Quote ="rupert bear"France is much larger than England though isn't it. Anyway you won't have to worry about it though will you because it won't be you having the expense of all the extra travelling will it? And yes the above teams are the back of beyond compared to the rest of the ">league.'" Well, yes, I already have to travel much longer distances than you to watch a match. Each weekend, not just for a couple of away games. Coventry & Northampton are an hour and a half (I guess) from Doncaster. I bet even Bristol & Gillingham will be within a few minutes the same travel time to Doncaster compared with Doncaster-> Workington & Whitehaven (3 and a half hours?) But really, of all the clubs that might be in this league, Doncaster probably have the least to worry about in terms of travel. The Cumbrian clubs & S. Wales are the ones that really have to put in the miles.

Quote ="rupert bear"France is much larger than England though isn't it. Anyway you won't have to worry about it though will you because it won't be you having the expense of all the extra travelling will it? And yes the above teams are the back of beyond compared to the rest of the ">league.'" Well, yes, I already have to travel much longer distances than you to watch a match. Each weekend, not just for a couple of away games. Coventry & Northampton are an hour and a half (I guess) from Doncaster. I bet even Bristol & Gillingham will be within a few minutes the same travel time to Doncaster compared with Doncaster-> Workington & Whitehaven (3 and a half hours?) But really, of all the clubs that might be in this league, Doncaster probably have the least to worry about in terms of travel. The Cumbrian clubs & S. Wales are the ones that really have to put in the miles.

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.