Did you type that with your feet?

Correct you didnt say it, but you meant it, thats how you think, you want SL clubs or nothing, I want RL clubs with fans that are willing to pay to watch them, and players who want to get paid to play for them, how far up the RL ladder those clubs then want to rise is up to them, nowhere have I suggested a limit to their ambition



Although I think it more likely that like people, they learn to crawl, then walk before they enter the 100 metres at the Olympics

I didnt say only council stadiums, just that IMO there is more potential if they are



So you expect new clubs to instantly achieve attendances higher than most of our current SL clubs? ,maybe you could provide the RFL with this magic formula



Maybe you are right, while all these football clubs havent been up to Red Hall all asking if they can have a SL licence, god only knows, then again a couple of years ago I attended a match at Bramhall Lane, they could have just opened the dugouts to accomadate the home fans, surely a ' model ' that works



Easy to address the reason why it hasnt happened, about 10 times as much extra investement as I am suggesting, so which is more likely?

No, you just suggested a clear and obvious barrier to their ambition



There is a reason why sport England will fund the young sprinters with the most potential for the Olympics, and far less for those without the potential

Well we have had over a hundred years of creeping expansion, it hasn't got us very far.



How many SL matches have been staged at bramall lane? Your asking why a football stadium wouldn't sell out for a semi-pro RL side with next to no marketing budget? Either way it's irrelevant because it would be almost the opposite of what I suggested

I'd be generous if I said we've had over a hundred years of half-assed expansionism attempts. 'Creeping expansionists' haven't been supported in their efforts, and much time, money and momentum has been wasted on big projects for clubs that clearly weren't / aren't even close to being ready for the big time.



Rugby League has been poor at consistently targeting it's resources and keeping a longterm plan in place.

So if we somehow find our relatively new RL club regularily filling its say 6,000 capacity stadium, they arent allowed to move to a bigger one, or make plans to get their existing one enlarged?



But we arent talking about our best, we are discussing our newest, I doubt youll find many 3 year olds being funded by sport England

So you are suggesting dropping new clubs straight into SL again ?

Far more time and money has been spent on small clubs in the areas surrounding where we are strong and have been for the last 100 and odd years, we have attempted 4 times in the past 100 years to move even slightly from our heartlands, only once was it done with some kind of long term investment, plan and preparation. Its no coincidence that it was an unmitigated success. We have now put the gains made by that at risk of ‘catastrophe’.



nobody would disagree with that.

Are you suggesting the ‘organic growth’ that hasn’t happened in over 100years of Rugby League? That a club will grow through the levels to the top, even though over a century of history tells us it doesn’t happen?

Who is paying for this? Considering there is now no guarantee whatsoever that they could stay in SL or grow to SL, who is investing the tens of millions needed to expand a stadium or build a new one?



You are now suggesting that an brand new RL Club moves in with a non-league football side and builds them a new stadium. Why dont you just admit you dont want new RL clubs to be a success because if they are, Your club has less of a chance to be so. You want to be a medium sized fish in a small pond because you dont have the ambition or even belief you could swim with big fishes.



How we set up our amateur clubs where we play for fun, is entirely different to how we set up our pro clubs. Even a 3 year old would know that.

Not really the correct term here, I dont recall the sport directly openly sourcing, targeting, financing and initially managing a new club in the way I am suggesting



I notice once again you refer " to the top " , rather than just a successful club

You do talk some complete garbage at times , you contradict youself so many times its ridiculous, I am suggesting a way to get new clubs up and running, you construe that as me wanting them to fail

The discussion of stadium capacities and new clubs is honestly beside the point. You cannot simply 'drop in' a new club to an area with no RL pedigree and expect to see it work. There needs to be 5-10 years of hard work in building an amateur base, knowledge of the sport and a public willing to support a team as more than just a fad.



First of all, the RFL needs to engage with rugby clubs across the country. Many Union clubs sit doing nothing for the summer - a short, summer, amateur season could well appeal to them as a way to keep kids & players turning up and the bar money ticking over. The RFL should be offering coaching & reffing courses, as well as large regional end-of-season tournaments for the kids. Get them playing RL, get them over the idea that 'it's not proper rugby', and open up a significantly larger playing pool to RL.



Second, identify areas with the greatest potential for success in terms of amateur scene development & largest catchment, for trial games to whet the public's appetite for RL.



Ideally this would take the form of an England international as part of a home-nations series similar to the 6N. Given the crowd in Bristol for the Cookies game at the WC, England v Wales in Bristol could sell out Ashton Gate easily.



This to be followed up by the designation of the venue city as an 'on the road' venue. Preferably given an exciting title. One extra round of fixtures to be played in the venue, local derbies preferably, so the city has a 'home' game every week. Season tickets available cheaply, with money raised going to fund local RL. Constant marketing support for local amateur sides, and a 'Rugby League Shop' in the town centre selling SL club & England merchandise.



This to be followed up with the entry of a franchise into the Championship, and then (if things work out) SL.

North Wales Crusaders?

The outside investment will only come for SL

No, you don't want them to fail. As long as they stay near the bottom of the game

So now you are a mind reader? , I want all clubs to prosper, and those that prosper most to get their rewards for that

So you suggest they could look to a larger venue or expansion but you arent suggesting they expand the stadium or move to a new one?





once again, who pays for this?

Im not a mind reader, its just obvious that that is your standpoint. You want clubs to prosper, so long as they prosper in a in a system and a set up which is heavily biased towards heartland clubs, so long as they jump through meaningless hoops which make it infinitely more difficult for them to prosper and so long as they do so in a destructive and unstable system.



When you want to make it so difficult, as nigh on impossible for a club to reach the top, you may as well simply admit that you dont want them to reach the top (and yes i know im talking only about SL, but that is the context in which we are speaking so stop trying to hide behind that. Its not as clever as you think and no-one is falling for it)

Good point