Rugby League 2022

[widnesblue]

It's probably telling that in the 26 competitions since the introduction of Super League and the salary cap, just 4 teams have won it, with those 4 teams contesting all but 9 of the finals between them. It's even worse when you think Bradford last won the title in 2005, and since then Leeds have won 7 titles, Saints 5, and Wigan 4. In the same timeframe, 9 clubs have won the NRL Grand Final. It's marginally better in the Challenge Cup, with both Hull and Wire managing to win a few times, but even then, since 2005 only 6 teams have managed a win, so half of Super League have done bugger all for an absolute age.

If the idea is to create a competitive sport, it's failed miserably, and instead all it's done is ensure that the best players now inevitably ply their trade down under.

You make some great points and very telling points.

Kinda forget that the has only been 5 clubs that have won the competition in the super league era. That’s quite pathetic really. So basically since the 80’s only Widnes, Leigh, Hull, Hull KR, Halifax, Wigan, Leeds, Bradford and St. Helens have won the league. With probably Wigan, Widnes, Leeds, Bradford, Warrington, Hull, Saints, Sheffield and Catalans winning the challenge cup too.

Here’s a little story, when the RFL brought Catalans into super league(forget the year)Widnes and Leigh were relegated, both boards asked the RFL to extend the competition to a 14 team competition. All super league clubs rejected it because they’d have to give up £100,000 from the sky money to give to Leigh and Widnes. My wife’s family was on the board at Widnes at the time, and turned around and said if you can’t bring in £100,000 a year from sponsorship. Then you shouldn’t be on board of directors.

How these clubs are surviving over here is very interesting. They are basically running a full time business on 13 weeks of operation with home games. The sponsorship these clubs are getting isn’t massive money.

The sky deal is decreasing every year and it’s only going to be a matter of time before they pull the plug.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

You make some great points and very telling points.

Kinda forget that the has only been 5 clubs that have won the competition in the super league era. That’s quite pathetic really. So basically since the 80’s only Widnes, Leigh, Hull, Hull KR, Halifax, Wigan, Leeds, Bradford and St. Helens have won the league. With probably Wigan, Widnes, Leeds, Bradford, Warrington, Hull, Saints, Sheffield and Catalans winning the challenge cup too.

Here’s a little story, when the RFL brought Catalans into super league(forget the year)Widnes and Leigh were relegated, both boards asked the RFL to extend the competition to a 14 team competition. All super league clubs rejected it because they’d have to give up £100,000 from the sky money to give to Leigh and Widnes. My wife’s family was on the board at Widnes at the time, and turned around and said if you can’t bring in £100,000 a year from sponsorship. Then you shouldn’t be on board of directors.

How these clubs are surviving over here is very interesting. They are basically running a full time business on 13 weeks of operation with home games. The sponsorship these clubs are getting isn’t massive money.

The sky deal is decreasing every year and it’s only going to be a matter of time before they pull the plug.

It does very much seem like the game is dying a slow death. I can see it going semi-professional before too long if it continues like this.

 

[widnesblue]

It does very much seem like the game is dying a slow death. I can see it going semi-professional before too long if it continues like this.

The whole point of going to summer rugby was to increase the games popularity with fans and the skill set improve. It’s declined massively in both aspects.

It’s absolutely scandalous that clubs and the RFL haven’t come together to try fix it instead of going for an easy cash grab. If they don’t act now, it will be too late. Rugby league towns are now football towns.

 

[Sporting Billy]

Still in my mind TGG, but yes, there are significant problems. Style of play very much to blame. It’s become very much one dimensional. All the teams play the same way and we’re in an era where defences are very difficult to break down

 

[cronullasharks]

Still in my mind TGG, but yes, there are significant problems. Style of play very much to blame. It’s become very much one dimensional. All the teams play the same way and we’re in an era where defences are very difficult to break down

5 tackles and bomb to the corner, can get a bit tedious.

 

[barneygumble]

Looks like Kai Pearce Paul and Will Pryce are the latest to be lost to the NRL. That both are very young should be a worry as they seem to be leaving earlier and earlier. How much longer do we continue having financial restraints imposed by the smallest clubs in the league who have shown absolutely no capacity to grow since Super League has existed?

