Copied from the paper today



" The RFL made a loss of £327,000 in 2018, which it says was largely due to the low crowd for the Challenge cup final. The governing body anticipated returning to profit after losing £2,000,000 in 2017, when it paid out a significant six figure sum to facilitate the exit of Chief Executive Nigel Wood and Chief Commercial Officer Roger Draper. Those hopes were scuppered when Catalans reached Wembley and took around 5000 fans with them resulting in an attendance of 50,672 the lowest for a generation.



I thought fat Nige left the RFL to become CEO of the world cup why did he and his mate get a very large pay off? Talk about jobs for the boys which the game can not afford.

Why indeed after dragging the game backwards. This has been hushed up and still the monkeys at the top of the tree think getting Toronto and other far flung nations involved in the english league is a good thing. I agree we need to expand the game but through sustainable progression. Most team fans can afford an occassional trip away but they cannot afford year on year therefore we are not connecting fully with north america. We need to put more effort into growing the game here and not worry at this precise time about abroad. After all USA have a world cup series where only america teams enter, we should copy their example and market, market, market the game here. Also a 14 team SL would seem a whole lot more sensible than playing some teams 3 / 4 times a season. Expand here and repair the damage which has been done by those with the pay off . I cannot see how those two grew the game or how Nigel Wood got another top job when it is very clear fans are switiching off and he failed.

I assume this is the same Roger Draper who used to work at Broncos (or earlier incarnation). Can't remember him doing much then either.

Roger Draper came to us at Warrington from Wimbledon LTA & after about 2 years moved to the RFL. He must be a serial golden handshaker.

As for expanding the league ,the most important start for that is to get a strong London club ,even though you are only in the suburbs at present . The likes of Toronto ,New York & any future overseas capital sides would see London more as a playing venue than ,say Wakefield or HKR on a wet & windy night. As a capital city London is more on their wavelength.

Doubt anything on this planet is on the same wavelength as the dim & deluded RL Board. Just look at the Challenge Cup semi-finals. Height of ambition is to fill a 28700 capacity stadium with 3 of the 4 teams among the best we have. Not even sure they have achieved even that, time will tell.



I see from the excellent publication Touch & Go by Dave Farrar, Peter Lush & Michael O'Hare that Roger Draper left the development side of the club 94/95 season to go to the LTA. Even managed 1 sub appearance!!

On the idiocy of the RFL why would anyone think it is plausible to PAY to hire a FOOTBALL club for the triple header. London and Catalan are too far away to be considered for this. Castleford, Hull, St Helens, Leeds, Warrington Halifax could not be considered as it needs to be neutral territory however this leaves Wakefield, Salford, Wigan and Huddersfield to choose from. Any one of these could have been chosen and paid to host and the gate money divided between all teams or put into marketing or development. Instead we pay another sport to stage our games - PATHETIC. Also noticed how few fans were there, at best it was half full. Year on year attendances are getting worse and we need to do something about it but the RFL in their infinite wisdom cannot see there is a problem and waste money outside our sport instead of investing in it

Both Wigan and Huddersfield’s grounds are football grounds, they are not owned by the RL clubs, we would still be paying another sport to stage our games.



I’d imagine there was a tender and bidding process (you would hope) and Bolton was the most attractive proposition.

First time i've ever heard Bolton described as an attractive proposition!

Why did they need all the games at one venue Warington could have used for the St Helens v Halifax game and Leeds could have used for the Warington v Hull game.

Probably cheaper to run 1 venue rather than 2 for games live on BBC.Not that ambitious though.

The problem is the sport has become too parochial.



Fans, in the main, only want to watch their own team, as highlighted by the games at Horwich and last seasons Challenge Cup, even the grand final no longer sells out. Saints and Leeds fans won't go unless their team is there.



Hull and Warrington fans at the semi final in there numbers, disappeared after their game. Saints fans only turned up in the latter stages of the Warrington Hull game. Neutrals were difficult to spot.



It leaves us in a Catch 22, I believe that the extensive TV coverage, combined with the ability to record games or use catchup is killing the sport, but it only exists professionally because of TV revenue. When the Saints Chairman whines because he loses money when a game against Wigan is not on the TV highlights the difficulties facing the sport. £20k from Sky or market a game to increase the physical attendance? It is clear what Saints priority is, polar opposite to Warrington, who stand alone in effectively marketing their games.

I'm not sure thats Parochial. Up until the SL era the CC cup was the only event/day out (in London) of note. Now there is the CC, CC semis, Magic weekend plus other games such as Catalans away (in Barcelona for Wigan and neutrals this year) London away (why go to CC when you can have a similar weekend watching your own team in London, On the road games in Australia, next year Toronto...it goes on. The games landscape has changed.

The landscape may have changed but it is still pretty barren out there.

Im with you on that which is disappointing given the opportunities the sport has. If we could get some forward looking administrators/leaders the sport could have a rosey future.

Quote wire-quin="wire-quin"Im with you on that which is disappointing given the opportunities the sport has. If we could get some forward looking administrators/leaders the sport could have a rosey future.'" https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/ ... oting-game Maybe a couple of ex-footballers could help?

Quote wire-quin="wire-quin"Im with you on that which is disappointing given the opportunities the sport has. If we could get some forward looking administrators/leaders the sport could have a rosey future.'" https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/ ... oting-game Maybe a couple of ex-footballers could help?