success on the field, but that's just the start, I could go on but you know yourself the problems we face and what hard work lies ahead to be a success but even if we overcome all that personally I'm not sure if there is enough interest in RL out there, just as a matter of interest, apart from our cousins and maybe KR how many other club has kept their attendances level never mind increased them.