Of course, it's not just the players either, with Lee Briers announcing his departure as well.

It’s a shame really.

As a saints fan, I was fortunate that my first season was the 2006 season, where they won the lot.

Super League was thriving then, with a whole host of amazing players, and bizarre moves.

Jamie Lyon, Cayless for saints alone, along with a whole host of superstars like Sculthorpe, Cunningham, Long.

Wigan signed Fielding for £450,000. It was a great product. Every derby was a sell out, with Wigan having 25,000 every single time. Now you’re looking at like 16,000 for the derby, how can there be such a drop off?

It’s just so poorly run, it’s amateur hour, at best. In that time I’ve seen 4 different format changes, unnecessary pushing for expansion in Crusaders, a deal for a sponsorship which generated zero money for clubs, but allowed 100 trucks (across a fleet of over 10,000) have super league branding.

Meanwhile, the NRL continues to grow and grow. Whilst Super League is now just cherry picked due to financial constraints.

£25 it was to go to Belle Vue last week, which is the biggest joke ever, not sure what Wakefield have over other clubs, but they’ve done the bare minimum to improve their ground having being threatened repeatedly, over the years.

It’ll be part time before you know it, they rebuffed a move from the Hearn’s, but sometimes you’ve got to accept your fate and jump into bed with the Devil.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

It’s a shame really.

As a saints fan, I was fortunate that my first season was the 2006 season, where they won the lot.

Super League was thriving then, with a whole host of amazing players, and bizarre moves.

Jamie Lyon, Cayless for saints alone, along with a whole host of superstars like Sculthorpe, Cunningham, Long.

Wigan signed Fielding for £450,000. It was a great product. Every derby was a sell out, with Wigan having 25,000 every single time. Now you’re looking at like 16,000 for the derby, how can there be such a drop off?

It’s just so poorly run, it’s amateur hour, at best. In that time I’ve seen 4 different format changes, unnecessary pushing for expansion in Crusaders, a deal for a sponsorship which generated zero money for clubs, but allowed 100 trucks (across a fleet of over 10,000) have super league branding.

Meanwhile, the NRL continues to grow and grow. Whilst Super League is now just cherry picked due to financial constraints.

£25 it was to go to Belle Vue last week, which is the biggest joke ever, not sure what Wakefield have over other clubs, but they’ve done the bare minimum to improve their ground having being threatened repeatedly, over the years.

It’ll be part time before you know it, they rebuffed a move from the Hearn’s, but sometimes you’ve got to accept your fate and jump into bed with the Devil.

The product is an issue for sure. At Wigan, we're fortunate enough to have Field and French at the moment, who are absolute box office, but the style of play under Lam was utterly dreadful. As a sport, we're tending to rely on plucking those unknowns from the NRL for some sparkle, or being fleeced for a final payday as with SBW, Inglis, and George Burgess when they knew full well their body wasn't up to it. At least back then you'd have guys like Lyon and Trent Barrett come over when they were still at a really good level.

 

[widnesblue]

It’s a shame really.

As a saints fan, I was fortunate that my first season was the 2006 season, where they won the lot.

Super League was thriving then, with a whole host of amazing players, and bizarre moves.

Jamie Lyon, Cayless for saints alone, along with a whole host of superstars like Sculthorpe, Cunningham, Long.

Wigan signed Fielding for £450,000. It was a great product. Every derby was a sell out, with Wigan having 25,000 every single time. Now you’re looking at like 16,000 for the derby, how can there be such a drop off?

It’s just so poorly run, it’s amateur hour, at best. In that time I’ve seen 4 different format changes, unnecessary pushing for expansion in Crusaders, a deal for a sponsorship which generated zero money for clubs, but allowed 100 trucks (across a fleet of over 10,000) have super league branding.

Meanwhile, the NRL continues to grow and grow. Whilst Super League is now just cherry picked due to financial constraints.

£25 it was to go to Belle Vue last week, which is the biggest joke ever, not sure what Wakefield have over other clubs, but they’ve done the bare minimum to improve their ground having being threatened repeatedly, over the years.

