Enough

[mike binder]

Still dont think any 1 will go down this year ,but because the relegation battle is gripping the nation and not the sts walking away with the league ,the rfl are staying stump

[Fraggle]

Matthew posted:
And I don't see how adding a French team that consists largely of Antipodean players and doesn't even have a French chief executive is going to improve sponsership in Super League.

Lots of money in France, there's another TV deal over there and a whole host of companies that don't trade in this country. So LOTS of potential new sponsorship. Most of our clubs are sponsored by pretty small organisations, we're unusual in having the likes of Tesco backing us.

I've not got last week's match programme to hand, but Les Catalans have certainly got quite a number of French players in their squad. One could look at the number of Aussies and Kiwis WE have fielded this year and so we're also heavily reliant on imports. There's no arguing that Richards, Logan etc are really antipodian, no matter what passport they hold. They are not home-grown players.

Furthermore, if Wigan are relegated this year then it is highly unlikely that les cats will bring the same amount of sponsership - or outside interest that the Wigan club do.

Unfortunately I don't get chance to travel to France as often as I would like to judge what kind of impact the Dragons have made on the national awareness of our sport. But again I would say don't underestimate the potential for new money that could be generated from French sponsorship. I'm sure some of the TV money from the French deal is coming into the other clubs as well.

Most people in the UK with an interest in sport are aware League exists - if they prefer to watch football then that is up to them. Not many of my friends take more than a passing interest in League even those that have been to matches with me and I see little point in trying to ram it down their throats. I don't know how long London have been going but they have yet to get a decent home following; let alone an away contigent and that is after being sponsered by Virgin and being financed and protected by the RFL.

Perhaps I spend more time talking to non-Northerners, but the lack of awareness of RL that I encounter is staggering. To most of the people I talk to, rugby is all Johnny Wilkinson and 6 Nations, if they do know about RL they don't know when the seasons are or basic things like that. And the number of people who think Wigan Athletic play in Cherry and White is very depressing. So I think it's not a choice not to watch RL at all. Maybe in the northern towns where the sport is known, people might choose not to follow it, but the rest of the country is there to be educated.

Yet again though, it is the RFL manipulating the rules to fit their own agenda - just like they have with London all these years. The fact of it is that les cats could have been 10 adrift at the foot of the table and they would still be immune - that fact that they are not is because they have been helped by the RFL with the recruitment of several big name players like Stacey Jones. Wigan have been penalised for breaching the salary cap - however we are one of the few teams that are actually bringing through young players.

As to whether our performance has been good enough - we've won one more game than les cats! Do they deserve to survive just because it's their first season in super league? If that is the case then why not Hull KR (or whoever is promoted) next season? The team that have the worst season should be relegated - otherwise the system is a joke. les cats are protected purely for business reasons - which have nothing to do with the "good of the game" The fact remains that is highly likely that they would have been relegated had they not been protected - which to me just seems wrong

Well, at the moment there are two other teams level on points at the bottom, so to say it "is highly likely that they would have been relegated" is a bit premature. Today, the table shows we have won one more game than them. Will it be the same this time next week? There's still a lot to play for, and I'm sure the French will be trying their best to ensure they do not finish last, as much as we will be trying to avoid relegation.

Did the RFL help them recruit the likes of Stacey Jones? I don't remember reading anything about that, but again I have to remind you that a certain Mr Radlinski was also part-funded by the RFL to keep him away from the clutches of the other code. We have benefitted from their help in the past, it's a bit hypocritical to deny that to other teams.

In addition, our club and all the other clubs have agreed to these rules. We can't just blame the RFL, the SL clubs could have said "no, wait until franchising in 2009" but instead they've agreed to let Les Catalans into the league and to the relegation clause. We've agreed that we might get relegated if we finished next-to-bottom, it's up to us to deal with that.

[GeoffN]

mickw posted:
i don`t disagree with what you say about french rugby , but for geof n to suggest that teams of the stature of hull kr are dying then we need to look closer to home when expanding . caatalan WILL expire sooner rather than later because they can`t make it pay, its all down to money,hull kr would die for three years exemtion from relegation as would leigh last season, both of those sides would bring more fans to jjb than catalan ,fact.

Now you're just being parochial. Since when has the number of fans a team brings to the JJB been a relevant criteria for SL status? They're averaging 6,700 at home, which is more than several of the clubs already in SL. That in turn means they have more money to spend on their team and infrastructure. If, as you say, they can't make it pay, then you're simply supporting my implication that the likes of Wakefield (averaging around 4,000)are even less able to make it pay.