As someone who is learning the Super League more and more, I was just curious as to why the SL decided to change from winter to summer.
I can understand that it may get too cold to play but I would love to be able to see rugby league year long round.
The Summer Era
Re: The Summer Era
It was all to do with the formation of the Super League and the sponsorship that went with it (money from Sky TV mostly).
RL here was also under threat from the then ARL/NRL wars going on down under with players being signed up left right and centre, mostly from Wigan as we had the best team.
The move to summer was also supposed to be to try and attract fans who otherwise would be watching soccer in winter.
The move to summer was only part of it. Super League was supposed to have minimum criteria for membership, make all teams full time pro (they were not beforehand) and the idea of sides merging was supposed to be part of it.
If you look at map particularly of West Yorkshire you see sides within almost walking distance of each other as you go from Huddersfield towards Leeds.
Huddersfield, Halifax, Bradford, Wakefield, Featherstone, Dewsbury, Keighley, Batley, Hunslet, Leeds and Castleford are all very close to each other. The main road running through Featherstone is Wakefield Road!
So mergers were on the cards to form new clubs that would theoretically have a bigger fan base and so be richer and able to compete with Wigan and Leeds and other top sides. One was to be called Calder if I recall correctly but this went down like a lead balloon with fans so Super League was only entered into half hearted in some ways as a result.
As to it being too cold to play in winter we managed it for the best part of 100 years. Wigan and one or two other clubs had undersoil heating installed to keep the pitches from freezing and while some games did get postponed due to bad weather it was just how it was. We played a lot more games then as well with competitions such as the Lancashire and Yorkshire cups, Regal Trophy and for a time the BBC floodlit cup (played at night under floodlights obviously!). Snow? Fans have helped shovel it off Central Park (Wigan's old ground) to get a game on!
Overall I can't say I feel the move has been a success. The main issue I have with it is it completely killed proper international tours whereby the the national team (GB or Aus) would tour in their off season and not only play internationals but play the leading club sides in between the test matches. It made winning a series all the more impressive for a touring side who had to turn up for more than just three games. They were also big occasions at the clubs with big crowds.
The other drawback is players can't now do a stint in of the off season guesting for a club on other side of the world. Players like Shaun Edwards, Ellery Hanley and Gary Schofield played in Aus and we had plenty come this way such as Kenny and Sterling.
Now some would say that would not work today with the game full time as players need a rest and an off season but I feel if that is the way the game worked the game would adapt accordingly in the same way it would adapt if you reduced the number of interchanges if you see what I mean. It would also mean in my opinion there would be fewer players wanting to make the move permanently this doing less damage to our game.
In Wigan we have not had much summer RL anyway due to problems with the pitch at the DW stadium. It has terrible drainage and so the pitch has in the past needed to be relaid each season. They do this in the soccer off season (the ground is shared with Wigan Athletic) which means virtually all of June and July we have no home games. So they put them at the start of the season instead in Feb and March which were alo part of the old winter season!
Doesn't look quite so bad this year but we still have no home fixtures in June.
I'd quite happily go back to winter. Freezing to death was all part of the fun.
Never happen though. We aren't the only side to share with a soccer club (and Salford share with Sale RU with RU played in winter) and two teams playing in winter on the same pitch would ruin it for one thing.
RL here was also under threat from the then ARL/NRL wars going on down under with players being signed up left right and centre, mostly from Wigan as we had the best team.
The move to summer was also supposed to be to try and attract fans who otherwise would be watching soccer in winter.
The move to summer was only part of it. Super League was supposed to have minimum criteria for membership, make all teams full time pro (they were not beforehand) and the idea of sides merging was supposed to be part of it.
If you look at map particularly of West Yorkshire you see sides within almost walking distance of each other as you go from Huddersfield towards Leeds.
Huddersfield, Halifax, Bradford, Wakefield, Featherstone, Dewsbury, Keighley, Batley, Hunslet, Leeds and Castleford are all very close to each other. The main road running through Featherstone is Wakefield Road!
So mergers were on the cards to form new clubs that would theoretically have a bigger fan base and so be richer and able to compete with Wigan and Leeds and other top sides. One was to be called Calder if I recall correctly but this went down like a lead balloon with fans so Super League was only entered into half hearted in some ways as a result.
As to it being too cold to play in winter we managed it for the best part of 100 years. Wigan and one or two other clubs had undersoil heating installed to keep the pitches from freezing and while some games did get postponed due to bad weather it was just how it was. We played a lot more games then as well with competitions such as the Lancashire and Yorkshire cups, Regal Trophy and for a time the BBC floodlit cup (played at night under floodlights obviously!). Snow? Fans have helped shovel it off Central Park (Wigan's old ground) to get a game on!
Overall I can't say I feel the move has been a success. The main issue I have with it is it completely killed proper international tours whereby the the national team (GB or Aus) would tour in their off season and not only play internationals but play the leading club sides in between the test matches. It made winning a series all the more impressive for a touring side who had to turn up for more than just three games. They were also big occasions at the clubs with big crowds.
The other drawback is players can't now do a stint in of the off season guesting for a club on other side of the world. Players like Shaun Edwards, Ellery Hanley and Gary Schofield played in Aus and we had plenty come this way such as Kenny and Sterling.
Now some would say that would not work today with the game full time as players need a rest and an off season but I feel if that is the way the game worked the game would adapt accordingly in the same way it would adapt if you reduced the number of interchanges if you see what I mean. It would also mean in my opinion there would be fewer players wanting to make the move permanently this doing less damage to our game.
In Wigan we have not had much summer RL anyway due to problems with the pitch at the DW stadium. It has terrible drainage and so the pitch has in the past needed to be relaid each season. They do this in the soccer off season (the ground is shared with Wigan Athletic) which means virtually all of June and July we have no home games. So they put them at the start of the season instead in Feb and March which were alo part of the old winter season!
Doesn't look quite so bad this year but we still have no home fixtures in June.
I'd quite happily go back to winter. Freezing to death was all part of the fun.
Never happen though. We aren't the only side to share with a soccer club (and Salford share with Sale RU with RU played in winter) and two teams playing in winter on the same pitch would ruin it for one thing.