It’ll be part time before you know it, they rebuffed a move from the Hearn’s, but sometimes you’ve got to accept your fate and jump into bed with the Devil.

£25 to get into Wakefield? That’s bad that is. And they wonder why people aren’t turning up. Apart from the match, what gets people going? It’s not like you can brag you’ve been to a great stadium, not like the is a lot to do around there either. Gotta admit though, did enjoy away visits to Wakefield and Castleford with the old school grounds.

Did the Hearns push any further with trying to get into the game? I know they was at a challenge cup final but talk of them getting involved quickly died down.

I’m all for expansion but they’ve gone about it the wrong way so many times and not learnt their lessons on any of it. They don’t let these clubs organically grow and let them get away with what ever they want so they can get into super league. These clubs end up spending a fortune in a short period to get into super league, once they reach it, they realise the isn’t loads of money in the league once they’ve gotten there. They don’t recoup, they haven’t built up a good fan base and before they know it, they can’t continue to stay professional. Crusaders fast tracking was a disgrace, was there about 3 weeks before they got announced into Super League. Walked into a pub behind the ground, about 20-30 of us, and they was asking why loads of scousers are here. Told them was here for the Rugby to watch Widnes and they didn’t have a clue. Walked into Bridgend and got speaking to a Widnes legend (John Devereux) best mate, got speaking about the rugby saying we are here to watch Widnes and he was shocked Widnes was playing in Bridgend and didn’t even know they had a professional Rugby League club there.

Out of all the expansion clubs, they’ve had one success in Catalans and even they aren’t bringing many great French players through to boost the national team like they was meant too.

PSG - Failed
Gateshead - Failed
London - Failed
Toronto -Failed
Crusaders - Failed
Catalans - success
Toulouse - judgement still out but looking likely to go down and be interesting to see how they react.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

£25 to get into Wakefield? That’s bad that is. And they wonder why people aren’t turning up. Apart from the match, what gets people going? It’s not like you can brag you’ve been to a great stadium, not like the is a lot to do around there either. Gotta admit though, did enjoy away visits to Wakefield and Castleford with the old school grounds.

Did the Hearns push any further with trying to get into the game? I know they was at a challenge cup final but talk of them getting involved quickly died down.

I’m all for expansion but they’ve gone about it the wrong way so many times and not learnt their lessons on any of it. They don’t let these clubs organically grow and let them get away with what ever they want so they can get into super league. These clubs end up spending a fortune in a short period to get into super league, once they reach it, they realise the isn’t loads of money in the league once they’ve gotten there. They don’t recoup, they haven’t built up a good fan base and before they know it, they can’t continue to stay professional. Crusaders fast tracking was a disgrace, was there about 3 weeks before they got announced into Super League. Walked into a pub behind the ground, about 20-30 of us, and they was asking why loads of scousers are here. Told them was here for the Rugby to watch Widnes and they didn’t have a clue. Walked into Bridgend and got speaking to a Widnes legend (John Devereux) best mate, got speaking about the rugby saying we are here to watch Widnes and he was shocked Widnes was playing in Bridgend and didn’t even know they had a professional Rugby League club there.

Out of all the expansion clubs, they’ve had one success in Catalans and even they aren’t bringing many great French players through to boost the national team like they was meant too.

PSG - Failed
Gateshead - Failed
London - Failed
Toronto -Failed
Crusaders - Failed
Catalans - success
Toulouse - judgement still out but looking likely to go down and be interesting to see how they react.

I'm trying to think of a rugby team (of either code) that play in a major city. You've probably only got Saracens and Quins, and both Barnet and Twickenham are pretty far out of the centre of London. It seems like rugby is primarily a provincial sport that is played in towns rather than cities, which is very different to how it is in Australia.

 

[widnesblue]

I'm trying to think of a rugby team (of either code) that play in a major city. You've probably only got Saracens and Quins, and both Barnet and Twickenham are pretty far out of the centre of London. It seems like rugby is primarily a provincial sport that is played in towns rather than cities, which is very different to how it is in Australia.

