Bristol, Gloucester, Cornish Pirates (Penzance), Plymouth, Doncaster, Connaught, etc... not working class union clubs? Ooookay then.

Herein lies the problem, quite a few League fans have an elitist attitude which aside from being ignorant at times causes the sport to be quite needlessly isolationist to its own detriment. There are plenty of things which could aid both codes such as the dual registration of players? League structure needs to be changed as well alongside better coverage (much like the second tier of Union in England).

How many of these were current internationals at the time? Marshall could hardly run when at Leeds. Still avoiding the point that Leeds Union sides have never had the class or strength in depth to be a top 4 side and if they had and maintained it they would now be packing them in as Union has overtaken Superleague.

its all supposition and guess work. it may or it may not. until, or if, it happens, we'll have to go on the only proof and that's the pathetic attendances they had when they were in the top league last time

It is all only opinion in any case. However there is no proof to go on to make a case against my point as Leeds have never met the criteria that I said they needed to do.

A very working class game in much of the southwest (or used to be at any rate). Bath is the exception, not the rule.

<Edit> Hadn't spotted Rinkadink's post when I wrote the above. He's right.

Indeed. Just because millionaires played it at boarding school doesn't make it elitist. I played all across the midlands during the 80's, Bedford, Northampton, Leicester. All classes, all backgrounds. The likes of Olney were as rough as any amateur RL side.


I also have to partly agree with Juan about Leeds Carnegie. The last time they challenged at club level seriously the club game was in a bit of a state in general. It hadn't really taken off and there were clubs struggling after the first wave of professional blowouts (E.g. Richmond). That Leeds team was nothing special and the momentum wasn't sustained.
However, I'm not sure about the market for it in Yorkshire. It would need a significant cash injection to handle a 7 million salary cap. The likes of Wasps lose 2-3 million a year at the moment. It's too risky.
If they intend to play at HQ then a plastic pitch would be first on the agenda also.

I agree about the pitch and while I also agree about the risk I think there has been a big momentum shift in the last couple of seasons where now top level a Union is an entertaining product for fans and sponsors. Yorkshire and the North must be able to support a genuine star studded successful side and Leeds offer the unique set up for dual code top signings.

I think that's the optimist side, not necessarily inaccurate though. Would need a long term investment of serious money, certainly more than Caddick is prepared to spend.

As Juan says top level Union may be entertaining but one of the major probs for tykes/Carnegie is the complete lack of it from the games I have seen over past few seasons. They will never attract decent crowds without a decent brand of rugby, it may work down south but we expect more for our money up here.

Maybe there's an Odsal move on the cards for Carnegie.