Dutch aim for Super League in Ten Years

[CQ Italia]

Dutch aim for Super League in Ten Years

http://www.nospam18.com/RLP/Articles/2011/Dutch-aim-for-Super-League-in-Ten-Years-271211.htm

 

[Teddyboy]

The Dutch need another Football code aside from Soccer and used to have an NFL Europe team.

 

[VictoryFC]

Really interesting developments. Good to see that sponsorship is lined up. Will take something drastic for them to get an SL spot though.

Also, [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The Spartans will be based in the city of Rotterdam that boasts a population of 620,000 as the second largest city in the Netherlands."... its true its the second largest city, but its also a part of the Randstad, one of the largest metropolitan areas in Europe. Some like 6-7 million.

Could be a real success.
[/FONT]

 

[PacificCoastRL]

This is great news. Super League needs to expand beyond its heartland (I know, Catalans). For rugby league to be taken seriously on an international level this needs to happen. And if Super League isn't prepared to accept them when they are ready, well, start a comp on the continent and take Catalans along with you.

 

[yakstorm]

Super League is possibly a little too ambitious of a challenge, but if they are able to establish themselves in the Championship or Elite over that time, plus help kick start a local competition, it will be a massive boost for the code.

I do like their desire however, and it is never a bad thing for a sport to have plenty of 'expansion' areas all wanting to be in Super League.

 

[roughyedspud]

go play in the french league first......same goes for any italian or spanish (Barcelona) teams with any ambition

 

[CQ Italia]

go play in the french league first......same goes for any italian or spanish (Barcelona) teams with any ambition

The is another option the Chairman mentioned. All depends on their results in 2012 and league criteria/openess.

 

[bowes]

More chance of Elvis crashing a UFO into the Loch Ness Monster. There's not even a Dutch domestic league.

They'd be better off looking at what the Serbians have done and copying that rather than spouting deranged nonsense. Then as mentioned they may eventually be able to get a team in the French league etc. and have a national side play in the Bowl then Shield.

 

[franklin2323]

go play in the french league first......same goes for any italian or spanish (Barcelona) teams with any ambition

Realisically how many more teams could the ESL handle? 20 team comp? If enough teams want in maybe stage a european SL & an English SL. Or just make the french league professional and they join that comp

 

[langpark]

Great to see that they have ambition. I highly doubt this will happen but if they're serious about it, it's great to see and I would love to see it happen.

Since 10 years is their aim, I hope they have this in mind and try to bulk up their junior ranks. If I were them, I'd be starting teams from U8-U12 age groups if possible, that way, there's a hope that by 2022, you have may have a few decent 20yo kids with 10 years of playing the game under their belts.

There's no doubt it's an uphill battle. All the best to them.


Quick side note, why do teams all over the world use the nickname 'Spartans"? Sparta is a PLACE, not a nickname, like Warriors, for example. It's like being called the Rotterdam Queenslanders... Anyway, just saying...

 

[roughyedspud]

Realisically how many more teams could the ESL handle? 20 team comp? If enough teams want in maybe stage a european SL & an English SL. Or just make the french league professional and they join that comp

realistically?.....12 or even 10....14 is too many imo


having 20 would dilute the player pool too much meaning we bring over even more crap from australia & NZ


developing the game requires stronger,competitve,2nd tier comps...like the championship,champ 1 & elite league......eg having 2 welsh teams in the championship,with 40-50 welshmen in the squads will do more for welsh RL than having a couple of welshman playing for the crusaders in super league...likewise a couple of italian teams in the french elite1/2 etc....

 

[franklin2323]

Thanks. I thought so yeah finally the quality juniors are coming through more teams would stop the growth. If enough teams want in then a 2nd SL should be set up for non English teams.

Already we have Toulose, Barcelona, Rotterdam, 2 Italian teams, wales apparently will be back. There's already 6 teams potentially find 4 more there's a comp. 1 of those could be Catalans. 3 to go

 

[Evil Homer]

I hate threads like this.

 

[bowes]

I hate threads like this.

Yeah anyone that doesn't see how clearly rubbish they are needs sectioning.

 

[bowes]

Thanks. I thought so yeah finally the quality juniors are coming through more teams would stop the growth. If enough teams want in then a 2nd SL should be set up for non English teams.

