Super League 2013

When you see two teams give a performance of such commitment, courage and skill there can be no argument that RL is 'the greatest game'. If only there were more games like that in the season!

Sky's Monday night scheduling is going to prove challenging but hopefully most teams will follow it up with a Sunday game and not a Friday night one. Though I remember when I started watching there were many times when they played twice a week.

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

Wakefield on TV tonight, is the financial plight as bad as it was? Sky seem to be saying its bad again.

The finances of a number of clubs are deeply, deeply dubious. Wakey are definitely in trouble, Bradford are apparently back in the red and the plug is going to be pulled on the London broncos at the end of this season if the papers are to be believed. In general RL in England is a sport in decline, I just hope it's not terminal. I mean look at Huddersfield this year, playing superb rugby, topping the table and yet playing to average gates of 5,000 at home, all this in the birthplace of rugby league.

The marketing of the game is woeful,(no main super league sponsor this season, no one interested for the next apparently) it has absolutely no media presence in the national press and you'd have to say the quality of the competition has been steadily declining over the past few years. Outside of the top 4 or 5 clubs there is a steep drop off in performance. Compare this with the NRL which has gone absolutely stratospheric in the past 5 years. I watch it every week and the difference in skill and intensity is huge and it's a gulf that's only going to get wider.

When you factor in the massive financial power of the NRL which is sucking in all the best talent in the UK; Tomkins off to Warriors next year, 4 Burgess brothers, yes 4, lining out for Souths on Friday last the future seems pretty bleak for RL in this country at the moment. I'm seriously concerned about the upcoming world cup and its credibility as a viable competition. A disaster on a par with the last outing will only further damage and marginalise the game. We've got this re-organisation of the super league to come next year, a process which in itself has been torturous and farcical and has further served to underline the ineptitude of those running the game. I fear it might only be a case of re-arranging the deckchairs on the titanic...but something's got to give in the next year or two as the sport is not viable as it is currently constituted. I reckon some historic clubs will certainly be on the way out. Wakey or Cas may very well be one of them....

WakeyTyke wrote: »

It seems that the only way that most teams can survive is if it has a Sugar Daddy pumping their own money - like Huddersfield.

That is certainly a massive issue for super league, but you'd also have to say, sugar daddies aside, the way some of these clubs are run is an absolute joke. If you look at Leeds, they were a a basket case up until relatively recently, but decent management and a sound long term development plan has seen them become one of the most successful and best supported clubs in the country ( I know Leeds is a little weird in RL terms as its always had a really loyal fanbase from all walks of life in the city, unlike a lot of other RL clubs), but the lesson is there. Leeds academy system is brilliant and they've relied less on marquee foreign signings and tried to develop their own talent of late.

The same is evident in saints and Wigan, but you look at other clubs chucking good money after bad with dubious Aussie or Kiwi signings looking for the quick fix. Short-termism of the worst kind and this for me is the greatest problem with SL at the top-level in England. The sport will alway have loyal grass roots support, but the way its run at the top-level is at times farcical. Its laughable that League introduced professionalism to rugby, but at the moment it's the boys in union who are giving the 13 man code an object lesson in how to promote and grow a sport in difficult economic times, often based on a superb international product, a side of the game which is nothing more than a bad joke in League....

Get in!!!

Feckin' Groundhog Day at Odsal again…I think its time for some pretty tough decisions re: Bradford irrespective of tradition, sentimentality and nostalgia…The mismanagement here is epic and ongoing and I know a lot of the hardcore fans are thoroughly sick of the way their club has been run and no longer attend.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/25232718

It seems that Bradford and Wakefield are travelling along the same railway line - both were 'rescued' from the brink by a 'saviour' who then continued to spend money that wasn't there.

Spookily both clubs have declared that they were £400k in debt.

At least Wakey have now reduced this to £100k, although they found that there were more hidden debts than the initial amount - hopefully the same won't happen at Odsal.

One wonders whether Salford is also going to turn out to be all smoke and mirrors as well.

Looks like the Bulls are SERIOUS trouble now as it looks as if the captain wants to scuttle the ship after spurning the rescuers!

http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12213/9087824/super-league-bradford-bulls-board-of-directors-to-leave-club