Basically there are plans to reduce the Super League by one round to make one available for a test match leaving clubs with 13 home games and 13 away game plus on game "on the road" at the Millennium Stadium. For one weekend every team would go down to Cardiff and all the match will be held in the Millennium Stadium some on Saturday and some on Sunday.
I liked Cardiff and it is a very nice place and it would be great if you could buy one ticket and get to watch all the matches, but with so many differant clubs around would there be the right atmosphere within the stadium and would the Millennium Stadium be filled or would Rugby League be played infront of an empty stadium.
Super League teams could play a round of matches at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium next season.
A secret plan, which has been discussed by clubs, would see all six fixtures on one weekend staged in the city, three on the Saturday and three on Sunday.
If the proposal is agreed, Super League 2007 will be reduced by one round.
Each club will play 13 home and 13 away fixtures plus the game 'on the road', freeing up a weekend for a mid-season Test match.
The Welsh Tourist Board and Cardiff Council are both understood to be willing to offer a cash incentive of up to £500,000 to persuade clubs to back the move.
A Rugby Football League spokesman said: "Super League is a tremendously successful competition and we are always looking for opportunities to showcase this.
"We are not in a position to confirm anything at this stage but we hope to make an announcement in the near future."
Super League staged a series of on-the-road fixtures in 1998, including ones in Swansea and Cardiff, but this will be the first time an entire round has been staged at one venue.
The proposal follows the success of the 2003, 2004 and 2005 Powergen Challenge Cup finals, which all attracted full houses to the Millennium Stadium.
The move would be seen as testing the water for a possible new Welsh Super League franchise in 2009.
Be better if they used the Cardiff Blues ground as the quins do with their union partners. We don't get 25,000 a week, so it's unlikely they will get 70,000 a week. There are still many people in the welsh valleys who still have hang ups over the Quinnell, Gibbs etc being stolen by league before. Even though union is stealing players now, they still feel aggrevied by that and it will never be as big in Wales as it is up North IMO.
If there is to be a rugby league team in Wales, I think North Wales would be a better option, for one North Wales is only a short drive and so it saves money for the fans and also for the clubs as well. Rugby Union is not as strong in North Wales so it might be easier to get support their than south Wales were Rugby Union is probably the main sport
adrenalinxx posted:
If there is to be a rugby league team in Wales, I think North Wales would be a better option, for one North Wales is only a short drive and so it saves money for the fans and also for the clubs as well. Rugby Union is not as strong in North Wales so it might be easier to get support their than south Wales were Rugby Union is probably the main sport
True but the development on lesser teams has started in the South with the likes of Kevin Ellis playing for Bridgend coaching and playing with the youngsters coming through (even though they don't teach it in schools) and teams in South East and in Swansea, there is more chance it will be in the south if at all.
adrenalinxx posted:
If there is to be a rugby league team in Wales, I think North Wales would be a better option, for one North Wales is only a short drive and so it saves money for the fans and also for the clubs as well. Rugby Union is not as strong in North Wales so it might be easier to get support their than south Wales were Rugby Union is probably the main sport
There are not enough people in North Wales to justify a new club, you might get a couple of thousand fans at best. The same argument could be applied to Cumbria, there are questions about whether there are enough people to support SL teams in those areas. Clearly places like Cardiff and Swansea have got the people living there who might be tempted by the new club - I can't quite see the people of Rhyl being as keen...!
"You rescue me, you are my faith, my hope, my liberty.
And when there's darkness all around, you shine bright for me, you are a guiding light to me....
You are a Tower of Strength to me" - Wayne Hussey, The Mission.
Shepherd's Bush Empire - 27/Feb/08 - 1/Mar/08
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I'm still not convinced of the whole "new franchise" idea. I'd rather see Celtic Crusaders work their way up the National Leagues - their crowds are already as good or better than other NL2 sides.
adrenalinxx posted:
I liked Cardiff and it is a very nice place and it would be great if you could buy one ticket and get to watch all the matches, but with so many differant clubs around would there be the right atmosphere within the stadium and would the Millennium Stadium be filled or would Rugby League be played infront of an empty stadium.
Based on this last weekend's attendances, getting everyone into a 70000 capacity stadium shouldn't be a problem, 6 sets of fans inside. But it would be a bit of a logistical nightmare, it's a bit different to, say, a Cup Final where you have the two main teams at the ends plus the assorted mixture of everywhere else sitting wherever their money allows them to go. 3 games per day... do you set aside particular blocks of seats for the different teams' fans so they can all sit togther? Do you rotate around the stadium so you can be behind the sticks when your team are playing? Whilst I'm sure this would attract interest from the people of Wales, the travelling fans would need to be considered as well - what happens if they decide one of the games should be Wigan vs St Helens, or Bradford vs Leeds?
It's a nice idea, but I hope someone at the league has got their thinking caps on to work out how it's going to work logistically!
"You rescue me, you are my faith, my hope, my liberty.
And when there's darkness all around, you shine bright for me, you are a guiding light to me....
You are a Tower of Strength to me" - Wayne Hussey, The Mission.
Shepherd's Bush Empire - 27/Feb/08 - 1/Mar/08
[hr]
stevocod posted:
Be better if they used the Cardiff Blues ground as the quins do with their union partners. We don't get 25,000 a week, so it's unlikely they will get 70,000 a week.
That is my reservation on this idea. I mean if your team is on first do you really want to watch another 160 mins of RL after your game has finished concerning four teams you don't support?
Some would say you may as well having gone down for the day but I am sure many would leave for the drive back once their interest was ended. Some may not even turn up for the first game if they on subsequently perhaps.
So we could end up (depending who plays) with the last game watched by less than 10,000 fans in a 75,000 capacity stadium.
I can only assume they are relying on a great amount of local and more importantly neutral support who will stick it out for all three games for both of the two days.
stevocod posted:
Be better if they used the Cardiff Blues ground as the quins do with their union partners. We don't get 25,000 a week, so it's unlikely they will get 70,000 a week.
That is my reservation on this idea. I mean if your team is on first do you really want to watch another 160 mins of RL after your game has finished concerning four teams you don't support?
Some would say you may as well having gone down for the day but I am sure many would leave for the drive back once their interest was ended. Some may not even turn up for the first game if they on subsequently perhaps.
So we could end up (depending who plays) with the last game watched by less than 10,000 fans in a 75,000 capacity stadium.
I can only assume they are relying on a great amount of local and more importantly neutral support who will stick it out for all three games for both of the two days.
Dave
Capacity is 72,500 maximum and less with rugby league as football and union get the priority of extra executive boxes.
stevocod posted:
Be better if they used the Cardiff Blues ground as the quins do with their union partners. We don't get 25,000 a week, so it's unlikely they will get 70,000 a week.
That is my reservation on this idea. I mean if your team is on first do you really want to watch another 160 mins of RL after your game has finished concerning four teams you don't support?
Some would say you may as well having gone down for the day but I am sure many would leave for the drive back once their interest was ended. Some may not even turn up for the first game if they on subsequently perhaps.
So we could end up (depending who plays) with the last game watched by less than 10,000 fans in a 75,000 capacity stadium.
I can only assume they are relying on a great amount of local and more importantly neutral support who will stick it out for all three games for both of the two days.
Dave
I suspect even 10,000 might be optimistic - remember we're really talking about away support for all the clubs, rather than average attendances.
We have the largest travelling support, typically around 2 or 3 thousand, but most clubs only take a few hundred to away games.