Already we have Toulose, Barcelona, Rotterdam, 2 Italian teams, wales apparently will be back. There's already 6 teams potentially find 4 more there's a comp. 1 of those could be Catalans. 3 to go

:shock::lol:

 

[PacificCoastRL]

having 20 would dilute the player pool too much meaning we bring over even more crap from australia & NZ

Do you think there are better players in England? Why would the teams bring over this "crap" if the homegrown talent was there?

Already we have Toulose, Barcelona, Rotterdam, 2 Italian teams, wales apparently will be back. There's already 6 teams potentially find 4 more there's a comp. 1 of those could be Catalans. 3 to go

Be careful what you wish for. If these folks do things right and start a continental league comp they could go after all the best players in the world. I keep telling you people - rugby league is the best sport in the world. Once people know that it exists they will flock to see it.

 

[Wellsy4HullFC]

having 20 would dilute the player pool too much meaning we bring over even more crap from australia & NZ

Do you think there are better players in England? Why would the teams bring over this "crap" if the homegrown talent was there?

No, he doesn't think there is better players in England, hence why he said it would dilute the competition to expand it, and hence why he said we'd get a lot of crap from Aus & NZ. I thought that was pretty obvious?

Already we have Toulose, Barcelona, Rotterdam, 2 Italian teams, wales apparently will be back. There's already 6 teams potentially find 4 more there's a comp. 1 of those could be Catalans. 3 to go

Be careful what you wish for. If these folks do things right and start a continental league comp they could go after all the best players in the world. I keep telling you people - rugby league is the best sport in the world. Once people know that it exists they will flock to see it.

Rugby League is a great game run by monkeys who think that all we need to do is show people the game once for them to love it. Talk of a European arm to SL involving Italian, Spanish, Dutch and German teams is ridiculous. We might as well be talking about an African SL.

 

[PacificCoastRL]

Wellsy - he said "bring over even more crap". To me that means the players from down under were crap and more would be brought over. I thought that was obvious.

Also Wellsy - league may be run by monkeys in England, but that doesn't mean that there will be monkeys running things on the continent. It will take money and some serious efforts in regards to marketing. I'm not that stupid to think that the game will sell itself. There is a lot of competition for the sports fans discretionary income. But, if a rugby league comp puts as much money into marketing as other sports groups they will win out.

 

[sheepbender]

Yeah anyone that doesn't see how clearly rubbish they are needs sectioning.

So you 2 dont support Rugby League becoming a global sport, would you rather keep it too yourselves then?


This Dutch/Rotterdam Spartans thing is great for the sport, it shows that there are people wanting to throw money behind the sport, because they believe in it. Sure 10 years is ambitious to get into Super League, and who knows, perhaps in that time, there will be a European based Super League seperate to the English one. Cos its not just the Dutch that are coming up, Norway and Sweden have domestic comps now. So as some are saying given the time, the money, the marketing and some decent knowledgable people behind the scenes, the sport could be a great success in Europe.

Excuse my geography, but getting around Europe is no worse than the Warriors flying to Perth for a game, so its feasible that teams from the whole continent could be involved, representing a country. Teams from France, Spain, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Serbia, Malta, Italy, Russia, and whoever else has a keen interest in Rugby League.

Sure the NRL will always be the dominant league, but to not support the global expansion of a sport we love is ridiculous.

 

[PacificCoastRL]

I really believe this could be the beginning of a European based league competition.
Some possible teams that have been mentioned in this thread - Toulouse Olympique (no more than five years away from being an ESL team), FC Barcelona (the league team is an arm of a strong sporting empire - I'm sure you'll all agree Barca has done okay in soccer, they've got some money to throw around), Catalan Dragons (they've done okay, and would be better off playing in Europe), Rotterdam Spartans (if their plans come to fruition they will be a model franchise in any sport). Heck, you could probably throw in the London Broncos (they've already made changes and one of the areas they've already acknowledged as lacking previously was marketing. Some of you probably wouldn't mind if they left). And you know what - how about a team from Wales (the Crusaders could probably be reborn, and, if they followed the marketing strategies of their new group, would likely do very well, thank you very much.) There's six - two to four more teams and you might see the ESL slip to number three behind the NRL and this group. Just sayin'.
Oh - if ten years is a magic number for Rotterdam, who is to say in ten years time a strong competition couldn't be formed in North America. Again, as sheepbender says about the above group, given time, money, marketing and knowledgeable people, why couldn't a North American comp eclipse them all.