Re: Kear Out....and now gone. : Wed May 11, 2022 11:24 am  

I think Toulouse and Catalans should be binned to start with, then London... that's dangerously close to France. Then Newcastle as that's virtually Scotland...followed by York as they are over 20 miles from the M62.... as for Cumbria....

[Bullseye]

Re: Kear Out....and now gone. : Wed May 11, 2022 1:51 pm  

Pumpetypump wrote:

Our sport likes a spot of self-fulfilling contraction. I still feel angry god knows how many years later about the way the game told Nottingham and someone else to bugger off as they wanted a smaller division. I completely and utterly oppose that idea. What about the likes of Cornwall. Invited into the fold one minute, but surely destined to be kicked out after 2 minutes. Even as an expansionist at heart I think they are a very silly club indeed, but they don't deserve that. None of the people trying their best in the bottom half of L1 deserve to be unceremoniously ended.

Gloucester were developing nicely. Never did dual reg with anyone. Then binned off. Complete wasted all that effort of spreading the game there.

It'll be interesting to see if IMG decide to pull up the drawbridge so that the SL clubs can have more money.

I'm not against a re-structure but I don't like the idea of binning clubs arbitrarily. If they did it now it would be curtains for Widnes, Newcastle, London, Whitehaven, Dewsbury and Workington along with the whole of League 1. That's madness.

Anyway, if we're going to have to get into the top 8 next year we're going to need a top coach. We can't afford to take a punt on another McBanana type gamble if next year is make or break.

Re: Kear Out....and now gone. : Wed May 11, 2022 4:30 pm  

Pumpetypump wrote:

Our sport likes a spot of self-fulfilling contraction. I still feel angry god knows how many years later about the way the game told Nottingham and someone else to bugger off as they wanted a smaller division. I completely and utterly oppose that idea. What about the likes of Cornwall. Invited into the fold one minute, but surely destined to be kicked out after 2 minutes. Even as an expansionist at heart I think they are a very silly club indeed, but they don't deserve that. None of the people trying their best in the bottom half of L1 deserve to be unceremoniously ended.

I still feel like the game started it’s slide when SL went from 14 to 12. I’m biased about Bradford, obviously but dropping 2x large city clubs at the same time seemed mad from a marketing & tv rights point of view. But there we go, 12 becomes 2x 10

[Pumpetypump]

Re: Kear Out....and now gone. : Wed May 11, 2022 6:30 pm  

Highlander wrote:

I still feel like the game started it’s slide when SL went from 14 to 12. I’m biased about Bradford, obviously but dropping 2x large city clubs at the same time seemed mad from a marketing & tv rights point of view. But there we go, 12 becomes 2x 10

I agree completely. Its back to the self-fulfilling prophecy that people claim there aren't enough top level players to go around X number of clubs. When you then reduce the number you cause the loss of pathways, shrink the wider appeal of the game, decrease the reach etc.

Re: Kear Out....and now gone. : Wed May 11, 2022 6:49 pm  

Scarey71 wrote:

I think Toulouse and Catalans should be binned to start with, then London... that's dangerously close to France. Then Newcastle as that's virtually Scotland...followed by York as they are over 20 miles from the M62.... as for Cumbria....

There not gonna do that , they’ll just recruit players from Bradfords academy and siddal to the places you mentioned and call it expansion .

Re: Kear Out....and now gone. : Wed May 11, 2022 7:51 pm  

It is baffling to think some people, actually high ranking officials in the game, can think that by binning off clubs we can somehow expand the game and make it stronger.

Utter madness. How can we discourage anyone from picking up a ball and playing the game.

SL1 will be reduced by 2 teams and SL2 will just be a rebranded championship. Everyone else cast into the cold to become amateur outfits?

As a forum idea its bonkers, never mind the fact its probably a reality

Re: Kear Out....and now gone. : Thu May 12, 2022 6:12 am  

Bringing in external consultants, partners, whatever you want to call them is an admission of failure and should bring immediate resignation from the top strata of the RFL.

Rather than fixate over structure, and tell us that were we to have a league of French teams, cool middle class progressives would start watching the game, they need to find out why wealthy individuals are not prepared to invest in traditional rugby league clubs. Non league, lower division football attracts wealthy owners, similarly national hunt horse racing in the north. The stock car people clearly had more resources than the Bulls. You simply cannot give away rugby league clubs as Hudgell and I think Pearson have found out.

What is the structural reason, apparent across the whole game that turns wealthy individuals off? Is it the salary cap which stops a wealthy individual genuinely taking a mid level team to the point of deposing Saints? Or, in our case, a bizarre series of events which culminated in potential investors revealing that they had been turned away while the club was handed to a penniless man from New Zealand?

A good Giants team with an English coach took less than 2k to a CC final little more than 12 miles away. It's a death spiral.

Re: Kear Out....and now gone. : Thu May 12, 2022 8:08 am  

I'll be controversial...

It's the same reason masses of people vote Tory. Most of the media is aimed that endeavour and it starts with making it aspirational 'ah you are one of us not one of them!'.

The number of folk at work who blindly follow Union because of a sponsorship deal is astronomical and when you tell them you don't watch it you watch League the 'Oh flat caps and whippets brigade' comes flying out of their mouth, regardless of the fact they've come from bloody Bradford!!!

Maybe over reacting but it's in most peoples psyche at the minute. No-ones happy with what they have and are constantly striving to make themselves look better than they are and League, I'm afraid, is working class, grimy and something quaint to laugh at...

Re: Kear Out....and now gone. : Thu May 12, 2022 9:45 am  

I hope Nige and Co identified that John Kear wasn't the man to get us top 20, so have parted ways to give us time to bring in a new SL quality coach with time to do a 95 style Smith and Elliot rebuild.
while holding funding back this year in order to do so..
Imagine Professional Rugby League in Bradford coming to an end... wowsers.

Re: Kear Out....and now gone. : Thu May 12, 2022 1:37 pm  

Scarey71 wrote:

I'll be controversial...

It's the same reason masses of people vote Tory. Most of the media is aimed that endeavour and it starts with making it aspirational 'ah you are one of us not one of them!'.

The number of folk at work who blindly follow Union because of a sponsorship deal is astronomical and when you tell them you don't watch it you watch League the 'Oh flat caps and whippets brigade' comes flying out of their mouth, regardless of the fact they've come from bloody Bradford!!!

Maybe over reacting but it's in most peoples psyche at the minute. No-ones happy with what they have and are constantly striving to make themselves look better than they are and League, I'm afraid, is working class, grimy and something quaint to laugh at...

An excellent analogy. People vote Tory because on the surface they appear to hate them marginally less than the modern Labour Party. Similarly British rugby league has so internalised whatever prejudice exists ( I suggest outright disinterest) and are so acutely embarrassed by itself and us (it's fanbase) it has brought in French teams from a moribund league to make it more palatable to people who historically loathe us. It actually means it's not about the game at all. It's pathetic and offensive in equal measure.