Catalancs wrote:and of course whitehaven and workington were in cumberland. neither have been part of the county of lancashire. that's the difference with barrow.
I think your missing the point mate, when i was a nipper repping Cumbria, despite Barrow historically being in Lancs, Lancs and Yorks were "the enemy".
So because young Barrovian and South Lakes RL players only rep Cumbria we have NO affinity with Lancs.
You will find that the majority of people who have any affinity with Lancs in Barrow are over 60, the majority of youngsters only know Barrow as a Cumbrian town
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marvwoodburn wrote:I think your missing the point mate, when i was a nipper repping Cumbria, despite Barrow historically being in Lancs, Lancs and Yorks were "the enemy".
So because young Barrovian and South Lakes RL players only rep Cumbria we have NO affinity with Lancs.
You will find that the majority of people who have any affinity with Lancs in Barrow are over 60, the majority of youngsters only know Barrow as a Cumbrian town
no i'm not, im agreeing with you even if i didnt do a good job of demonstrating it my cousin's ex is 30 and from barrow. she always said she was from cumbria.
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I think if cumbria has a SL team it will be in Barrow, I work around cumbria quite regularly and its the only town with a population large enough, if only their new backer can afford a bridge they might get some more away fans!
Catalancs wrote:no i'm not, im agreeing with you even if i didnt do a good job of demonstrating it my cousin's ex is 30 and from barrow. she always said she was from cumbria.
Classic expansionista arguments. "Get a club from cumbria in super league! Make a new club and chuck money at it!!"
"Are there other rugby league clubs in cumbria? We didnt know that cos we have our super league blinkers on!!!
"Force the cumbrian clubs to merge to make an SL club - great idea. What happens when the people who support and run rugby league in cumbria complain and try to suggest a better way? - Who cares?"
"What happens if it all goes wrong? - Who cares, we were generous enough to give them a go"
I agree, cumbria should have a club in SL. One of the three that exist now, let them build in their own time so the whole club will be ready for promotion when it comes...............oh hang on
This subject keeps coming up year after year and the bottom line is that unless a new club is formed playing in a stadium half-way between Workington and Whitehaven then it will never happen. The directors of both clubs in west Cumbria keep talking about "oneday" getting into SL on their own but if it ever happens it will be the rock that that team perishes on. Haven are in Copeland district which has a population of 75,000 within 30 minutes of Whitehaven and Town are in Allerdale with a population of 96,000 within 30 minutes of Workington. If a new club was based in a new stadium at Lillyhall, which is near Distington, the half-way point between both towns then that would give a total population of 171,000 within about 40 minutes of the stadium. Sadly, though both councils have been sucked in to the SL talk from the clubs and they are both planning on building new stadiums in the the two towns. Many questions are raised about what would happen to the two existing clubs if a new club was formed and they would have to become feeder clubs. Other questions are raised about a new club if it lost its licence after 3 years, would that see the end of RL in the area at professional level. The area is earmarked to become the "Energy Coast of Britain" with a new nuclear academy and new reactors for Sellafield and talk of goodness knows how many billions of pounds being spent here. Neither town would support the other if they managed to get there alone as it was proved when Town were in SL1 and still carry the debts from that season. Barrow is 60 miles from Workington on a very poor road so they could never be entered into the equation and would have to do it on there own and good luck to them. Nowhere else in Cumbria would support a SL team so unless local bigotry can be put aside then I'm afraid it will remain just a dream for rugby league enthusiasts of west Cumbria.
Barrow could do it on their own with some big ground improvements. Barrow are getting just shy of 2000 crowds for their home games this season. Barrow is 60 miles away from Whitehaven and Workington so can't even remotely be including in any merged Super League team proposals. But surely it could stand alone and prosper? Barrow due to it's proximatey to the Scottish borders also offers interesting possiblities for expansion into Scotland if it did have a Super League franchise.
Barrow although geographically situated in the county of Cumbria has very few links with the areas traditionally considered as the County ie Whitehaven, Workington, Carlisle and the large amount of small towns in the vicinity of these towns such as Egremont, Wigton and Maryport. Therefore i would discount them imediately from any Cumbria + Super League equation.
If Haven or Town we're ever to be admitted into SL the old rivalrys would be forgotten over a short period of time and im sure alot of fans from the 'other' club would soon attend games. When Town had their couple of seasons in the top flight quite a few Haven fans would go and watch the games purely because of the teams visiting Derwent Park. If they'd established themselves perhaps more would have followed and become regular visitors to the ground. The people who witter on about the rivalry and 'hating Town' are as a rule of the older generation. There isnt much of a rivalry to speak of these days bar the poorly attended NRC/Friendly games.
Theres is a definite hunger for top flight RL in West Cumbria, nobody has the appetite however to achieve it.
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Barrow could do it on their own with some big ground improvements. Barrow are getting just shy of 2000 crowds for their home games this season. Barrow is 60 miles away from Whitehaven and Workington so can't even remotely be including in any merged Super League team proposals. But surely it could stand alone and prosper? Barrow due to it's proximatey to the Scottish borders also offers interesting possiblities for expansion into Scotland if it did have a Super League franchise.
