Leyther_Matt wrote:It feels like 2008 all over again with the above post. The crowds in Bridgend were bumped up with a ridiculous number of freebies, and that was freely admitted by those who turned up (and they're still counted for the ones who didn't turn up either). The on-field aspect is surely disqualified by the fact that they had players who weren't legally allowed to play in this country? And I say that as someone who made the effort to go to Bridgend for the weekend, give them some of my hard earned and wish them all the best.
I don't think anybody has a problem with 'new' clubs climbing the ranks (if they do have a problem with that then they're frankly missing the point of sporting competition), but such progression has to be achieved on equal terms to the rest of the competing sides or it just gives a false picture and eventually the house of cards will collapse, as was witnessed in Bridgend.
Depends what you mean by equal terms. Is it equal that a club like Leigh can fill their squad with players who have come through the academies of Wigan, Saints and Warrington because they are local, but Northampton wouldnt be able to because of distance from home would likely mean players wanted more money to move and they are limited by a salary cap set at a level which is beneficial for the heartland clubs?
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Joined: Aug 17 2003 Posts: 17226 Location: South Wales
Leyther_Matt wrote:It feels like 2008 all over again with the above post. The crowds in Bridgend were bumped up with a ridiculous number of freebies, and that was freely admitted by those who turned up (and they're still counted for the ones who didn't turn up either). The on-field aspect is surely disqualified by the fact that they had players who weren't legally allowed to play in this country? And I say that as someone who made the effort to go to Bridgend for the weekend, give them some of my hard earned and wish them all the best.
I don't think anybody has a problem with 'new' clubs climbing the ranks (if they do have a problem with that then they're frankly missing the point of sporting competition), but such progression has to be achieved on equal terms to the rest of the competing sides or it just gives a false picture and eventually the house of cards will collapse, as was witnessed in Bridgend.
I agree to an extent, and I agreed with your prior post on this topic. I was just pointing out some facts to a couple of people who felt the need to question my post without justification.
FWIW, the reason the club didn't succeed was nothing to do with any of the points you have raised. Yes, they were poorly run, but they faltered because the owner was a crook who pulled out and left the club in the mire, it's no different to what happened to Wakefield this year and the fact that they were an expansion club or 'didn't progress on equal terms' is of no consequence to their demise.
King Street Cat wrote:Some might look at this as being harsh but I think it's fair. When are the Rugby League going to stop persisting with this fantasy expansion. If it hasn't worked by now, it never will! I'm all for reaching out to a wider audience with our game but not at the expense of historical clubs in the homelands.
SmokeyTA wrote:Whilst it is great that these things are happening, lets be honest here, they are hardly efforts which should be applauded. Having a store and selling 4000 season tickets isnt impressive, better than before but still pretty pitiful. Yeah you have signed a couple of players but the squad is still built of some pretty poor quality overseas players and is a squad which will almost certainly be languishing in the lower reaches of the table.
Interesting that certain people are criticising Northampton for showing a bit of ambition, whilst lauding Wakefields pretty unambitious achievements.
I don't think many WTW fans would argue that the club has been through some pretty torrid times in recent years; we had an owner who was out of his depth and ended up making some crap decisions, putting the club into what looked like a terminal downward spiral.
That appears to be over now and we have a new owner who has driven a massive programme of positive change in a relatively short period of time; granted those changes have probably only got us to where we should have been ten years ago, but they are welcome nonetheless, given where he started from.
What sticks in the craw of many of us though, is the glib sense of superiority that many fans of other more fortunate clubs (and the media - that's another moan) display whenever they refer to WTW. I'm not sure how long it takes a RL fan to grudgingly acknowledge positive progress anywhere other than at their own club, but I'm sure it will happen one day.
Joined: Jan 18 2009 Posts: 9426 Location: Leigh/Stockport
SmokeyTA wrote:Depends what you mean by equal terms. Is it equal that a club like Leigh can fill their squad with players who have come through the academies of Wigan, Saints and Warrington because they are local, but Northampton wouldnt be able to because of distance from home would likely mean players wanted more money to move and they are limited by a salary cap set at a level which is beneficial for the heartland clubs?
Flipside to this of course is that every time a superstar comes through the regions academy ranks, they are snapped up by these clubs. Whereas If Northampton Demons produced a good player, the new Northampton club would have little or no opposition from any neighbours.
Swings and roundabouts really.
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headhunter wrote:I agree to an extent, and I agreed with your prior post on this topic. I was just pointing out some facts to a couple of people who felt the need to question my post without justification.
FWIW, the reason the club didn't succeed was nothing to do with any of the points you have raised. Yes, they were poorly run, but they faltered because the owner was a crook who pulled out and left the club in the mire, it's no different to what happened to Wakefield this year and the fact that they were an expansion club or 'didn't progress on equal terms' is of no consequence to their demise.
Oh it is. It was entirely predictable that they would collapse in SL as they didn't have anything like the revenue streams to compete and their owner had a track record of "doing a runner" when things got expensive.
Remind me which crook pulled out of Wakefield and left them in the mire. Nobody says that they are a well run club but what happened there was quite different from Crusaders (3 bankrupcies / administrations in 3 years ffs). Nor were Wakefield lent £700k that the RFL will never see again.
The same old people will death ride them the minute SL is mentioned, just as they did Crusaders, and as they will any other new club that dares to aim above minor club status.
You mean that people might say "that's a bit stupid" when the usual lunatics think a poorly supported club struggling to find players ought to be playing in SL.
Still thankfully Crusaders showed us all up. They've obviously achieved far more than minor club status.
While we're on the subject, it is amazing how few people think Catalans ought not to be in SL. It might have something to do with them not being a joke rather than them "not being a threat".
Last edited by Hedgehog King on Wed Dec 07, 2011 6:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
jonny the leyther wrote:Flipside to this of course is that every time a superstar comes through the regions academy ranks, they are snapped up by these clubs. Whereas If Northampton Demons produced a good player, the new Northampton club would have little or no opposition from any neighbours.
Swings and roundabouts really.
I think they might hold onto said talented youth a bit longer but a player with the talent to play SL isn't going to stay at CC / CC1 level indefinitely. Either a SL club will come in for them or they will be off to RU.
Joined: Jan 18 2009 Posts: 9426 Location: Leigh/Stockport
That's true, but for example, at least London Broncos got a few years out of LMS. If he'd come through at Leigh Miners for example, Leigh wouldn't have got a sniff at getting him in the side for a few years or a chance of a transfer fee.
Chorlton RL wrote- "Jonny, for me you hold the mantle of most sensible poster on the VT" ............................................................................................................................................... Yed wrote: "He's like a Kevin Penny on steroids except he's good too" ............................................................................................................................................... "What? What have I said now?" - Starbug 2013 ...............................................................................................................................................
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