Scottish season 2015

[roughyedspud]

no....and no thats not going to happen either...

 

[Evil Homer]

Yeah, that's not even a factor at all.

TBH, I think top-down expansion would probably be a better bet in places like Scotland. I was at the Scotland vs France match last year and there was a really good atmosphere, decent crowd and there seemed to be a real appetite for RL, obviously that doesn't really translate too much to amateur developments but I feel like a semi-pro side could be a real shot in the arm for the sport there, moreso than in pretty much any other area.

 

[deal.with.it]

Would you put a semi-pro team in Aberdeen, where there's some junior development?
Or go for Edinburgh/Glasgow?

 

[hutch]

I can't believe there is not a semi pro side there tbh. I spent a few weeks in Edinburgh a few years ago and the pubs there always had super league on the tv on Friday nights with quite a few interesed locals each time.
Surely after 120 years they could have formed a team for an English lower division, it's next to Cumbria where rugby league is very popular.

 

[deluded pom?]

I can't believe there is not a semi pro side there tbh. I spent a few weeks in Edinburgh a few years ago and the pubs there always had super league on the tv on Friday nights with quite a few interesed locals each time.
Surely after 120 years they could have formed a team for an English lower division, it's next to Cumbria where rugby league is very popular.

RL hasn't been played in Scotland for 120 years. That's like saying why have PNG only just got a team in the lower Australian system after 107 years. The easy answer to your statement is money and lack of interest. Outside of internationals there's little interest in RU either. Soccer is poorly supported if you take Celtic and Rangers out of the equation with some attendances counted in the hundreds.

 

[roughyedspud]

I can't believe there is not a semi pro side there tbh. I spent a few weeks in Edinburgh a few years ago and the pubs there always had super league on the tv on Friday nights with quite a few interesed locals each time.
Surely after 120 years they could have formed a team for an English lower division, it's next to Cumbria where rugby league is very popular.

the general feeling is aberdeen would be the best place to place a scottish club to play in the "english" rugby structure...aberdeen is one of the wealthiest areas of the whole uk....

scotland RL should look at how the welsh RL run their ship..

WRL have north wales & south wales in the championships,the WRL even run the south wales scorpions...as well as building up a domestic comp and developing junior & student comps...

its worth noting that most of the above has happened to welsh RL after they played in a 4 nations....so lets up scotland kick on after 2016...

 

[miguel de cervantes]

It has always been a mystery to me why Scotland went almost exclusively union given the proximity of the northern union to their borders, and this meaning they were seemingly isolated geographically from southern england. Add into that mix their political desire for independence from southern England and it is interesting they didn't have more of a crack at league. Anyhoo...

Scotland and Wales are far and away the weakest union entities in the UK, so in theory this is where league efforts would be best dispensed. Wales is chugging along ok so a semi-pro team in Aberdeen would probably be the most plausible project to have a crack at.

Another Magic Weekend in Edinburgh would surely be a viable option also.