Re: Jon Wilkin agrees with what I have been saying for years : Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:26 am  

Snowy wrote:

1. Maybe someone might realise that the infatuation with expansion is damaging the sport ?

2. Super League in my opinion need away fans more than ever before.

3. They don't fancy Toulouse either.

1. It was never "expansion" it was just shipping squads from here to pose as Canadians. That TWP replaced London in SL expanded nothing. There was no expansion of the player pool with Canadian players and no expansion of TV deals with a Canadian TV contract.

2. Funnily enough Bradford Bulls are known for a big away support, but I have been told for some time now by experts that clubs should concentrate on their own home support.

3. I love Toulouse and can still see flashes of their famous RL cup win over cup kings Widnes. But again stick Toulouse in and they bring no TV money, no fans here and will end up pushing out a club that does underpin the TV money and can bring thousands of fans to the grounds

"Expansionists" (love them all) just seem to like the novelty of these worthless clubs being put into Superleague, and cannot see that this is actually "substitution".

Good post

Re: Jon Wilkin agrees with what I have been saying for years : Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:46 am  

Ste100Centurions wrote:

John Wilkin, having a sly pop at clubs like Leigh, this despite him & St Helens having their collective ass handed to them at the LSV in front of over 9 000 at Leigh LSV......oh & they all paid to be there too* !!!

And Leigh did Wigan as well!! The problem here is most people in the game are professional enough to keep the negative comments to themselves. All Wilkin and McDermott etc are doing is making negative remarks about the game and thereby inviting the media to look for someone to provide a right of reply.

I doubt they will find any professional owner, coach or top player to counter these comments with the reality that it was all Perez and Argyles phoney baloney. Why do they do this as they are supposed to be professionals themselves...... They are only alienating themselves.

Re: Jon Wilkin agrees with what I have been saying for years : Wed Nov 25, 2020 10:19 am  

By rights if Wilkin only wants city teams in SL then Leeds, the two Hull clubs, Wakefield and Salford would remain.

Re: Jon Wilkin agrees with what I have been saying for years : Wed Nov 25, 2020 10:49 am  

Willzay wrote:

By rights if Wilkin only wants city teams in SL then Leeds, the two Hull clubs, Wakefield and Salford would remain.

City teams in that they would be big enough target markets to attract enough commercial support, sponsorship, funding and support. Wakefield and Salford do none of those things and just scrap annually to survive and nothing more. They add nothing to the competition at all, no away support, no impact on the TV deal.

The responses since my post just highlight everything that is wrong with Rugby League in this country. They care only for their club and nothing else. They'd prefer to be watching Wakefield play Salford in front of 2,500 than watching big clubs really push the sport forwards.

Expansion within SL is probably dead now. If Bradford are somehow promoted back up, that's the end of the line in terms of potential for the competition growing. Any half decent players will leave for the NRL or Union and crowds and interest in the game will shrink back to pre-SL levels. The funny thing is that it'll be those flat cap traditional sides that disappear first as they don't have the youth systems to fall back on or the fans to support the club when the TV deals all but disappear.

Over the next 10 years there is likely to be a fully professional rugby competition in North America and Canada drawing crowds way in excess of Super League's. With a bit of vision that could have been a rugby league competition, but now it won't, it'll be Union.

Re: Jon Wilkin agrees with what I have been saying for years : Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:15 am  

Saddened! wrote:

City teams in that they would be big enough target markets to attract enough commercial support, sponsorship, funding and support. Wakefield and Salford do none of those things and just scrap annually to survive and nothing more. They add nothing to the competition at all, no away support, no impact on the TV deal.

The responses since my post just highlight everything that is wrong with Rugby League in this country. They care only for their club and nothing else. They'd prefer to be watching Wakefield play Salford in front of 2,500 than watching big clubs really push the sport forwards.

Expansion within SL is probably dead now. If Bradford are somehow promoted back up, that's the end of the line in terms of potential for the competition growing. Any half decent players will leave for the NRL or Union and crowds and interest in the game will shrink back to pre-SL levels. The funny thing is that it'll be those flat cap traditional sides that disappear first as they don't have the youth systems to fall back on or the fans to support the club when the TV deals all but disappear.

Over the next 10 years there is likely to be a fully professional rugby competition in North America and Canada drawing crowds way in excess of Super League's. With a bit of vision that could have been a rugby league competition, but now it won't, it'll be Union.

Saints can then be the expansion team in North America .

Re: Jon Wilkin agrees with what I have been saying for years : Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:59 am  

Saddened! wrote:

1. The responses since my post just highlight everything that is wrong with Rugby League in this country. They care only for their club and nothing else. They'd prefer to be watching Wakefield play Salford in front of 2,500 than watching big clubs really push the sport forwards.

