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Re: Bobble Goulding blueprint for superleague

Posted: Wed May 13, 2020 10:40 am
by pedro
and saints are in merseyside and wigan gtr manchester

Re: Bobble Goulding blueprint for superleague

Posted: Wed May 13, 2020 2:48 pm
by the pieman
i think the biggest challenge to any idea along these lines is managing the change and getting people to buy into it. (note i dont think Gouldings idea will get above him saying it)

as a Wiganer i would hate to merge with any other team and end up as Team X, as i lose my identity. All the big club fans believe that we are bigger / better than fans of other clubs, and why should we merge but they can.

i seem to remember a big call for all the Cumbrian clubs to merge at one point also, so i can understand the resentment to these sorts of ideas from the so called smaller / lesser club also. At the end of the day whether you are a Wigan fan or a Swinton, Rochdale, Workington etc, you grow with the club you love, usually from the time of going to your 1st ever game. you fall in love with RL but also with your club.

however, having said the above, does RL need to change in some way, shape or form to enable it to succeed in the future? Whether that be a smaller / bigger super league, merger of clubs, formation of new clubs, introduction of clubs from outside of the RL heartlands. I dont know the answer. The current situation has shown what many of us know, that there is no money in RL, unless you are a wealthy owner. we will be lucky if all the current RL clubs come out of this in tact, as we know that SL clubs are struggling with the TV money, so god knows how the championship clubs are faring at the minute.

This is a time for strong leadership, and a joined up approach across the game. If there needs to be changes, it needs to be well thought out, communicated, but most importanly executed to the benefit of the game and the fans, or there is a chance that we may not have a game to love?

Re: Bobble Goulding blueprint for superleague

Posted: Wed May 13, 2020 2:51 pm
by medlocke
These where the proposed mergers, Wigan and Saints where never in the running to be merged

Bradford
Calder (Castleford/Featherstone/Wakefield)
Cheshire (Warrington/Widnes)
Cumbria (Barrow/Whitehaven/Workington)
Halifax
Humberside (Hull/Hull KR)
Leeds
London Broncos
Manchester (Oldham/Salford)
Paris
South Yorkshire (Doncaster/Sheffield)
St Helens
Toulouse
Wigan

Re: Bobble Goulding blueprint for superleague

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 2:41 am
by moto748
And Huddersfield?

Re: Bobble Goulding blueprint for superleague

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 5:07 am
by Mike
Merge Sheffield? It's a big city side.

Re: Bobble Goulding blueprint for superleague

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 6:57 am
by medlocke
Mike wrote: Thu May 14, 2020 5:07 am Merge Sheffield? It's a big city side.
It worked out well for Huddersfield :shock:

Re: Bobble Goulding blueprint for superleague

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 9:45 am
by Levrier
To most fans a merger almost always sees one club being destroyed so that another club can continue because, unless a new stadium is built, one of the previous venues is used. It worked in Australia only on the back of the titanic struggle between Packer and Murdock and because money was available. Remember that they had two competing leagues for a while and it could have gone the way of the League /Union split until financial sense took over. For a merger system to work you usually need some kind of revolution rather than tinkering round the edges and that would need somebody to be willing to risk a lot of cash which is not likely to happen.

Re: Bobble Goulding blueprint for superleague

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 11:49 am
by the pieman
Levrier wrote: Thu May 14, 2020 9:45 am To most fans a merger almost always sees one club being destroyed so that another club can continue because, unless a new stadium is built, one of the previous venues is used. It worked in Australia only on the back of the titanic struggle between Packer and Murdock and because money was available. Remember that they had two competing leagues for a while and it could have gone the way of the League /Union split until financial sense took over. For a merger system to work you usually need some kind of revolution rather than tinkering round the edges and that would need somebody to be willing to risk a lot of cash which is not likely to happen.
True, and that is why fans get so emotional about it.

in the examples Meds quoted albeit from a few years ago, Humber and Calder would see 4 SL teams merge. whilst both Cas and Wakey fans arent top of my list in terms of being the most welcoming, can anyone really see those 2 merging to form one team? likewise Hull / Hull KR, Warington / Widnes or even Wigan / Saints or Leigh.
all those sets of fans would absolutely detest the thought of being merged and losing their identity.

as you have said, it worked in Oz because of the money that was thrown at it. over here, we are a poor relation in regards to football, RU and many other sports, despite the appeal that it has to us as fans and largely to the TV audiences that it attracts.

something as simple as big city names could be a part of a solution, but we already have some of those in Leeds, Hull, Huddersfield, Bradford and Salford, and formerly London in many guises. So would a Manchester or Liverpool really make that much difference to the games appeal? I personally dont think so at this stage

Re: Bobble Goulding blueprint for superleague

Posted: Fri May 15, 2020 12:07 am
by Mike
Salford. Wheres that?

Re: Bobble Goulding blueprint for superleague

Posted: Fri May 15, 2020 12:27 pm
by the pieman
Mike wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 12:07 am Salford. Wheres that?
still a city :)