Quote Mrs Barista="Mrs Barista"You're right, it depends on the definition of success. But when Framing the future was written I doubt having a top flight populated with M62 clubs some of which still have gates of 3k and big cuts in Sky funding was a target. The game has contracted since then geographically IMO - no Cumbria or London in the top flight for example and revenues in a downward spiral. The choice is to continue to contract with the comfort blanket that part time/semi amateur preserves sentiment and tradition, or push the boundaries - loads of options here - The Hundred type iseas,.mergers and geographic expansion, ruthless future focus centred on ideas that the under 30s find appealing. Pandering to dinosaurs of my age group who are club centric will sustain the sport at a diminishing level of quality and resource for a period of time and as you imply, we should maybe be satisfied with that. But we're so accustomed to insular thinking, preserving our tiny corridor of familiar and deriving comfort from internal fights and division we are hamstrung in imagining a better future for the sport itself. Bit like the UK tbh.'"
Aye, no plan survives contact with the next quarter century.
But I take your points. Let’s try to imagine something better. What is worth preserving and what do we want that is different? What, fundamentally, is pro rugby league? A game played by professional athletes in front of paying spectators - yep. But also a part of the communities that sustain it and that it represents, imo.
Being both selfless in terms of setting aside club-centricity and ruthless in terms of thinking about what could actually work, what would you make your top priorities (and by extension what are we willing to sacrifice or at least compromise on) and what would be your major approaches to achieving them?
I shall have a think on mine too.
