Mid Year British Isles 4 Nations

[siv]

Well after Scotlands recent performances its time to bring in a annual British Isles 4 Nations

England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland

Play it during RLIF worldwide designated 4 week in season representative window

Where the window is broken into 2 fortnights to allow players to fly across the world

 

[roughyedspud]

Never going to happen

 

[titoelcolombiano]

I can see a possible future where there are 3 consecutive weekends set aside for rep footy mid season. The only chance of it being created would be because of an NRL break due to stand alone State of Origin weekends. Although if that happened France would surely want in on your proposed tournament and I would suggest it would be at England's expense as they would want an annual series against NZL.

 

[deluded pom?]

Would heritage players in the NRL fly over for this though? It's a bit different to playing the big 3.

 

[siv]

If we can get RLIF sanctioned international RL weekends - why not

Clubs are the bigger obstical

Travel is the main reason for 2 x 2 week periods

Just needs the RLIF and ARLC to set this up

With the easy answer being SOO on stand alone weekends. Allows international football to scheduled in parrallel to fill tv commitments

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Scotland can play home games at Workington, Wales at Wakefield and Ireland at Leigh. You know, for some real diversity. Cumbria, Yorks and Lancs all covered.

 

[RoosTah]

If the game were in better shape in the UK I'd be suggesting they expand the competition to have teams in places like Dublin, Edinburgh, and Cardiff - then you'd have a good shot at having a genuine British Isles 4 Nations, but with the game receding in its English heartland that's a long way off sadly.

 

[Pommy]

If the game were in better shape in the UK I'd be suggesting they expand the competition to have teams in places like Dublin, Edinburgh, and Cardiff - then you'd have a good shot at having a genuine British Isles 4 Nations, but with the game receding in its English heartland that's a long way off sadly.

Is it receding? As far as I can tell from my Facebook its getting more popular although I agree its not a very scientific way to gather data.

 

[RoosTah]

Is it receding? As far as I can tell from my Facebook its getting more popular although I agree its not a very scientific way to gather data.

The media up there appear to say the game is in trouble; it's confined to its M62 corridor, the number of teams receded to 12 a couple years ago and yet standards appear to be falling further behind the NRL.

On that basis it looks like the sport is treading water at best. I'd love to see it stronger in England but everything about it up there seems to carry the hallmarks of decline

 

[Pommy]

The media up there appear to say the game is in trouble; it's confined to its M62 corridor, the number of teams receded to 12 a couple years ago and yet standards appear to be falling further behind the NRL.

On that basis it looks like the sport is treading water at best. I'd love to see it stronger in England but everything about it up there seems to carry the hallmarks of decline

Yet we seem to have the strongest national side in a good while. I'm sure the standard is probably reducing but the number of pommy players here is on the up isn't it? Any of the best talent wants to prove themselves here.
I do think RL could really capitalise on people getting fed up with the EPL. There's certainly a market for it, I'm not sure they can capitalise on it.

 

[RoosTah]

Yet we seem to have the strongest national side in a good while. I'm sure the standard is probably reducing but the number of pommy players here is on the up isn't it? Any of the best talent wants to prove themselves here.
I do think RL could really capitalise on people getting fed up with the EPL. There's certainly a market for it, I'm not sure they can capitalise on it.

A fact that coincides with the largest injection of NRL players to the England team and Australian master coach Wayne Bennett taking the reins. If the game were in great shape in England their team would be coached by one of your own and there'd be far fewer NRL players in the side.

That said, from what I understand the last TV deal was a pretty good one, and so with good management surely the game can grow its patch. I don't know enough about the intricacies up there to guess how that's to be done, but what I do know is they desperately need shake the image of the game is a peculiar northern habit and build a strong niche through the south.

On the EPL front, I wonder if there's an angle to focus on parts of London with strong and established EPL identities like Westham and Arsenal. Given the fact soccer and league aren't enemies in the UK, I wonder if there'd be scope for some sort of partnership here and there? An Arsenal Rugby League team for instance?

