Hello to all, been a while since I last posted on here!

This month marks 25 years since the start of Summer rugby (and hence, Super League). My question to you all is do you think the last 25 years have been good/bad/indifferent, both in terms of the game as a whole, and specifically regarding our club?

From my perspective, regarding our club specifically, the past 25 years have, to a degree, followed the pattern of the 25 years that preceded it (1970 - 95), in that while we have had some undoubted highs (Wembley 2016/17 being the most obvious), we have also had to endure too many average/underwhelming seasons.
If I had to sum up our past quarter-century briefly, then that summation would probably read that, despite the odd Cup triumph here & there, we still are not quite the club that we aspire to be, we frustratingly remain one of those clubs hoping to consistently challenge the elite, but somehow never quite seem to get there.
When we do threaten to break into the upper cartel (2016/17), we tend to lose our way all too quickly and find ourselves once more back in the mid-table pack (2018/19). In the last 20 years certainly, I've always found it hard to escape the feeling that no matter where we are in the league table, there is always a nagging doubt that we are less than the sum of our parts.

As for the game as a whole (certainly at our level), I feel we have lost far more than we have gained. My specific gripe/concern is a loss of identity. Who we are, what we are, who we represent, what we stand for. In order to appear forward-looking, the game has cut itself adrift from its past. Indeed, it seems to be almost embarrassed of its roots, rather than embracing them for its proud history.

Two obvious signs of this rejection of roots is the adoption of meaningless and pointless club names. Is there seriously anyone out there, who doesn't work for Sky Sports, who refers to Leeds/Wigan/Castleford as the Rhinos/Warriors/Tigers?
The other is the rejection of a kit that represents a club's colours! Our shirt is, and should always be, black & white irregular hoops, Saints are white with red V, Wigan cherry & white hoops, etc. A shirt acts as both a continuation to the present and as a link to what has gone before. Some of what passes for a kit today resembles a dog's dinner with no indication of who or what it is representing!

Compare this to Premier League Football. Watching any game on a football weekend (Liverpool v Man City say), and it could be 1972 as each team is playing in their "proper" colours (as long as you ignore the fact that there is a guy running around with a number 79 on his back!). This is in a sport which has become so blinded by money, that it long ago lost any form of perspective, but even they have an acknowledgement and awareness of their past and continue to celebrate it, without any need for pointless and meaningless name changes as well (the Hull Tigers anyone!!).

This may seem like a small point, but the kit thing is emblematic of how Rugby League (at least at Super League level) has lost connection with where it came from and who it represents. There are a myriad number of other examples from the past 25 years, but it all adds up to a game which no longer has a clear identity of who it is, and even less of an idea of where it is going.

What does anyone else think about the past 25 years? either from the perspective of our club, or the game in general?

I remember being gutted that we were not in SL at the outset and really only watched SL sporadically; but marvelled at how the big 4 then (Wigan, Bradford , Leeds and Saints) were so much better than anything else in the league and wished we were playing them.
We didn't have too long to wait and our first two games as a SL club went so much better than I'd expected but we quickly hit the skids and battled for our very existence, culminating in the merger with Gateshead, which saved us with Shane Richardson and co quickly reigniting my excitement after thinking our time was up.
My favourite opposition player at the time was Chris Joynt, who I always thought was a superb player and reminded me a bit of Lee Crooks.

The biggest failure of Super League is the fact that only four clubs have won it - and one of those not since 2005. Wigan won the last seven pre SL Championships and Super League should've created a more competitive league. Interesting that between 1973-74 and 1986-87 ten different clubs won the league.

Another problem is the lack of well known players. I doubt many non rugby league fans would be able to name or recognise any current Super League players.

Only 4 winners in a salary capped competition is concerning and I can't see that changing for the foreseeable future.

In the same period there has been 12 different winners of the NRL.

Your right about the profile of players today as well. In the 90's I bet most casual sport fans would have heard of Hanley, Offiah or Edwards etc. Today no one. Maybe last season with SBW but only because he played rugger.

Only 7 Football Premiership winners in the last 25 years, 3 teams have won it once, plenty more teams competing, and ManU have won more than half of them.

I wonder what "Super League should've created a more competitive league" really means?

Nearer the twelve NRL winners than the four SL winners.

Easy to say that, on day one nobody had won SL.

What would you have done?

All people do is whinge when the RFL/SL make changes to try and make the game more competitive.

True, there's no easy answer. Maybe with the exception of Bradford. Saints, Leeds and Wigan have a production line of talented youngsters.

The salary cap needs scraping as all It does is hold the game back and the quality lowers

It's still the same as it was in 1999 pretty much which is why it's gone backwards

Other sports have moved forward we haven't

I don't think scraping the salary cap will make a scrap of difference.

Of course it does the standard has been on the decline for 10 years

The NRL has gone leaps and bounds we've gone backwards

Also giving away sponsorships to lorry or pizza firms for free doesn't help

No wonder there's no money in the game

Also basically telling sky "we'll take anything"

And here's me thinking the NRL has a salary cap, just as we do.

And, by the way, scrapping is the word you're looking for, not scraping.

Yes they do but their salary cap has grown to nearly 10m

Ours still similar to the 1.8m signed in 1999

Maybe they can afford it. (And it's £5m this year)

.... and this is what ours was in 1999

Very Poor in 20 years inflation

You trying to defend it is why SL is on its booty

I'm not defending anybody, just highlighting how inaccurate your posts are.

A 5% increase per annum isn't a bad return by today's standards.