Dunno if people class Leeds as a major city but can only think of them. Difference between league and union in England especially is that Union teams tend to be from middle to upper class areas where more money for people. League is played in low income working class towns. A Widnes jersey costs more than a Everton shirt for adults and kids.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Dunno if people class Leeds as a major city but can only think of them. Difference between league and union in England especially is that Union teams tend to be from middle to upper class areas where more money for people. League is played in low income working class towns. A Widnes jersey costs more than a Everton shirt for adults and kids.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about Leeds.

 

[Sporting Billy]

Shame more teams don’t play like Salford. The crowds would soon flock back……though they don’t seem to at Salford?

 

[Walken]

Watching a bit of league means the classic stuff pops up my feeds a lot, great to rewatch but terribly sad to see the lack of star quality in comparison

 

[barneygumble]

The product is an issue for sure. At Wigan, we're fortunate enough to have Field and French at the moment, who are absolute box office, but the style of play under Lam was utterly dreadful. As a sport, we're tending to rely on plucking those unknowns from the NRL for some sparkle, or being fleeced for a final payday as with SBW, Inglis, and George Burgess when they knew full well their body wasn't up to it. At least back then you'd have guys like Lyon and Trent Barrett come over when they were still at a really good level.

I think back then we had a greater pull, super league was a popular sport, grand finals sold out, CC Finals sold out.

The problem with football becoming more and more popular and fans being sold a weaker product, for more money means people just don’t want to part with their money.

I was never able to go to Warrington without it being a sell out, I went last season and it was pitiful, if they can’t attract fans after a year away; when can they?

I just don’t know how you make League a sellable product anymore.

Field, French can’t get people through the gate, when can you? Seems fair few transition to going to watch the Latics, which I find bizarre as they don’t like each other.

 

[barneygumble]

£25 to get into Wakefield? That’s bad that is. And they wonder why people aren’t turning up. Apart from the match, what gets people going? It’s not like you can brag you’ve been to a great stadium, not like the is a lot to do around there either. Gotta admit though, did enjoy away visits to Wakefield and Castleford with the old school grounds.

Did the Hearns push any further with trying to get into the game? I know they was at a challenge cup final but talk of them getting involved quickly died down.

I’m all for expansion but they’ve gone about it the wrong way so many times and not learnt their lessons on any of it. They don’t let these clubs organically grow and let them get away with what ever they want so they can get into super league. These clubs end up spending a fortune in a short period to get into super league, once they reach it, they realise the isn’t loads of money in the league once they’ve gotten there. They don’t recoup, they haven’t built up a good fan base and before they know it, they can’t continue to stay professional. Crusaders fast tracking was a disgrace, was there about 3 weeks before they got announced into Super League. Walked into a pub behind the ground, about 20-30 of us, and they was asking why loads of scousers are here. Told them was here for the Rugby to watch Widnes and they didn’t have a clue. Walked into Bridgend and got speaking to a Widnes legend (John Devereux) best mate, got speaking about the rugby saying we are here to watch Widnes and he was shocked Widnes was playing in Bridgend and didn’t even know they had a professional Rugby League club there.

Out of all the expansion clubs, they’ve had one success in Catalans and even they aren’t bringing many great French players through to boost the national team like they was meant too.

PSG - Failed
Gateshead - Failed
London - Failed
Toronto -Failed
Crusaders - Failed
Catalans - success
Toulouse - judgement still out but looking likely to go down and be interesting to see how they react.

£25, and Utd an absolute toilet. I follow the non-league and I’ve am been to some bad stadia there, but Belle Vue is the worst.

They talk about Football being the working class sport, but the reality is, it’s Rugby League and you’re talking £70-80 to get a family of four into a game.

I believe the Hearns were asking for too much change and they didn’t go further, but haven’t ruled it out in the future.

As for Crusaders, had a boss trip down there, was a great day out. Problem was it was bankrolled bu someone (my memory could be hazy) and if they lose interest they have an infeasible product, which is what happened to Celtic.

When Catalan came in, they finished rock bottom, and we’re given time to gel, Toulouse should have been given the same if they’re serious about “expansion”. They’ll probably offer more than a Leigh, Wakefield if they’re given a little more time.

Agree though, French International is a joke. They need to sort that rule out, not that it matters, because RL Internationals can’t grow without the backing of all 3 major nations.