Inglis
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Inglis
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You know what, this is an excellent post.
I'd not be upset to see the sport going back to semi pro. Less NRL clubs sniffing around then & surely more of an emphasis on the skill set rather than "getting massif in t'gym & bashin' um."
The issue is now that we are trying to run a professional RL in the UK on pretty low wages & better options of the same sport elsewhere. In it's current guide, the player drain will go on & we will be left playing the dumbed down NRL style that is endemic across super league
Made me laugh that bit.
I see your point but isn't that the idea of sport that it's enjoyable as a spectacle, along with the competition and winning? And as such you pay for the best, some clubs have more money than others, that's just a fact but to further reduce what we can spend will only see more players leaving for the NRL and union, and I would take a guess at less players coming through the system. A few years back, I was working alongside a ex SL player, he wasn't a star but had a decent career and we were talking one afternoon about the game in general, young lads coming through, salaries and whatever and he said to me that if he knew at 20 what he'd be earning at 35 as a safety rep and playing for Barrow, he'd have probably gone back to playing amateur and concentrated on his career.
If you think there would be less nrl clubs sniffing around clubs if they went semi pro then I think you are wrong. They would be looking to pick up the best players even more than they do now. They could pick them up relatively cheaply and offer them the full time pro lifestyle. The international game would be more of a joke than it is now,we would be on par with png. Going semi pro would in my opinion be a disaster
I'm sorry, but just no.
If the game goes back to part time or semi pro, the talent drain will just flood further to the NRL or Union and Rugby League over here will just fall to a level of insignificance. It's a completely different landscape now to 30 years ago, sport has moved on massively since then and all big sports are professional now, no exceptions.
The game needs to grow not shrink. It needs investment and ambition across the board. The cap had increased by £300k in 20 years which is well under inflation. Lowering the cap would be a massive step back for the game here and would give players more incentives to go to Union or the NRL.
Originally Posted by Despondent Dave
I'm not sure they would but you're probably right and I'm probably wrong.
With my initial post, I've gone too heavy on the player drain & not highlighted how I think GM had it right about the finances.
We keep going on about growing the sport but we don't seem to be able to do it. There are clearly financial constraints on the sport in this country & I think GM is trying to make a point that with the current financial constraints, the sport would be better as semi pro from SL down to Championship & League 1.
I honestly think what he's saying makes sense. I'm not saying it has to be that way but I'm saying that it's more of a realistic scenario than fans might want it to be.
The professional game as it stands isn't ran very well & certain clubs are determined to keep the standards & salary cap to a level in which they can compete & not get left in the dust by the more innovative, ambitious clubs such as Wire, Saints & Wigan. Not exactly pulling in the same direction is it?
Dave, I completely see your point & Blobby's further down. No arguement whatsoever & I've said earlier in the thread that it's competitive sport, if you get left behind, tough. No arguments there from me.
I'm just trying to highlight that GM's point as somewhat of a counter argument is also valid.
We are constantly battling with the likes of Wakey & Hudds who dig their heels in at any sign of initiative or that they might have to invest a bit. So part of me is thinking, you know what let's be done with it & go back to semi pro. We would still achieve more than those clubs anyway & there might be less emphasis on fitness, fitness, fitness, bench pressing, rowing as fast as you can in a minute & actually having to have a bit of nous to open up a defence.
It's an interesting topic for sure,but the way i see it is if nrl clubs are prepared to try the likes of Jordan Turner,Andre Savelio and the likes then a competition of part time players becomes even more attractive to them. Just for arguments sake lets say a semi pro player has a £20k real job and gets £20k for playing (obviously this will vary with career and club ). The NRL and also RU can then offer the top players £20k more per year and to them they can get the best players over here for what to them is peanuts.The NRL has a minimum wage of $100k that works out right now at near enough £54k. They would just cherry pick the best players and also the best up and coming players.
We have a new sky deal ( or other broadcaster ) to negotiate,we should be looking to slightly raise the cap if anything and make some more exemptions for club produced players,i can't see the game going back to semi pro and if it did then every team would have to do it otherwise we could have the situation of 3 or 4 clubs being full time and dominating everything.
Yeah brook I think you've got me there to be honest. An Englush player who they take on who doesn't work out is no great loss to them as they have the money & the talent coming through. I get you.
I'm honestly that frustrated with the sport that I've started arguing with myself
Just like now then? There's only 3 current clubs won the SL and only 3 others ever reached the final. It's the same with other sports, football always has it's usual suspects it's just a natural order that some teams are stronger, and richer than others. It ••••es me off that we get leaned on by these tight fisted Yorkie nuggets intent on dragging everyone down because they're unable to step up.
I’m not sure mate, I think skill levels would reduce. For players’ safety more than anything, every club would have to do it which would mean players training 3 nights a week maximum and the majority of them would be knackered after working a physical job 8-10 hours a day beforehand. You can’t trust players to do their own conditioning so that would need to be incorporated into training as well, I think they’d end up doing a lot less skill work than they do now.
I don’t know exactly what a semi pro Super League comp would look like but having done it in Union for a few years now, it’s a tough gig and given SL has been professional, it would be even more difficult. You’ve obviously got to do weights, position specific extras etc in your own time and I think a lot of players who’ve been in a professional environment for so long would see it as more trouble than it’s worth and would pack the game in.
I don’t think it would ever happen because of the practicalities though, I don’t think you can just take people’s employment away from them like that on that scale. Not every player will have something to fall back on in terms of a career, you’ve got the mental health risk on the back of that, I just don’t think it could ever happen.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
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Personally I'm not overly bothered about a supposed 'brain drain' of talent to Australia because it's already happening. Some decide to stay, but alot now go to the NRL, and it's just the norm now. If we ended up with an England team made up of young local players and loads of NRL players it would be annoying but I don't see how it would make us less competitive to be honest.
We are slowly becoming the RL version of South American football. We have old famous clubs that have standing in the game, and we produce some really good players. Alot of the best players disappear when they get to a certain age, and it becomes the accepted norm because financially there is simply no competition. But South American leagues are still alot of fun, and have big crowds and big rivalries that are the envy of the world. They also have national teams that are some of the best in the world, primarily because most of the team play at the highest level in Europe. We may end up like that, where we simply learn to love what the game is here but accept that our best players will spend their better days abroad, but possibly resulting in us winning some major international comps.
Great post, i think if you want to look at what Super League would look like if it went semi-professional you dont have to look much further than the Championship, the vast majority of which is semi-professional, it may have a bit more money at quality to it though. The standard of the game would fall through the floor as players would be less likely to stay around the game before trying to get a career, going semi-professional would send the sport in to a death spiral that would be almost impossible to get out of.
Hethringtons arse is going because Leeds RL have made a decent stadium for the home fans and it needs paying for. Like he normally does he has got the outside bog brigade behind him.
He didn't give a stuff about caps when they beat us five times on the trot when we had one eye or more on Langtree. The man is a poison who will eat into the sport for his and his wife's agendas. Lucky people those two and don't worry Nige is still lurking to bring Bradfort back in SL.
Breaking news......according to Aaron Bower, Salary Cap unchanged for this year as a result of intervention from the Players Union and backtrack from Yorkshire Clubs but likely to be reviewed next year, presumably when clubs look at the financial implications after this season
The SL clubs have unanimously agreed to NOT reduce the salary cap next season. It will remain at £2.1m next season.
https://superleague.co.uk/article/14...%7C-salary-cap
Originally Posted by Despondent Dave