The dumbest things said about league

BTW champion,a team going into administration and then getting out of it,has zero to do with growth of a code at grassroots level in that country.Suggesting your argument is used to distract.

:lol:

It is alright Kovana ,his let him use up his energy.He has shown little anyway for his efforts it would appear. Some people have difficulty looking at the total picture and when given references go off at a tangent.and select mere snippets and extrapolate as applying to the total picture.Maybe a lttle more research is needed.RL people are used to it.Stephen Jones is a classic example of what I mean.

A bit more to it thna that,yet a good simplification to suit the reality. The club has been bought out.Why would anyone buy a club,if they could not see afuture.Ignore what is going on at grassroots by all means,but that is also where much of the growth happens.

The response one expected,shoot the messenger if he beareth bad news. In actual fact,just showing the figures where crowds have increased,and where the RFL is happy with the result. BTW crowds at a magic weekend are only a fraction of the totality of the welsh rl equation.They do not represernt the numbers playing at clubs nor schools,nor the new clubc coming in to being. In fact moving to Wrexham has meant a new area,and new clubs and schools cropping up playing the game. http://www.crusadersrfl.com/article.php?id=3606 http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/01/16/rugby-helps-town-tackle. The game 10 years plus ago would hardly have gone ahead with it Magic weekend.Look at 2009 and 2010.anyone can go back further if they so wish. Muddying the debate LOL.This coming from KOGs who throws out of left field subjects, such as crowds at 6 nations ru events,for what reason one can never figure. You no doubt are going to dispute the quotes re fastest growing sport in Wales.Understand you ignore the references you don't wish to acknowledge.In other words you do not have any argument . When you are given references you come up with "muddying the debate"as your considered response. As one member stated with words to the effect when it is stated by an AFL or RU journo it is the whole truth,but when an RL journo makes a comment, it is unmitigated rubbish.

To be honest KoG.. I dont know why you bother your energy on this league reporting. Your efforts would be much better put to use on reporting Rugby growth instead. Please. for my sake.

are you honestly defending the size of the crowd that turned up. The fact that figure is 3K less then it got in 2008. to my eyes that seems like crowds have gone backwards for the concept. is that a good thing? typtical Codecrosser, always muddies the debate to hide the fact that his argument is weak.

Didn't the Crusaders go into administration and get bought out by Roberts and Masters from Wrexham Football Club -hardly a healthy sign for RL in Wales.

NF We should be conditioned to it. And it will be more so,when the I.C. is up and running.They will come out of the woodwork,unfortunately there will be no News Ltd on which to vent their spleen.

And in response to your amusement ,here are some references to whet your appetite. Firstly to your comments re Millennium Magic in Wales http://www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/21014 A few other little titbits re the game in the UK http://www.therfl.co.uk/play/student http://www.thefrl.co.uk/championschools/2010_finals http://www.therfl.co.uk/~rflmedia/docs/CS%/20brochure%202010.pdf http://www.wearerugby.com/print/news/articles/leagues-popularity-skyrockets http://online.wsj.com/article/SB40001424052748704370704575228053581326706.html http://www.scotlandrl.com/article/first-northern-entry-into-saltire.html http://optimistworld.com/Try-It-Rugby-League-aims-to-convert-armchair-supporters-into-national-heroes/ http://www.therfl.co.uk/championschools/ I could write a screed by Sth Wales Scorpions Mgr Mark Rowley and Matt Anniss in Rugby league World April Issue which adds further to the growth argument,and will do so if need be. Now to the references as to the fastest growing sport in Wales http://www.crusadersrfl.com/page.php?id=522 http://www.crusadersrfl.com/article.php?id+2548 http://www.welshicons.org.uk/news/children-young-people/calling-all-rugby-league-fans/ http://wrexhamblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/rugby-league-courses-coming-to-wrexham-this-october/ http://www.rugbyleague.com/rugby--league-news/seibold-confirmed-as-scorpions-boss.html Even a BBC blogger http://wwww.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A76029852 then http://www.rleague.com/db/article.php?id=34938 http://www.walesrugbyleague.co.uk/article/parc-y-tywyn-wins-south-wales-primary.html Glad to be of assistance KOGs.Your ring I bring and whats more , I do not charge VAT or GST for the service.

