Quote ="dids858"Medway Dragons, Hemel, Bristol, Coventry, Northampton, Chester and Oxford. Its a shame that Bramley had a troubled season as I would like to see them back. As for the list above. I would ditch Chester (what league do they play in) & Medway not a high enough standard. Oxford not high enough standard. Hemel is a yes they have playing all over for years. Cov is good if they can keep it up. Notts should be in rather than Northampton. As for Bristol would like them to step up to RLC and see how they do for a couple of ">years.'" You're assuming that the current summer conference amateur players are going to be the ones to step up, whereas I would assume that would not be the case for most of the above. Chester would be one of the stronger applicants in terms of immediate playing strength, I'd have thought. The plan is basically Warrington Wizards moving to play at Chester FC, isn't it? Deva Stadium is council-owned & Pat Cluskey, chester FC general manager is former England & Ireland RL manager and had long spells at Leeds & Widnes. They'll be able to pick up stacks of NW based players who don't quite make it at SL level - just like Blackpool did and Swinton do. Northampton bid is involving the town's football club and the council Sixfields stadium. Oxford I believe is also the town's football team rather than Cavaliers RLC team. Believe I'm correct in saying that Ian Lenaghan & his two sons are the main owners & directors there.

Quote ="dids858"Medway Dragons, Hemel, Bristol, Coventry, Northampton, Chester and Oxford. Its a shame that Bramley had a troubled season as I would like to see them back. As for the list above. I would ditch Chester (what league do they play in) & Medway not a high enough standard. Oxford not high enough standard. Hemel is a yes they have playing all over for years. Cov is good if they can keep it up. Notts should be in rather than Northampton. As for Bristol would like them to step up to RLC and see how they do for a couple of ">years.'" You're assuming that the current summer conference amateur players are going to be the ones to step up, whereas I would assume that would not be the case for most of the above. Chester would be one of the stronger applicants in terms of immediate playing strength, I'd have thought. The plan is basically Warrington Wizards moving to play at Chester FC, isn't it? Deva Stadium is council-owned & Pat Cluskey, chester FC general manager is former England & Ireland RL manager and had long spells at Leeds & Widnes. They'll be able to pick up stacks of NW based players who don't quite make it at SL level - just like Blackpool did and Swinton do. Northampton bid is involving the town's football club and the council Sixfields stadium. Oxford I believe is also the town's football team rather than Cavaliers RLC team. Believe I'm correct in saying that Ian Lenaghan & his two sons are the main owners & directors there.

Quote ="headhunter"These clubs receive virtually no away support anyway though, so your point isn't relevent. In fact the chances are that away support will increase for these clubs when the new teams are brought in, certainly you would expect it to increase for Skolars. Also, Skolars crowds showed an increase when their form improved last season, and Gateshead's crowds were reasonable when they won promotion a few years ago. Nobody wants to watch teams getting flogged every week. If these clubs are more competitive, there's no reason why attendances can't ">improve.'" How would you know how many away fans turn up at Gateshead? Gateshead might get more fans if they were competitive but in the meantime they need as many fans through the turnstiles as they can get, the same as all the clubs in that division.

Quote ="headhunter"These clubs receive virtually no away support anyway though, so your point isn't relevent. In fact the chances are that away support will increase for these clubs when the new teams are brought in, certainly you would expect it to increase for Skolars. Also, Skolars crowds showed an increase when their form improved last season, and Gateshead's crowds were reasonable when they won promotion a few years ago. Nobody wants to watch teams getting flogged every week. If these clubs are more competitive, there's no reason why attendances can't ">improve.'" How would you know how many away fans turn up at Gateshead? Gateshead might get more fans if they were competitive but in the meantime they need as many fans through the turnstiles as they can get, the same as all the clubs in that division.

Quote ="Hedgehog King"How would you know how many away fans turn up at Gateshead? Gateshead might get more fans if they were competitive but in the meantime they need as many fans through the turnstiles as they can get, the same as all the clubs in that I">division.'" I wouldn't know, but I would assume they get very little, especially as your own argument seems to be based on the fact that away fans are unlikely to travel very far outside of their own region in great number. I'm not really sure what you are trying to get at here, or what relevance this has to any of the new teams?

Quote ="Hedgehog King"How would you know how many away fans turn up at Gateshead? Gateshead might get more fans if they were competitive but in the meantime they need as many fans through the turnstiles as they can get, the same as all the clubs in that I">division.'" I wouldn't know, but I would assume they get very little, especially as your own argument seems to be based on the fact that away fans are unlikely to travel very far outside of their own region in great number. I'm not really sure what you are trying to get at here, or what relevance this has to any of the new teams?

Gateshead isn't as hard to get to for Yorkshire based folk as say Cumbria let alone Wales or London. I haven't ever personally been there so can't talk first hand about how many of the supporters were away fans but I have seen Gateshead turn up at Keighley. They brought more fans with them than it would have expected, far more than Skolars do (think I've only ever heard the one chap shout for Skolars).

Workington and Whitehaven were part of Cumberland until then as well.

Cumbria didn't exist as a county until 1974.

People from the south of the county are every bit as much 'Cumbrian' as those from the West.



Sheffield are probably the only 'new' British pro RL team to make a go of it in the last 50 years - and even they merged, went bust and were re-admitted into the pro ranks.

Quite.



The word "Cumbria" predates Cumberland by centuries. It was the name of the Celtic kingdom that took in today's Cumbria and crossed the border into Strathclyde. It lasted until the 11th century.



It is unnecessarily pedantic to point out that Barrow wasn't part of the county of Cumbria until 1974. The Barrow (and Furness) area had been associated with Cumberland and Westmorland for some time.