Domination of sport by a few teams is not unusual and never has being, it is replicated many times over in differing sports and differing countries. Conurbation size, relative wealth, socio-economics, geographical location and even past history in relation to success/ & brand name all have a major influence on success in sport.

look at Huddersfield, in the dim and distant past it was a very affluent area and their teams of the early 1900s was up there with the Wigan of the 80s/90s, Leeds have always had wealth, a large population and is very central geographically, within easy reach of many other towns that act as feeders. This distinct advantage has shown in how many CC titles they have spread over the years (though only in the last 10 years have they gone past us for Championships)

Wigan was also very wealthy (Mill & Mine owners) and though the town itself is relatively sparsly populated (it has remained the same for over 100yrs) it has had a large close surrounding population greater than that here in Hull. It also is central within Lancashire (as was) & has always had excellent lines of travel and within easy reach of Manchester/Merseyside.
Despite this Wigan folk are not really emigrator's, and without it being a sleight, playing rugby/mining/mills was all there was for people from Wigan for a very long time .this was & still is an advantage (historical tendancies). it means you have/had close knit communities, you have a pride to represent your place of birth, it means you have an almost endless supply of players especially when the former wealth is gone/diminished and you have higher relative unemployment as it's a way to get a job for the less able/educated (as happens in many sports & many towns/cities).
Past success and a good brand name such as 'Wigan' cannot be underestimated when attracting players from outside your area.
You have similar stories in St.Helens and to a lesser extent Swinton/Oldham/Salford

So, we come to Hull, reasonable population size at the turn of the 20th Century but not affluent, Geographically isolated with the nearest large populous 35 miles away(York), 50 miles if you count Leeds. With fishing/work on the seas being a major part of the employment for many years you had (hasn't applied for a long while now) a decent amount of the available local males in an almost transient state(due to not being on land).

That said as a city we've done pretty well, if you were to add in HKR as well that puts us (as a city) 3rd in the all time list of Championship titles behind wigan & St.Helens & 4th in the all time list of trophies (on a points awarded per trophy basis) http://www.loverugbyleague.com/news_135 ... table.html We are currently 7th on our own.

The now, well the massive under investment through the Hetherington years can't be undone in a couple of years. Sadly Pearson has been far too impatient and not grasped how long/difficult/expensive it can & does take to make changes/improvements to take effect. The fans have taken the brunt of this with some dodgy goings on behind the scenes & epic failures under Agar and indeed again this season. That said the fans of the club are nothing short of sensational in their support, yes there has been a downward trend but considering how bad it was under the H's and Agar and another distastrous season this, the fans have still come (& yes despite my feelings about radford/pearson I still come when I can & have said that all along)

We are in many areas going in the right direction but we have still a long long way to catch up, the problems are still there however and as I alluded to in depth elsewhere unless we look at being truly professional in every single aspect we will not compete to win a championship no matter what the youth set up becomes, no matter how many fans come through the gate nor whatever coach we get.

Don't just be looking at the Wigan's, look outside the sport, including non sports industries, look at linking directly with universities to use their expertise/research. look at sports psychologists, look at getting proper behavioural/man management training (Radford needs this in a massive hurry). Oh yeah..and a kicking coach BEFORE Christmas, not AFTER the season has started Christ, why not send the kickers to a union club for gods sakes..
I could give you a decent list of things I would hazard a guess at that we don't do or have even looked at (some are obvious without even demanding to know from the club if they do/don't) I don't feel it is that difficult to identify the areas that need looking at, they should pay to get someone to analyse the club from top to bottom tbh and it doesn't need to be a rugby person either. That said having forwarded suggestions in the past I know that they are deaf to outside suggestions, not prepared to listen or even consider that someone else might have ideas that can make the club and players that tiny fraction better...

THAT is something that needs to change along with making garbage bullshat anouncements and denegrating past coaches/players with no evidence other than words to prove such..that gets right on my nipples..focus on the truth, not what you think fans want to hear. Focus on the now & what YOU are going to do without laying blame elsewhere, negative canvassing doesn't work..you only have to look at politics to see that. I don't want to hear false 'feel good factor' carp..I want honesty and openess (when appropriate), I don't want speculation about X players salary leaking out to those whom shouldn't ever know, I don't want feeble excuses about why X thing happened, give it to us straight because you are disenfranchising supporters, we aren't stupid, we aren't kids who can't see past the falsehoods and PR guff.

I'd rather you as a club say we furked up, we are going to do this to put it right rather than some spin/blame game b0llox to cover a mistake..As a supporter right now I have no respect for the club that is HULL FC, I don't believe a word that comes out, I don't believe we are doing everything we can and should be doing and nothing so far will change that until we see that the club are doing something rather than just PR words.
In essence you waste valuable time, money and effort making up stuff you don't need to, you waste it covering for mistakes, you waste it
ensuring you're not contradicting yourselves..that has an effect on the overall performance of the club too..