The new TV deal will be good for league and should allow it to hold off the poachers for a while at least. The reason the union went pro in 95 was because league was poaching so many players it was feared the game would collapse. I still think that in england there may be an significant increase in code jumping. I'm not sure what is happening with the league salary cap (it is already a lot lower than union) but the top english union clubs are desperate for a cap increase to compete with the french. If that happens then I think the pay differential will mean a higher % of the local talent being scouted by union. Time will tell I guess, but unlike Union in 95, league has no method to counteract this unless it gets bigger TV and sponsorship deals like it is doing in Aus. When I talk of the 'glamour' of the RWC I mean that it has not been the case to date but will (IMO) in the future. NZ will be a good tournament but wont register on a global scale. Japan 2019 will be a big deal in Asia and post that I would expect Italy and then the likes of Russia/USA to be in the running. Those tournaments will be proper global 'glamour' events perhaps with the status of a FIFA WC in the 70s. To pick some numbers from the IRBs document http://www.irb.com/mm/document/newsmedia/0/090904webfinancingtheglobalgame%5f8964.pdf The previous tournaments have had.... Participating countries: 16, 31, 52, 69, 82, 94 Ticket sales (m): 0.6, 1.0, 1.1, 1.7, 1.9, 2.2 People broadcast to (m): 230, 1400, 2300, 3100, 3400, 4200 Revenue (excl host profit, m): 30.3, 70, 95.1, 201.6

Can only report what the RFL stated and the member for the Wrexham area. Anycase no need to get into a flap,the growth is from a small base.Compare the game where it was 5 years ago to now,in terms of clubs involved and numbers playing in schools.

To think there wouldn't have been a super league war sans news is pretty naïve.

there were some amusing comments throughout this thread, but first of all i would like to address the alleged growth of RL in Wales and the constact claim that RL is the fastest growing sport in Wales. As you should be aware, the first round of the Enligh Super league kicked off this weekend. for some reason the magic weekend was brought forward to the start of the reason. due to the failure that was the Edinburgh Magic weekend, the cncept was moved back to Cardiff. crowds were below expectations. throughout a whole day event barely 30K of people turned up each day, for 60K in tota. thats for 7 games. thats an average per game of 8.5K. smaller then the ESL average. it is widely believed that the weekend was disappointing in reraltion to crowds. the game is hardly making in roads in Wales. The Crusaders had to retreat to within a stone throw of league heartland in Wrexham. Here are some links for your reading...... http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/feb/13/super-league-millennium-magic-cardiff http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/feb/14/millennium-magic-weekend-super-league http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/9392181.stm KoGs out

"League is on one of the fastest growing sports in Wales,despite union being pro." I have seen this statement being posted many times.. Yet have yet to see ANY figures at all for this.

"pulls greater crowds than the SANZAR provincial comp, that more people watch the Toyota Cup under 20s than the Super 14, and that more people watch the NRL than the Bledisloe. " Facts? You seem to think that the SANZAR Super rugby competition is only between NZ and Australia.

And... what was the crowd attendance?

Gavinh League received nearly as much from the Govt in the UK as union ,from Sport grants 29m pounds to 30m pounds.That was on tthe basis of developmental growth at grassroots level.This all happened despite both codes being professional.Ashton's departure has had no effect on ESL crowds nor TV ratings. League is on one of the fastest growing sports in Wales,despite union being pro.Will this eventually impact on teh welsh psyche years down the line,it can also be argued. The game is actually getting back to decent growth levels in NZ.When you get Umaga's son and MacGahan's son playing for the Storm in the junior squads,there is evidence more players are quite happy to play rl. iI all boils down to development work,opportunities for players and volunteers who actually want to see a sport played in the region. it can conversely be argued that league has teams in virgin areas such as Wrexham,London and the Catalan Dragons.Hardly suggesting the sport is standing still. The impact in Australia must take into account the monies received for the next TV contracts.If it is as expected a big increase the nRL clubs will be the winners as will the players and the grassroots will receive a big increase in funding.That will impact on union's market share,more so if the code decides to expand. The "glamour"of union RWC ,has been around even before professionalism.People watch codes because of the entertainment value.People who follow union in Australia will continue to do so and vice versa.Having another S15 team will not effect NRL Tv ratings on FTA or Pay TV. Soccer has a huge grassroots base,yet it is the EPL/WC that draw the attention of people here ,much lesser extent the a league,has not impacted on the other winter codes. The beauty of rl ,it is not the technical game that union is,and is much easier to translate to a newcomer.That has been the selling point in new areas such as the USA/Jamaica/Italy,and is proving successful. You see despite union increasing its participation levels in many countries,rl has been doing likewise.IOW has had no effect on playing numbers for rl. Union will always be bigger ,well no can predict 50 years down the line anyway,and in pro sports there will be code jumpers,but life goes on.

hmm, ever heard of the Melbourne Victory?

Perth made another time zone to put sport on tv and thus give another game to Foxtel.