How Do We Compare To Other Clubs Since IFL Took Over

Discuss all things Wigan Warriors. Comments and opinions on all aspects of the club's performance are welcome.
medlocke
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Re: How Do We Compare To Other Clubs Since IFL Took Over

Post by medlocke »

moto748 wrote:To be clear, I wasn't even talking particularly about the Rhinos. I was simply saying that the profile of the game would be a lot higher if there were successful 'big-city' clubs in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, London... I know you can say there *are* Manchester clubs, but they make no pretence of being emblematic to the city in the way that City and United are.
and which clubs would happily give up there their SL statuses if clubs in these cities existed, look how bad it was when mergers where on the board for the start of SL all the small clubs spat their dummies out, if they hadn't we might have had a league that was as good as the NRL instead of a league held by the smaller clubs
morley pie eater
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Re: How Do We Compare To Other Clubs Since IFL Took Over

Post by morley pie eater »

I think the discussion has moved on from a judgement on IFL to the structure of RL. However...

The theory of big city clubs seems attractive on the face of it. Experience says that establishing a club in a new area is not easy - London, Sheffield, Gateshead for example.

RL is a Northern community-based sport. That's not to say we can't, or shouldn't try to expand. But expansion won't come about by ditching what we're successful at - even if a lot of that centres around "small town" teams.

The combined population of ,(boroughs of) Wigan, At Helens and Warrington is around 700,000! That's more than Manchester or Leeds. The 4 professional RL clubs get combined crowds averaging around 40,000.

If these teams were to merge into a single super team, half the supporters may be lost, or more could be attracted, but it would be a massive gamble. Ditto Wakefield, Cas and Fev.

The NRL has expanded to Melbourne, Gold Coast and North Queensland, as far as I'm aware, but is still otherwise made up of Sydney-based clubs. We have Cats plus London in SL next year, and Toronto likely in 2020. I'd say we're following suit - organic expansion.

Creating big city teams by forced mergers would kill the game.
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moto748
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Re: How Do We Compare To Other Clubs Since IFL Took Over

Post by moto748 »

It was a throwaway remark, and I certainly don't advocate tearing apart existing clubs, more just a wistful regret. We are where we are, and will have to adapt in the future. We have made enough mistakes in the past. We do not need to repeat them.
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