Originally Posted by
Pasty
I think they should have merged with Warrington. The original idea of mergers was a good one in my view and still is. It’s easy for me to say as a Saints fan obviously. Small clubs with small fan bases could only work as semi professional or amateur and there is a big place for that.
However, a fully professional league,with a sufficient numbers of fixtures to make it viable and a large enough market from which to try to attract supporters is required. Premier league football shows that a league in which only a proportion of teams compete to win, while the rest hover around mid table, can work fine. It’s the unscripted drama that is the key and even Leicester showed anything can happen. 16 top teams with five or six as favourites to win every year would be a big improvement in my view
RL is an early 20th century sport trying to survive and prosper in a 21st century market. The players at the top level are top athletes doing their best with an out dated system.
I feel sorry for Widnes and Bradford for that matter but in some ways growth and entropy are inevitable. We are not seeing enough growth at the moment but the new rules have been a breath of fresh air.
Obviously, I wish Widnes well, along with the players and their families