 

[Pommy]

A fact that coincides with the largest injection of NRL players to the England team and Australian master coach Wayne Bennett taking the reins. If the game were in great shape in England their team would be coached by one of your own and there'd be far fewer NRL players in the side.

That said, from what I understand the last TV deal was a pretty good one, and so with good management surely the game can grow its patch. I don't know enough about the intricacies up there to guess how that's to be done, but what I do know is they desperately need shake the image of the game is a peculiar northern habit and build a strong niche through the south.

On the EPL front, I wonder if there's an angle to focus on parts of London with strong and established EPL identities like Westham and Arsenal. Given the fact soccer and league aren't enemies in the UK, I wonder if there'd be scope for some sort of partnership here and there? An Arsenal Rugby League team for instance?

I don't think bennett has much to do with it. If there was a SL coach it would still be hard to not select the players playing in a higher standard of league.
English fans wouldn't take to a franchise type idea very well I don't think. The best way to grow the sport in London is for the broncos to succeed.

 

[RoosTah]

I don't think bennett has much to do with it. If there was a SL coach it would still be hard to not select the players playing in a higher standard of league.
English fans wouldn't take to a franchise type idea very well I don't think. The best way to grow the sport in London is for the broncos to succeed.

Do you see the Broncos ever getting their act together? Seems like they've been a bit of a basket case...

 

[taste2taste]

I've been reading a fair bit about the game 'struggling' in England from the Australian media who are in the uk reporting on the 4N. However none of them say exactly what they mean by "struggling"

Are we talking about the standard of play on the field ?

Or are we talking about a decline in crowds , ratings and tv money ???

 

[RoosTah]

I've been reading a fair bit about the game 'struggling' in England from the Australian media who are in the uk reporting on the 4N. However none of them say exactly what they mean by "struggling"

Are we talking about the standard of play on the field ?

Or are we talking about a decline in crowds , ratings and tv money ???

It's a combination I think - the southern expansion is a failure; the heartland has receded with big clubs like Bradford hitting major troubles and going into administration; the competition itself has shrunk to 12 teams and every time they play NRL sides they seem to be less and less competitive. I'm not sure about the crowds and tv ratings, but on a few fronts the game looks in trouble in England

 

[Perth Red]

Crowds and Tv revenue have been static for a decade. I think a combination of best English players going to NRL, RFL not having the funds to properly develop elite Jnr pathways, exchange rate and NRL salary cap meaning mostly 3rd rate overseas players are now heading to SL and loss of Bulls, Broncos, Crusaders and this year Rovers seems like the game has contracted

I don't think it is any more trouble than usual, just that it isn't really growing and in comparison to NRL with its ever increasing wealth is losing ground fast.

On the international stage GB/England were only really competitive with \when they were poaching some decent Union players in the 90's. Other than that there has always been a huge gulf since the late 70's

 

[siv]

It's a combination I think - the southern expansion is a failure; the heartland has receded with big clubs like Bradford hitting major troubles and going into administration; the competition itself has shrunk to 12 teams and every time they play NRL sides they seem to be less and less competitive. I'm not sure about the crowds and tv ratings, but on a few fronts the game looks in trouble in England

On this

Is it because ESL clubs are going backwards

Or because the NRL clubs have moved up another level ?

 

[roughyedspud]

ESL going backwards..clubs seem unwilling to fund proper junior development

 

[RoosTah]

Crowds and Tv revenue have been static for a decade. I think a combination of best English players going to NRL, RFL not having the funds to properly develop elite Jnr pathways, exchange rate and NRL salary cap meaning mostly 3rd rate overseas players are now heading to SL and loss of Bulls, Broncos, Crusaders and this year Rovers seems like the game has contracted

I don't think it is any more trouble than usual, just that it isn't really growing and in comparison to NRL with its ever increasing wealth is losing ground fast.

On the international stage GB/England were only really competitive with \when they were poaching some decent Union players in the 90's. Other than that there has always been a huge gulf since the late 70's

Some fair points there, but from memory their last TV deal was supposed to be a pretty good one - best in their history in fact. All the same something needs to be done in England - I'm not sure what, but it's a shame where things have gotten to there.