Donnyman wrote:
I think the loss to SKY/SL of one of the games biggest clubs, with one of the biggest following, who brought in some big overseas stars and went on to develop their own top quality like Whitehead and Bateman was a serious blow to Superleague. Even if the RL CEO had not been a Bradfordian I am sure they would have wanted to act beyond their remit, to avoid this disaster in just the same way.
To me Superleague is a business that keeps the game alive, so losing that fan revenue, player development, and one of the big names from the SKY sports schedules was to me a crushing blow to the game. As it was nobody replaced them, the league was cut and a poor salford and a very poor Wakefield survived (and to be fair improved).But the perceived problem here of special treatment was, had Salford gone down the RFL would not have bent over backwards for them. However I feel big games between big clubs on SKY are vital and "fairness" doesn't come into it. In 2017 neither the Hull/HKR derby nor the Leeds/Bradford derby were on the SKY schedules which was very bad business for the game.
And your first paragraph sums up all that is wrong with Rugby League.
Yes, help any struggling club with all reasonable means but, when a governing body takes up the lease of a single club, it can only end in tears (and lots of them).
Nobody knows what would have happened to Bradford (the first time), if they had been allowed to go bust and then reformed.
We certainly wouldn't have the utter debacle that we currently have, with The RFL holding the lease to an empty site, it's absolute madness.
Brewery, up and "mickey" all spring to mind.
Sky are irrelevant in this and to include them in the conversation is just wrong. RL remains as filler when the football season is finished.
Despite their sponsorship being very welcome to a sport that would otherwise be a semi pro game, they should NEVER have any input into the make up of the League structure or who participates in the sport.
Can you imagine if they said that they would no longer sponsor the SL if Bradford, Leeds or Wigan were not included