Right I'm done, I'm off cycle touring in the sun, see you all next season (some of you will be well pleased no doubt
COYH

Domination of sport by a few teams is not unusual and never has being, it is replicated many times over in differing sports and differing countries. Conurbation size, relative wealth, socio-economics, geographical location and even past history in relation to success/ & brand name all have a major influence on success in sport.

look at Huddersfield, in the dim and distant past it was a very affluent area and their teams of the early 1900s was up there with the Wigan of the 80s/90s, Leeds have always had wealth, a large population and is very central geographically, within easy reach of many other towns that act as feeders. This distinct advantage has shown in how many CC titles they have spread over the years (though only in the last 10 years have they gone past us for Championships)

Wigan was also very wealthy (Mill & Mine owners) and though the town itself is relatively sparsly populated (it has remained the same for over 100yrs) it has had a large close surrounding population greater than that here in Hull. It also is central within Lancashire (as was) & has always had excellent lines of travel and within easy reach of Manchester/Merseyside.
Despite this Wigan folk are not really emigrator's, and without it being a sleight, playing rugby/mining/mills was all there was for people from Wigan for a very long time .this was & still is an advantage (historical tendancies). it means you have/had close knit communities, you have a pride to represent your place of birth, it means you have an almost endless supply of players especially when the former wealth is gone/diminished and you have higher relative unemployment as it's a way to get a job for the less able/educated (as happens in many sports & many towns/cities).
Past success and a good brand name such as 'Wigan' cannot be underestimated when attracting players from outside your area.
You have similar stories in St.Helens and to a lesser extent Swinton/Oldham/Salford

So, we come to Hull, reasonable population size at the turn of the 20th Century but not affluent, Geographically isolated with the nearest large populous 35 miles away(York), 50 miles if you count Leeds. With fishing/work on the seas being a major part of the employment for many years you had (hasn't applied for a long while now) a decent amount of the available local males in an almost transient state(due to not being on land).

That said as a city we've done pretty well, if you were to add in HKR as well that puts us (as a city) 3rd in the all time list of Championship titles behind wigan & St.Helens & 4th in the all time list of trophies (on a points awarded per trophy basis) http://www.loverugbyleague.com/news_135 ... table.html We are currently 7th on our own.

The now, well the massive under investment through the Hetherington years can't be undone in a couple of years. Sadly Pearson has been far too impatient and not grasped how long/difficult/expensive it can & does take to make changes/improvements to take effect. The fans have taken the brunt of this with some dodgy goings on behind the scenes & epic failures under Agar and indeed again this season. That said the fans of the club are nothing short of sensational in their support, yes there has been a downward trend but considering how bad it was under the H's and Agar and another distastrous season this, the fans have still come (& yes despite my feelings about radford/pearson I still come when I can & have said that all along)

We are in many areas going in the right direction but we have still a long long way to catch up, the problems are still there however and as I alluded to in depth elsewhere unless we look at being truly professional in every single aspect we will not compete to win a championship no matter what the youth set up becomes, no matter how many fans come through the gate nor whatever coach we get.

Don't just be looking at the Wigan's, look outside the sport, including non sports industries, look at linking directly with universities to use their expertise/research. look at sports psychologists, look at getting proper behavioural/man management training (Radford needs this in a massive hurry). Oh yeah..and a kicking coach BEFORE Christmas, not AFTER the season has started Christ, why not send the kickers to a union club for gods sakes..
I could give you a decent list of things I would hazard a guess at that we don't do or have even looked at (some are obvious without even demanding to know from the club if they do/don't) I don't feel it is that difficult to identify the areas that need looking at, they should pay to get someone to analyse the club from top to bottom tbh and it doesn't need to be a rugby person either. That said having forwarded suggestions in the past I know that they are deaf to outside suggestions, not prepared to listen or even consider that someone else might have ideas that can make the club and players that tiny fraction better...

THAT is something that needs to change along with making garbage bullshat anouncements and denegrating past coaches/players with no evidence other than words to prove such..that gets right on my nipples..focus on the truth, not what you think fans want to hear. Focus on the now & what YOU are going to do without laying blame elsewhere, negative canvassing doesn't work..you only have to look at politics to see that. I don't want to hear false 'feel good factor' carp..I want honesty and openess (when appropriate), I don't want speculation about X players salary leaking out to those whom shouldn't ever know, I don't want feeble excuses about why X thing happened, give it to us straight because you are disenfranchising supporters, we aren't stupid, we aren't kids who can't see past the falsehoods and PR guff.

I'd rather you as a club say we furked up, we are going to do this to put it right rather than some spin/blame game b0llox to cover a mistake..As a supporter right now I have no respect for the club that is HULL FC, I don't believe a word that comes out, I don't believe we are doing everything we can and should be doing and nothing so far will change that until we see that the club are doing something rather than just PR words.
In essence you waste valuable time, money and effort making up stuff you don't need to, you waste it covering for mistakes, you waste it
ensuring you're not contradicting yourselves..that has an effect on the overall performance of the club too..

Right I'm done, I'm off cycle touring in the sun, see you all next season (some of you will be well pleased no doubt
COYH