2. If Bradford are somehow promoted back up, that's the end of the line in terms of potential for the competition growing.

3. Over the next 10 years there is likely to be a fully professional rugby competition in North America and Canada drawing crowds way in excess of Super League's. With a bit of vision that could have been a rugby league competition, but now it won't, it'll be Union.

1. The people who attend games, and work for and volunteer at clubs OF COURSE want to watch their own clubs. Are you seriously suggesting 5,000 Salford fans and 5,000 Wakefield fans will hang around to support phoney canadian clubs?? Why hold their love for their club against them??

2. What do you mean "The competition growing"? You tell us the vision you have for growth? Was it putting in TWP, New York and Ottawa in SL and taking out Salford, Wakefield and the likes of Bradford. You don't get it do you. replacing English Superleague clubs with overseas clubs expands absolutely nothing. In time it breaks the SKY deal as they don't want North American content, then everyone's dead.

3. Now you get it North American Rugby Union that is decades in front of the little bit of league there is in North America have all the players and have all the investors to maintain and grow the MLR. Again please explain how Livolsi, Peres and Wilby were ever going to find players or TV deals to stop that juggernaut??

Over to you

Re: Jon Wilkin agrees with what I have been saying for years : Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:11 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

City teams in that they would be big enough target markets to attract enough commercial support, sponsorship, funding and support. Wakefield and Salford do none of those things and just scrap annually to survive and nothing more. They add nothing to the competition at all, no away support, no impact on the TV deal.

The responses since my post just highlight everything that is wrong with Rugby League in this country. They care only for their club and nothing else. They'd prefer to be watching Wakefield play Salford in front of 2,500 than watching big clubs really push the sport forwards.

Expansion within SL is probably dead now. If Bradford are somehow promoted back up, that's the end of the line in terms of potential for the competition growing. Any half decent players will leave for the NRL or Union and crowds and interest in the game will shrink back to pre-SL levels. The funny thing is that it'll be those flat cap traditional sides that disappear first as they don't have the youth systems to fall back on or the fans to support the club when the TV deals all but disappear.

Over the next 10 years there is likely to be a fully professional rugby competition in North America and Canada drawing crowds way in excess of Super League's. With a bit of vision that could have been a rugby league competition, but now it won't, it'll be Union.

your cetainly on the ball there wally, oh and you talk about have no travelling fans saints have always been mickey poor at travelling

Re: Jon Wilkin agrees with what I have been saying for years : Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:58 pm  

snowie wrote:

your cetainly on the ball there wally, oh and you talk about have no travelling fans saints have always been mickey poor at travelling

Thats a load of tripe in reality its the opposite.

Re: Jon Wilkin agrees with what I have been saying for years : Wed Nov 25, 2020 4:08 pm  

Donnyman wrote:

2. What do you mean "The competition growing"? You tell us the vision you have for growth? Was it putting in TWP, New York and Ottawa in SL and taking out Salford, Wakefield and the likes of Bradford. You don't get it do you. replacing English Superleague clubs with overseas clubs expands absolutely nothing. In time it breaks the SKY deal as they don't want North American content, then everyone's dead.

To attract the kind of investment and funding the sport needs, it has to be adding something. Toronto had been around for five minutes but were already doubling Salford's crowds and had received the biggest sponsorship deal in UK RL history whilst the competition itself was unable to raise more than some free pizza. It doesn't have to be Toronto or Canada, but the sport has to think bigger than the M62. Why? Because after 120 years or so, the sport is still struggling to realise full professionalism and is about to slip back to being an amateur sport. It wouldn't matter at all if the likes of Salford and Wakefield were attracting big crowds, bringing through quality young players on a consistent basis and helping us to have a vibrant competition. But they're not, the sport is going backwards at an astonishing rate. Adding Bradford back for one more administration achieves what exactly?

Toronto might have failed, Toulouse might fail. But for me it's better to at least try to make things better than retreating back to watching lads who've done a mornings work on a building site before playing and watching any player who shows any potential leave to Union or the NRL.

The best things that could happen to SL now is either they go with another round of franchising and make clubs apply for membership again to weed out some of the dross that are holding the competition back. Or sell it lock stock and barrel to the NRL or elsewhere. They've got to try something. You flat cappers might take great joy in watching the sport burn because you told everyone it wouldn't work, but it's not a good thing.

Re: Jon Wilkin agrees with what I have been saying for years : Wed Nov 25, 2020 6:09 pm  

Judder Man wrote:

Thats a load of tripe in reality its the opposite.

its not the impression we get over in Yorkshire so will beg to differ on that one