: Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:47 pm  

Wellsy13 wrote:

I disagree. I think all sports teams should seek improved competition rather than blindly seeking to be at the top. You do play to win, yes. But being the top in a small competition is not much to brag about compared to being competitive in a much much larger competition.

Would you rather be in the top league of UK basketball or the second tier in football? Which one has better competition?

I support Wakefield and want them to succeed, no matter what division or competition I want success for my club, If I was a basketball fan then I's want them to be the best, same with football ect.

Everyone wants their team to succeed, so comparing basketball and football is not really fair.

: Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:51 pm  

Wellsy13 wrote:

And also it being big enough to attract decent crowds.
And also that your club can produce an adequate number of players.
And have decent financial streams in place to be solvent.

As a small town we do get good crowds...props the best supported team on a population v's average crowds ratio.
If we do get a new ground we would average 10,000 ( is that good anoth)
Cas as showing good at producing good English players.
And weve never had finanical difficuties

: Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:52 pm  

classycas2009 wrote:

Im not tring to blame any1 as such...All i ask for is a fair competition and same rules for EVERBODY

Yes you are. You blamed the RFL for Castleford getting relegated the first time. You said it here:

classycas2009 wrote:

If it wasnt for RFL we wouldnt have been relagated in the first place...Wigan and catalan come to mind..

You are not asking for a fair competition at all. You just want Cas to be in the top league. You have proven that you will moan and blame someone even if P&R is here, so I don't even know why you think P&R would be 'fairer' in this instance.

Your only motive is to ensure your own club are competing at the top. Something you have accused other people's motives for franchising being.

: Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:53 pm  

classycas2009 wrote:

I agree.. if we fail to meet SL ground standards, we dont deserve to be there. I know myself what its like to goto the toliet at Cas games "a nightmare".
But what once theres 20 + teams with new gronds...what then?

Which harks back to, If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

Only the clubs will be to blame if we are left out next time round. If Wakey are left out I will not be mad at the RFL (unless we are well on with the ground) but at the board.

: Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:54 pm  

classycas2009 wrote:

As a small town we do get good crowds...props the best supported team on a population v's average crowds ratio.
If we do get a new ground we would average 10,000 ( is that good anoth)
Cas as showing good at producing good English players.
And weve never had finanical difficuties

Well you shouldn't worry about getting a franchise next time round then (as long as you pass your own self-imposed ground criteria).

: Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:55 pm  

Wellsy13 wrote:

Yes you are. You blamed the RFL for Castleford getting relegated the first time. You said it here:



You are not asking for a fair competition at all. You just want Cas to be in the top league. You have proven that you will moan and blame someone even if P&R is here, so I don't even know why you think P&R would be 'fairer' in this instance.

Your only motive is to ensure your own club are competing at the top. Something you have accused other people's motives for franchising being.

How am i asking for that? all i want is who comes bottom goes down, simple as...if its cas they go down, simple as.

: Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:55 pm  

dally messenger wrote:

widnes and toulose will be in SL next time.

Bet they won't!!!

: Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:59 pm  

Wellsy13 wrote:

Correct. But there crowds are improving, IIRC?

Yes, but nowhere enough to be a threat or be described as pushing us, therefore irrelevant at this moment.

Wellsy13 wrote:

I don't get your point? You seem to be skating around the points I make by asking questions. If Widnes do not meet the criteria for performance to be initially considered for a license and Halifax do, then it is not such a small part of the criteria, is it?

I’m not skating around anything. All you did is state the blindingly obvious. This cannot be stated as any advantage to anyone until they have actually won the NRC or competed in a GF. Good early form is no guarantee of achieving any of this. Widnes are sitting in 2nd place and have competed in 2 of the last 3 GF’s. Our record in this league has been pretty good so far and I don’t expect that to change. We are now getting some of our injured players back, (a major reason for our poor form imo) so I expect us to improve. Halifax have beaten us twice on their own ground, but narrowly.

Wellsy13 wrote:

If Widnes finish 5th in 2009 and 2010 and do not reach the NRC Final (which could happen), but Halifax win everything, then what happens?

The same as what happens to Halifax, if the roles are reversed. All, as yet, irrelevant anyway.

Wellsy13 wrote:

Your finances are clearly better since O'Connor took over, that I have no doubt. And I cannot comment on player development as I do not know much about either clubs respective set-ups.

Well I’ll tell you…

Halifax don’t even have a reserve team. Widnes have both an 18 academy side in the ‘Gillette Academy Championship’ and a reserve side. We have also set up a foundation academy team. There is a set up behind them all that is second to none in RL.

I don’t know for sure how many youngsters Halifax have brought through themselves to their squad, but I don’t think there are many, if indeed any.

Widnes have 7 players that have come through our academy system in the squad, 5 of which play regularly every week.

Wellsy13 wrote:

Yes, they are pushing you on ground development. And no, they are not near you on crowd levels. But they are exceeding you on the pitch this year so far and did last year.

So that’s it?

It’s not a very convincing argument is it?

With all due respect to them, they are nowhere near a threat to Widnes and are not pushing us for a licence at all …..

……..Yet!

I don’t have a crystal ball, so in 3 years time that may be different, but they are a long way off our set up at the moment and will have to move mountains to catch up.

Wellsy13 wrote:

And again, I will reiterate... Widnes are clearly the front runner, but Halifax are pushing them. Whether they will get on top of them is another question. You seem very insecure about this

Not about Halifax I’m not. I doubt very much they will be a threat to Widnes’ bid in 2011. I’m certainly concerned we will not get a licence for 2012, because, I firmly believe that Toulouse are favourites regardless of any criterion and Widnes will not get a licence.

If Halifax continue to improve, they could well be pushing Widnes for a licence in 2015.

: Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:59 pm  

Wellsy13 wrote:

Well you shouldn't worry about getting a franchise next time round then (as long as you pass your own self-imposed ground criteria).

aray, youve hit the nail right there.
O.K so lets say both Cas & Wake get their grounds.
Who would you say goes down? and who comes up?
Wouldn't be fair to pick a team would it? Surley.
If they dont meet ground critia, yeah our won fault.

So who would go down if we all meet critia, and theres others in NRL1 who meet the critia, who would come up?
Surley the only way would be rel/prom

: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:03 pm  

TFC wrote:

I support Wakefield and want them to succeed, no matter what division or competition I want success for my club, If I was a basketball fan then I's want them to be the best, same with football ect.

Everyone wants their team to succeed, so comparing basketball and football is not really fair.

Why is it not fair to compare football to basketball in the way that I have?

I would rather my team win a bigger competition than a smaller one. Just because it is the top doesn't mean it couldn't be better.

I support RL before Hull and would much rather see the sport reach its potential over my club. If the sport doesn't reach its potential, my club never will. There are many people that fear that the sports growth will dampen their club's ability to ever reach the top, as proven in this thread. Expansionaphobia.