[quote="Butcher":2bssyfnw]I'll try my best! But are you saying Toulouse won't work in Super League because it's also a big place? Very different proposition to London for loads of reasons, though I won't muddy the waters with that now. York only has 3 amateur clubs - Acorn, New Earswick, Heworth, plus Wetherby Bulldogs who you could argue are in their catchment. Salford has fewer - Roosters, Cadishead, and Langworthy (juniors only). York has a schools programme that runs sessions with 3,000 kids, which is impressive, but they're not playing regularly in teams as I understand it. Salford runs something in partnership with Sky which apparently reaches 4,000 kids. Don't want to split hairs, but I didn't say Toulouse's scene is excellent, just that it's bigger than Salford or York's. Underpinning it is an amateur/semi-pro side called Toulouse Broncos who play in the Super XIII (formerly Elite 1) with junior sides at every age group. Their open age acts as a feeder to Toulouse Olympique. Then there's Pamiers, Toulouse Jules Julien, Grantentour, Realmont, and St Gaudens. They also have a substantial schools programme (one of my mates used to play for the Broncos and coach kids during the week - he's now head coach at RC Salon). I don't know exactly how many kids they reach, but it's regular competitive games. I don't know what to say about their attendances - I can only go off the stats and the fact I've been there when they've reported crowds of 5,000 and it seemed there were about 5,000 there. They got bigger crowds than Salford while in SL (about 5,000 average), and they get bigger crowds than York in the Championship. But again the key word is potential. As for commercial potential, it's simply that there are thousands of companies in Toulouse, 300 of which already sponsor the club. That includes broadcasters, which could eventually replace their allocation from the Sky money. Catalans haven't managed that, but Toulouse is more likely to. They're also one of the few clubs in the pyramid that runs mostly on sponsorship rather than an owner. Good article here: https://www.totalrl.com/toulouse-olympi ... new-owner/ I do want to keep perspective here though. I'm not saying Toulouse is a silver bullet or that thousands of fans are banging at the door trying to get into the stadium. Just simply that 1) They outperform Salford and York in so many areas, as reflected in the gradings and 2) They have more potential to succeed than the others. And that's why I'd be happy with Toulouse becoming the 12th highest-graded team and taking Salford's place while the latter rebuilds sustainably.[/quote:2bssyfnw] Just one point missing a French RU City

[quote="Butcher":2bssyfnw]I'll try my best! But are you saying Toulouse won't work in Super League because it's also a big place? Very different proposition to London for loads of reasons, though I won't muddy the waters with that now. York only has 3 amateur clubs - Acorn, New Earswick, Heworth, plus Wetherby Bulldogs who you could argue are in their catchment. Salford has fewer - Roosters, Cadishead, and Langworthy (juniors only). York has a schools programme that runs sessions with 3,000 kids, which is impressive, but they're not playing regularly in teams as I understand it. Salford runs something in partnership with Sky which apparently reaches 4,000 kids. Don't want to split hairs, but I didn't say Toulouse's scene is excellent, just that it's bigger than Salford or York's. Underpinning it is an amateur/semi-pro side called Toulouse Broncos who play in the Super XIII (formerly Elite 1) with junior sides at every age group. Their open age acts as a feeder to Toulouse Olympique. Then there's Pamiers, Toulouse Jules Julien, Grantentour, Realmont, and St Gaudens. They also have a substantial schools programme (one of my mates used to play for the Broncos and coach kids during the week - he's now head coach at RC Salon). I don't know exactly how many kids they reach, but it's regular competitive games. I don't know what to say about their attendances - I can only go off the stats and the fact I've been there when they've reported crowds of 5,000 and it seemed there were about 5,000 there. They got bigger crowds than Salford while in SL (about 5,000 average), and they get bigger crowds than York in the Championship. But again the key word is potential. As for commercial potential, it's simply that there are thousands of companies in Toulouse, 300 of which already sponsor the club. That includes broadcasters, which could eventually replace their allocation from the Sky money. Catalans haven't managed that, but Toulouse is more likely to. They're also one of the few clubs in the pyramid that runs mostly on sponsorship rather than an owner. Good article here: https://www.totalrl.com/toulouse-olympi ... new-owner/ I do want to keep perspective here though. I'm not saying Toulouse is a silver bullet or that thousands of fans are banging at the door trying to get into the stadium. Just simply that 1) They outperform Salford and York in so many areas, as reflected in the gradings and 2) They have more potential to succeed than the others. And that's why I'd be happy with Toulouse becoming the 12th highest-graded team and taking Salford's place while the latter rebuilds sustainably.[/quote:2bssyfnw] Just one point missing a French RU City