Re: Saints Chairman Speaks Sense
Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:50 am
This is all very well for playing standards in the short term. But fewer teams will drag the competition down over time becuase it cannot continue to attarct the revenue it does now. Lets say Wigan's crowds go up to a 20,000 average, and the other teams maximise their crowds. Thats still less people overall than with a larger competition and crucially a far smaller geopraphical spread.
If there are too few players to go around, why advocate shirnking to fit that pool of players - why not advocate increasing that pool of qulaity players? Investing in high quality junior programmes and attracting players from non-tradional areas is surely the solution, rather than retreating, pulling up the drawbridge and waiting for extinction.
Its the same in the international game. If we were to regularly beat aus and NZ, the media would give us some credit - for about 2 years. After that the stories would be about the lack of meaningfull competition. We need more countries competing, not fewer at a higher quality level, only then will the international game be a credible asset to RL.
If there are too few players to go around, why advocate shirnking to fit that pool of players - why not advocate increasing that pool of qulaity players? Investing in high quality junior programmes and attracting players from non-tradional areas is surely the solution, rather than retreating, pulling up the drawbridge and waiting for extinction.
Its the same in the international game. If we were to regularly beat aus and NZ, the media would give us some credit - for about 2 years. After that the stories would be about the lack of meaningfull competition. We need more countries competing, not fewer at a higher quality level, only then will the international game be a credible asset to RL.