Toronto in SL

I wonder if they will bring a real Aussie heavyweight coach before the start of next season, Rowley brings no skill just brute force and as we saw yesterday that can't always be relied on.

There are a couple of highly regarded NRL managers on the market so I think they will go down that route.

I'm amazed that Smith hasn't been snapped up as a DOR though, all the experience in the world.

I would say stop worrying and enjoy the ride.

Wath Brow are more likely to disappear because RL is doing badly and declining here and now.

TWP may be just a way forward to provide interest in the sport as a whole and more participants and fans and money.

The two ends of this spectrum are not at loggerheads, do not compete and won't harm each other.

Having a healthy skepticism about owners even if it's misplaced is fine but tou don't look at the sponsors for Wath Brow and say what happens when they move on?

Expansion has not been done well but neither has marketing this brilliant game but that's no reason to turn our backs on everything new.

Let's keep this thread open, eh? Champion.

So, Wath Brow vs TWP.

Wath Brow: popular in Cleator Moor, probably a mutual so its survival is not due to the whims of someone with deep pockets. Has two senior teams, under 16s, under 14s, under 12s, under 11s, mini 6s, 8s, 9s (and a women's netball team) - that's a club competing in nine (ten) leagues, almost all Cumbrian and, if not thriving, in no immediate danger. A club more likely to disappear because RL is doing badly and declining here and now? I think not.

What happens when a sponsor moves on? In the 30 years (on and off) I've watched them it has happened many times. Almost always the sponsor moved on because of a more urgent engagement at Distington Hall Crematorium. All sponsors are local, and (I hazard a guess here), they are almost all players, ex-players, parents of players, and/or members of the committee. And what happens next? After a decent interval chaps and chapesses look round and lay it on a bit thick with potential new sponsors: "Come on, you buggers, we're a bit skint."

TWP: lose a couple of sponsors and it's in deep trouble (although of course the RFL will spend money better destined for, say, youth development, to keep it afloat). And if the owner gets bored or impatient, or - something like what Marwan stated - perhaps it's me stopping the people of Salford from going to the rugby - and pulls out, the players, coaches, staff and Messrs Fogerty and Noble no longer have a paid gig. Meltdown and recriminations.

You're right: the ends of the spectrum are not at loggerheads because it's a given that most of the RFL disposable cash goes to the big clubs. It's another problem, typical of an organisation with a large budget and little accountability.

I respectfully submit that when looking at expansion we should not do it because a small number of Canadians (estimable people though they are) get together and said "How about getting a rugby team to play in Super League?" It would be better to ask questions such as the following (and other questions that people who know more than I do would ask):
1) Why did PSG fail in a large city like Paris?
2) Why did the Tina Turner campaign work so well in Australasia at increasing attendance?
3) Why, within a decade of 2), was there internecine war between the ARL and Super League?
4) Why has AFL (Aussie Rules) expansion worked so well in the rugby heartlands of Australia?
5) Why did rugby expansion fail in South Australia and Western Australia, whilst strangely succeeding in Victoria, the home of aerial ping-pong (AFL)?
6) What lessons can be learnt from kick and clap clubs who successfully negotiated the change from amateur to professional?  And, of course, those that made a hash of it?
7) How do we convince clubs, and the RFL, that marketing is not something to be done as an afterthought on the back of a fag packet but requires a tranche of middle-aged blokes with ponytails and braces to put a bit of time in?

Oh, I'm enjoying the ride, all right, as much as any miserable old bastard from Eccles can, and I want TWP to succeed, but the RFL, as usual, has put the cart before the horse. And I can't stop worrying about my club.

The RFL can't possibly schedule us against Catalans over the bank holiday period again surely? Got to be a level playing field and let someone else have a massively reduced crowd.