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Balkan Super League

H

Heritage XIII

Juniors
Messages
1,162
Came across this article from the Serbians. They are planning, not yet confirmed nor clubs settled, a Balkan Super League incl Bulgaria & Turkey.

I think this is a great idea if they can launch it and one would think it would be a first in sport (unless basketball has a Balkan region copwithin its Euro structure?) and could really push rugby league in the region??

http://ragbiliga.rs/2017/02/01/креће-балканска-супер-лига/
 
adamkungl

adamkungl

Immortal
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42,971
The image at the bottom of the article seems to say there will be

4 Serbian clubs
+ 1 each from
Bosnia, Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria

Which is what I would hope for and expect as a starting point given Serbia is at a much higher level than the others which are basically fledgling.

Don't know if this is the actual plan or some journalistic guesswork since I have no clue what the text says..
 
E

Emu01

Juniors
Messages
833
adamkungl said:
The image at the bottom of the article seems to say there will be

4 Serbian clubs
+ 1 each from
Bosnia, Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria

Which is what I would hope for and expect as a starting point given Serbia is at a much higher level than the others which are basically fledgling.

Don't know if this is the actual plan or some journalistic guesswork since I have no clue what the
Click to expand...
 
E

Emu01

Juniors
Messages
833
Great idea hope it gets off the ground. The Serbs are really leading the way in Europe now.
 
ParraEelsNRL

ParraEelsNRL

Referee
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27,715
Sounds interesting, I just hope they don't jump in too quick before setting solid foundations. Looks promising tho.
 
jim_57

jim_57

Moderator
Staff member
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4,647
Like the look of this, good concept too with the champions of Bulgaria, Bosnia, Hungary & Turkey all joining the Serbs' best. The more RL the better!
 
adamkungl

adamkungl

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42,971
Devils advocate - as good as this could be for the sport in the surrounding region, in the short-medium term it doesn't help the Serbs improve their talent.

Unfortunately, France is probably too far to enter clubs into their comp (I'm assuming a Serbian RL club budget doesn't allow for fortnightly flights).
 
jim_57

jim_57

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
4,647
adamkungl said:
Devils advocate - as good as this could be for the sport in the surrounding region, in the short-medium term it doesn't help the Serbs improve their talent.

Unfortunately, France is probably too far to enter clubs into their comp (I'm assuming a Serbian RL club budget doesn't allow for fortnightly flights).
Click to expand...

Would need a money man or several. IMO a more likely model would be to try and partner with an English or French club to crwate a pathway to professional RL. Shame they're a bit burdened by geography.
 
yakstorm

yakstorm

First Grade
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6,093
The article says the concept isn't set in stone yet, as not all clubs have agreed to it, but the SRLF and RLEF are both behind it and driving it.

Hopefully it goes ahead. The structure of the competition with teams solit into two pools of 4x and each side only playing 3x games each before finals would go a long way to keeping participation affordable for each team.

Most of those sides made at least one, if not two trips to another Balkan country last year, so all they've done really is turn friendlies into something with a bit more meaning.
 
adamkungl

adamkungl

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42,971
yakstorm said:
The article says the concept isn't set in stone yet, as not all clubs have agreed to it, but the SRLF and RLEF are both behind it and driving it.

Hopefully it goes ahead. The structure of the competition with teams solit into two pools of 4x and each side only playing 3x games each before finals would go a long way to keeping participation affordable for each team.

Most of those sides made at least one, if not two trips to another Balkan country last year, so all they've done really is turn friendlies into something with a bit more meaning.
Click to expand...

So do you think would the clubs play their local season, and then the 'Super League' season?
 
langpark

langpark

First Grade
Messages
5,867
adamkungl said:
Devils advocate - as good as this could be for the sport in the surrounding region, in the short-medium term it doesn't help the Serbs improve their talent.
.
Click to expand...
I disagree. In the cases where other countries are entering just one team, I think you will find it's going to be almost a national team, all their best thrown into the one team. So the likes of Red Star, Dorcol and Partizan WILL get a much higher standard opponent than they would have against one of their weaker local teams.

adamkungl said:
So do you think would the clubs play their local season, and then the 'Super League' season?
Click to expand...
Definitely both (if it goes ahead). Otherwise they are sitting around doing nothing for 10 months.
 
adamkungl

adamkungl

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langpark said:
I disagree. In the cases where other countries are entering just one team, I think you will find it's going to be almost a national team, all their best thrown into the one team. So the likes of Red Star, Dorcol and Partizan WILL get a much higher standard opponent than they would have against one of their weaker local teams.
Click to expand...

Perhaps. But if the gap is big enough (Turkey played their first games in 2016 i think? as an example) a national team might still be worse than a plod local team.
 
langpark

langpark

First Grade
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Yeah but these are not raw beginners in Turkey. They are all well established union clubs that are currently playing their first season of League, so the standard is decent.
 
Jankuloski

Jankuloski

Juniors
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799
Weird no one from Serbia picked this up. So just a couple of points:

As someone noted, it is not set in stone, but there is strong push for it to happen, and some smart precautions were made to ensure it doesn't collapse financially and logistically.

I personally don't think it will contribute much in terms of game quality for the top Serbian sides. The bulls are a very organized and a fit side, but they have a long way to go to learn the game. Note that this is different to players switching codes in pro leagues or in places where league is well known - when an entire team is learning new structures and play style, it takes a lot more time.

My read is that it's primary goal is to grow the game, and builds on years of work already put into Hungary, Bosnia and lately Turkey and Bulgaria.
 
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