Re: Harelequins RL ask RFL for assistance : Sun Aug 29, 2010 10:57 am  

ambernotyeller wrote:

That may be so, but if you had any idea , then you would know that i am not in the new stadium at all costs camp. I would sooner stay darnt lane with an atmosphere than be in some soulless stadium risking bankruptcy paying for it.

A good lick of paint and the old girl will do for me.


As youre from Wales, please tell us where will crusaders play next season and under what name ??? just curious

London Welsh?

Re: Harelequins RL ask RFL for assistance : Sun Aug 29, 2010 10:58 am  

boost wrote:

London Welsh?

Re: God. they even want a ground building for them now : Sun Aug 29, 2010 11:11 am  

You really couldn't add this to the other thread?

Re: Harelequins RL ask RFL for assistance : Sun Aug 29, 2010 11:17 am  

I don't think some realise how important Quins are to RL as a whole.

Re: Harelequins RL ask RFL for assistance : Sun Aug 29, 2010 12:31 pm  

The Quins importance depends on how much you really value the games expansion and its national profile. Some people are content to stick to the heartlands and dont care what the media thinks where as others see raising our national profile as the only path to legitimacy and anyone who thinks other wise is a flat cap wearing pidgeon fancier. Being a Cas fan I can understand both sides but it is hard to be objective when confronted with a faultering club being propped up potentially at our expense.
If we want to expand then why does any team have to be demoted? why not expand the league? If there are so many more young lads comming through then surley the game can sustain a bigger superleague? Why not be positive?
I might be paranoid but this whole franchise thing just feels like the RFL trimming off the less desirable clubs in order to shake off it's flat cap image because they value perception over the strength of the game.
But I am not objective as I just want Cas to survive but that prospect gets less realistic by the day it seems.
Does it even matter to the RFL if we get a new stadium?

Re: Harelequins RL ask RFL for assistance : Sun Aug 29, 2010 2:48 pm  

Therailwayendisuponus. wrote:

I don't think some realise how important Quins are to RL as a whole.

On the contrary, I think some people believe that Harlequins make rugby league what it is. Put it this way, the only thing Harlequins disappearing or being demoted will do is potentially alter the TV deal. In the time that we've had rugby league in London, national media coverage has decreased significantly and during the time I was doing my dissertation, one of my interviewees stated that the perception on most editorial desks is that we're still very much a Northern sport (which we are)

However, I cannot see us suddenly going from overnight to a new dawn where no games are televised. A broadcaster will pick it up as it is a marketable game. Potentially, someone like PremierSports could invest in it and suddenly find themselves with 400,000 new customers over night. And similarly, if Sky dropped rugby league, I'd estimate a few people may reduce their Sky package not to include Sky Sports. Obviously it's all ifs and buts but people are making assumptions and using them as fact. We don't know until it happens.

Re: Harelequins RL ask RFL for assistance : Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:25 pm  

bigmclargehuge wrote:

The Quins importance depends on how much you really value the games expansion and its national profile. Some people are content to stick to the heartlands and dont care what the media thinks where as others see raising our national profile as the only path to legitimacy and anyone who thinks other wise is a flat cap wearing pidgeon fancier. Being a Cas fan I can understand both sides but it is hard to be objective when confronted with a faultering club being propped up potentially at our expense.
If we want to expand then why does any team have to be demoted? why not expand the league? If there are so many more young lads comming through then surley the game can sustain a bigger superleague? Why not be positive?
I might be paranoid but this whole franchise thing just feels like the RFL trimming off the less desirable clubs in order to shake off it's flat cap image because they value perception over the strength of the game.
But I am not objective as I just want Cas to survive but that prospect gets less realistic by the day it seems.
Does it even matter to the RFL if we get a new stadium?

A very good post

Re: Harelequins RL ask RFL for assistance : Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:33 pm  

I think we need to be a bit careful and not jump to conclusions as no-one knows what sort of assistance has been requested or provided.
However, I think the RFL needs to be very careful. In the 'good old days' an existing SL club's survival in SL depended on its performance on the field and the team with the fewest points at the end of the year was relegated. In those circumstances assisting a team to stay up by say, awarding them 3 points for a win whilst everyone else got 2, or disallowing every 3rd try their opponents scored would have been viewed as outrageous and would have made a mockery of the sport. Nowadays a club's survival in the SL is largely dependent on their financial performance with less emphasis on the on-field performance, so providing certain teams with financial support whilst denying it to others is not all that different to this hypothetical extra points scenario.
I can understand (though don't necessarily agree) with giving clubs from expansion areas like Catalans & Crusaders a hand for the first 3 years when they first enter the competition but no established club should be treated any differently to any other otherwise they risk making the 'competition' a laughing stock.

Re: Harelequins RL ask RFL for assistance : Sun Aug 29, 2010 7:13 pm  

There is no way at all that the RFL should bail out London. The whole London thing has been a failure from start to finish and IMO if we want to expand the game then it should be from the heartlands outwards, not by just sticking satellite clubs in areas where they think they have a good catchment area.

If a business is failing (and needing to be propped up by £1.5 million per annum is failing in my book) then why chuck more money at it? The Harlequins are trying to compete in a league that they are not ready for, the business is just not right for SL. They get poor attendances and whilst the player development is certainly improving, it's not at SL level as yet. There is no way they should get a franchise and i'd like to see them drop down to say Championship 1 and start to build their business from there.

When we have clubs like Widnes, who (whilst they have had financial problems in the past) have now clearly got everything in place to run an SL franchise, I can't understand why they keep propping up the London experiment. I don't actually have anything against the London club and would love to see them get to the level where they can run a franchise properly, but they are simply not at that level and it would be just ludicrous to keep financing them indefinately with the hope that they will one day make it.

Re: Harelequins RL ask RFL for assistance : Sun Aug 29, 2010 8:29 pm  

I think we need to be a bit careful and not jump to conclusions as no-one knows what sort of assistance has been requested or provided.

David Hughes hasn't asked for financial assistance-I spoke to him 2 days after his meeting with Woods from the RFL-He is rich enough to fund the club but is unwilling to fund it all as a 35% owner. Lennegan being the owner of 65%.