That's partly true, but it comes back to my earlier point about the pay/costs in the semi-pro game. SWS have shown you can field a credible team of part timers outside of the m62, who can't yet command a high enough wage to give up work and go full time in SL. If only one or two of those lads make it, of course Wigan want first dibs, which will justify their investment in business terms.



Meanwhile we're attracting lads, and kids, into the sport from a much wider geographical base... And, if the local player supply grows, and the fanbase grows, those clubs may, in time, progress up the pro game, too. London hasn't been a rip roaring success, but it hasn't been a disaster either, and the cost of living there, plus the constant relocation of the pro club, makes that a special case. But even there, we have McCarthy-Scaresbrook, Tony Clubb, et al, stepping up to higher things. If each of the four expansion clubs produces 2 SL standard players in 5 years time (when kids is 13 turn 1icon_cool.gif, then the whole game is richer at every level. So what if they sign at Wigan.. Someone else will move elsewhere, and the overall size and standard of the player-pool will grow.



I say only partly right, because the SW had a partnership with Leeds. Of course there is a business motive. Build the brand, find the talent. But Gary Hetherington is also driven by a personal commitment to develop the game for its own sake and benefit. I've never dealt with the Wigan or Wakefield board, but I'd expect Gary's not alone in having a personal love for the game as well as a professional commitment to one club.



Last off, where the club and whole sport co-incide: a pro game televised with clubs in Northampton, Gateshead, Wrexham, Neath... And three new areas not yet announced... Is a much more attractive and valuable competition for broadcasters, newspapers and sponsors, than one just along the m62. That brings more money into the game, for everyone. Even at the development end, it will be so much easier to overcome the 'league isn't played here' we get from some schools, if there's a pro club down the road. But what an all-round boost if Northampton RL are covered on 'South East Tonight' and the Northampton Gazette (or whatever it's called)

They could always do what your club does every few years and go into admin?



The interview with the chairman clearly shows he's not in it to make money. He just wants to see the stadium used all year round.

That was the case under past regimes. But Carl Hall is now running the club under strict financial guidelines and we have just ended another season in the black. The players don't get picked if they don't fully commit to training and if they don't play they don't get paid. At this level that is the way it should be.

The point i am trying to make is how do we know how committed to an RL team will a soccer chairman be when it starts costing him money for possibly not much return attendance and success wise.

Great news.



You can say that about anyone that takes over a club though. And your track record on this subject has shown that you'll look for anything to talk them down.

If they can support their existing brand at break-even, it's still a win for them.



There are 3 ways for any business, in any sector, to increase its sales:

1) sell more of your existing product to existing customers;

2) sell new products to existing customers;

3) sell to new customers



A RL team in summer at a winter pro sports club ticks at least the last two of those three boxes. To football clubs, our salary cap makes RL a strategically attractive option. I've costed a C1 club, and I think it's affordable at break-even, maybe even with a small profit margin. But we're only talking plus or minus ten grand. And if a club progresses to SL in, say, 20 years, those clubs turn over 20 times as much, and as the sale of Hull FC shows, they can be worth £2-3m. Bloody good return for a soccer business.



I hope Northampton succeeds, and I'd extend that to all the expansion clubs. If nothing else, it will draw hundreds of talented, ambitious teens into

our game in new areas.

There aren't enough posts like this on RLFans. Thank you for giving me some hope that this forum is still worth reading. Brilliant post.