Definitely more to come.

Rugby League can't become a top class sport in the UK with the way the game is currently run.



Super League is a failing competition.



We need to make it an ever lesser competition and go down the representative route instead.



We need to go into areas of Scotland, Wales and Ireland and build clubs and get into the Schools to build the game in those places. We need to create an annual 5 nations championships between the 4 home nations + France.



We also need to create an annual War of the roses 3 test series. Obviously we have problems of loyalty on the West of Pennines with that one but it must happen because it should.



The top players can make representive games their priority and play for their clubs when available.



A four year international calender should be as follows.



Year 1 Ashes series Great Britain vs Australia



Year 2 Tri nations series



Year 3 Ashes series Australia vs Great Britain



Year 4 World cup





Representative games are the only way forward. Seeing the best play against the best is what you need in any sporting competition.



Build it and they will come.





Or we could keep going with what we have now?

I prefer a club based approach - like football rather than cricket or RU. But it is about what works rather than what I want, and I agree radical options have to be explored.



It is now a long time since GB/England beat Australia in a game, never mind a series. As you acknowledge, one side of the Yorks-Lancs rivalry is barely aware it exists. Seeds sown in Ireland and Scotland would take a long time give us green shoots - neither are populous countries and both are pretty crowded sports markets already.



If we go down the rep-focused route, I think we need another level between club rugby and the international game. Like in RU, where you have the Irish Provinces and the four Welsh pro clubs affiliated with local semi-pro clubs. Only 2 pro clubs in Scotland. They’ve done similar in the Southern Hemisphere in Super Rugby. However, I think we’d need to be less constrained by traditional or major boundaries to be able create a coherent and balanced competition that could appeal to both the core support and new audiences. That is what the WRU did. Mind you, they’re held in similar esteem to that a lot of us seem to have for the RFL (or the leadership of SL when it breaks away, periodically).

You Yorkshire lads should get more passionate about where you come from then.

It’s nice to know somebody on your side cares.





I liked the description of Yorkshire, by Londoners, I saw a while ago as being famous for puddings, terriers and tea (from Kenya, India and Sri Lanka) plus an intense one-way rivalry with neighbouring Lancashire. I just took the direction for granted, but I could be wrong.

You lot definitely seem more vociferous about it, but doesn't mean it isn't there. If we could get the players to buy into it the fans definitely would.

The gift that just keeps on giving!





Never change LeBron.... you truly are "special"

Bump

You're very much wrong! You can't be a true Salfordian without a massive dislike for everything Leeds.

There are some decent folk that side of the Pennines but when it comes to football, rugby, cricket there are few things sweeter than smashing the Yorkies.

Having worked just outside Halifax I made it my daily mission to wind up at least one work colleague.

My wife is from Manchester (Tameside) and looking at your avatar pic, I’d assume she has at least one thing in common with you. She dislikes Arsenal (especially), Liverpool and Manchester City but Leeds Utd she sees as ‘only Leeds’.

We need to make Yorkshire vs Lancashire the biggest rivalry in UK Rugby league. It needs to become the number one event for fans above Saints vs Wigan or FC vs Rovers or Leeds vs Bradford ect... They can still be big rivalries as they will be but the fans focus should be on the War of the roses series. That needs to be the big event of the fans season, just as the State of Origin is down under.



It's pitting the best against the best and should be what any fan is seeking in entertainment. Why settle for average just because pride tells you that you have to?



With the injuries and suspensions to players these days then your clubs arne't putting out their best team most weeks anyway, so it doesn't matter if your club rugby takes a back seat and doesn't always have it's star players on show because we already have that now. Instead we'll see those star players playing representive games at a better level of rugby than we see now.

Alluding to the title of this thread versus the game this morning with the Roosters v Rabbitohs, No comparison.