I never thought I'd say this but after previous experiences I'm not sure bringing other, new UK teams/franchises straight into SL (UTC are a special case) is such a good idea. Even with the grassroots work, it's not that simple to plant a team in a new place and get it going as a viable concern. The worst thing that could happen is adding teams who can't sustain themselves and end up doing a Gateshead.
10 years ago I was one of those who argued with the "traditionalists" for not having faith in the game itself and its own ability to generate new fans in new places and make the new franchises a success. But we've had real experience of it since then and we all know it's not that simple. I still find that RL in Britain faces a mountain of preconceptions outside the heartlands, even amongst the young who've never heard of Eddie Waring. That's a barrier of indifference that will be resistant to even going to one game just to try it out.
At the moment, even with the dubious benefits Leigh bring to SL, there is a perception of fairness about the way the whole thing works. Not letting teams being promoted was killing those clubs who didn't go up just as much as the threat of relegation haunts those at the bottom of SL. What happens to the NL1 clubs when the drawbridge is raised (which is how I read the proposals)? It's an easy thing to say that they should be happy to compete at their level and being NL1 champions without promotion would be a proud honour in its own right. But that's not the reality: something has been taken away that previously was pretty much a right and that's what really will sting, especially for clubs like Halifax and Hull KR who have tasted real success within living memory but weren't a "big club" at the time when the axe fell.
And we are, slowly, expanding from the bottom up. Is there a real and urgent need to try to join that with top-down stuff again? Perhaps I'm just not ready for British RL to re-fight all the Super League and franchise battles again. But I think more to the point is the fact that, long run, British sporting spectating habits have been pretty much set for the best part of a century now. All those "new" sports of the 1980s such as American Football and Basketball and Ice Hockey and RL outside the heartlands have never managed to really establish themselves as mainstream in their localities, mostly because of preconceptions amongst what is a fairly conservative sporting market about "unfamiliar" sports. I would never want to lose London and desperately want them to grow and succeed. But their experiences alone are a warning that things aren't as easy as putting a new sport on in a new place and waiting for the punters to turn up.
As an expansionist and SL backer 10 years ago, it's pretty hard to reconcile not being excited at the prospect of these new teams with the over-arching ambitions for RL. But there we go. Things ain't perfect at the moment, we'd all love the game to be more popular and there's loads of things that need improving, not least the national team. But the game at least has spent a couple of years feeling at ease with itself and broadly optimistic. I think that there is a lot more to lose than some fans are appreciating.
10 years ago I was one of those who argued with the "traditionalists" for not having faith in the game itself and its own ability to generate new fans in new places and make the new franchises a success. But we've had real experience of it since then and we all know it's not that simple. I still find that RL in Britain faces a mountain of preconceptions outside the heartlands, even amongst the young who've never heard of Eddie Waring. That's a barrier of indifference that will be resistant to even going to one game just to try it out.
At the moment, even with the dubious benefits Leigh bring to SL, there is a perception of fairness about the way the whole thing works. Not letting teams being promoted was killing those clubs who didn't go up just as much as the threat of relegation haunts those at the bottom of SL. What happens to the NL1 clubs when the drawbridge is raised (which is how I read the proposals)? It's an easy thing to say that they should be happy to compete at their level and being NL1 champions without promotion would be a proud honour in its own right. But that's not the reality: something has been taken away that previously was pretty much a right and that's what really will sting, especially for clubs like Halifax and Hull KR who have tasted real success within living memory but weren't a "big club" at the time when the axe fell.
And we are, slowly, expanding from the bottom up. Is there a real and urgent need to try to join that with top-down stuff again? Perhaps I'm just not ready for British RL to re-fight all the Super League and franchise battles again. But I think more to the point is the fact that, long run, British sporting spectating habits have been pretty much set for the best part of a century now. All those "new" sports of the 1980s such as American Football and Basketball and Ice Hockey and RL outside the heartlands have never managed to really establish themselves as mainstream in their localities, mostly because of preconceptions amongst what is a fairly conservative sporting market about "unfamiliar" sports. I would never want to lose London and desperately want them to grow and succeed. But their experiences alone are a warning that things aren't as easy as putting a new sport on in a new place and waiting for the punters to turn up.
As an expansionist and SL backer 10 years ago, it's pretty hard to reconcile not being excited at the prospect of these new teams with the over-arching ambitions for RL. But there we go. Things ain't perfect at the moment, we'd all love the game to be more popular and there's loads of things that need improving, not least the national team. But the game at least has spent a couple of years feeling at ease with itself and broadly optimistic. I think that there is a lot more to lose than some fans are appreciating.
