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Thread: Elstone

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gray77 View Post
    If Hearns thinks RL is a mess, fair enough. But I'd like to know what his knowledge of the game is. Saying something is a mess is one thing, but knowing why and knowing how to improve it whilst staying true to the culture and traditions of the game is another thing.

    He's done well with other sports but they are mainly ones involving individuals and set piece events. People follow for the occasion rather than love of a team or some tribal connection. How many who attend the World Darts would want to do it every fortnight? And would people who attend big boxing events want to do that every other week? As big events he does well, but there is no real concept of history, tradition, the unique nature of different clubs, etc. All the darts players are now treated the same, all events (world darts, darts PL etc) have the same make-up and can be stuck in any arena and look the same because they're not dealing with unique backgrounds, differences in clubs, differences in fanbases in different towns etc. It's all glitzy, but very generic, and appealing to people that want to watch darts for one night a year is different to dealing with thousands of people who want to watch their club every week, and do so for very different reasons to the ones people have for going to the darts or a big boxing card as a big night out or a one-off event.

    As I've said before, the amount of people who watch darts these days is a fraction of those who watched it in the 80s and 90s, and the same can be said of boxing. Ask the average person to name three darts players now and I reckon alot would struggle, and the same for naming any British boxers outside of Joshua and Fury. Compare to how many would have known Bruno, Benn, Eubank, Watson, McGuigan, Lewis etc. So, money for darts players and boxers is far higher and they're doing great, but behind the flashing lights and the 2,000 in Ally Pally or Wembley Arena has he made those sports bigger? Has he made them more popular? Short answer, not in any way.
    When Hearn's interest was first mentioned I thought it might be good, though I didn't consider the frequency of RL games compared to Darts etc. I think that is a key point. Is there someone high up in the NRL or an NRL club that we should be looking at, someone that understands the game and has seen success in RL?

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    Quote Originally Posted by The Wee Waa Womble View Post
    Also worth pointing out that, in a world where social media matters, Eddie Hearn has almost 100,000 more Twitter followers than every super league club combined. Hearn might not be the magical fix for the sport but letting him try is surely better than continuing down this drawn out death march we’re in now.
    I tend to agree.
    He is a great promoter. Very active on social media, and understands the importance of that.

    He would certainly be up for anything that generates more money, and I suspect raising or abolishing the salary cap would be one of his plays.

    Not sure how successful DAZN is yet but it seems a perfect fit for a platform like that.

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    Quote Originally Posted by CGSaint View Post
    I tend to agree.
    He is a great promoter. Very active on social media, and understands the importance of that.

    He would certainly be up for anything that generates more money, and I suspect raising or abolishing the salary cap would be one of his plays.

    Not sure how successful DAZN is yet but it seems a perfect fit for a platform like that.
    I'm not sure which of the 2 threads to put this on so apologies.

    When we look at how the sport can, let's face it, attempt to sort itself out from the mess it is in, there are already disagreements on one board, who are most, if not all, Saints fans.

    I often find myself in agreement with ewfc on the state of the sport, but I don't agree that Hearn isn't the answer.

    We really don't have a lot of options left. I would have him involved and soon. There is nothing to lose. We need to try to go at something as one & ride with it.

    I think Hearn would make a good go of it. No harm in trying

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ralph Fridge View Post
    I'm not sure which of the 2 threads to put this on so apologies.

    When we look at how the sport can, let's face it, attempt to sort itself out from the mess it is in, there are already disagreements on one board, who are most, if not all, Saints fans.

    I often find myself in agreement with ewfc on the state of the sport, but I don't agree that Hearn isn't the answer.

    We really don't have a lot of options left. I would have him involved and soon. There is nothing to lose. We need to try to go at something as one & ride with it.

    I think Hearn would make a good go of it. No harm in trying

    I think there's potentially massive harm in trying.

    Hearn has said he'd want full and total control. Of everything rugby league (presumably pro- & semi-pro) - that means not just would the RFL be out on their arses, but individual clubs would get no say in how the sport was run.

    There would be no constraints, and we know how gimmicky some of his marketing can be.

    What would be the consequences to him if he failed? What would his initial investment be that he could lose? I doubt he'd be willing to 'buy' the sport. We could hand over the reigns totally to him like he's said would be the condition, but he fails to drive the sport to the popularity heights we demand, and then walks away. What's he lost? Barely anything tangible, just a blow to his reputation as a bit of a 'Midas' - but he'd loudly and forcibly tell everyone that RL is just too much of a basket case and not even he could save it (which would make the remaining sport even less attractive to sponsors and investors)

    Don't get me wrong, I'd love him to be involved from a PR and marketing perspective. But not at any price.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Webbo Again View Post
    I think there's potentially massive harm in trying.

    Hearn has said he'd want full and total control. Of everything rugby league (presumably pro- & semi-pro) - that means not just would the RFL be out on their arses, but individual clubs would get no say in how the sport was run.

    There would be no constraints, and we know how gimmicky some of his marketing can be.

    What would be the consequences to him if he failed? What would his initial investment be that he could lose? I doubt he'd be willing to 'buy' the sport. We could hand over the reigns totally to him like he's said would be the condition, but he fails to drive the sport to the popularity heights we demand, and then walks away. What's he lost? Barely anything tangible, just a blow to his reputation as a bit of a 'Midas' - but he'd loudly and forcibly tell everyone that RL is just too much of a basket case and not even he could save it (which would make the remaining sport even less attractive to sponsors and investors)

    Don't get me wrong, I'd love him to be involved from a PR and marketing perspective. But not at any price.
    Super League clubs have just turned down a multi million 50% buy out from private equity, and now people are suggesting giving the entire sport to Eddie Hearn for nothing? You can't just give control of a sport the size of RL to a single person or organisation with no credentials or experience in running team sports at any level.

    If they want to get involved, let them prove themselves with a stand alone competition or event and take it from there, but it would be total madness just to hand it over for nothing.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ralph Fridge View Post
    I think Hearn would make a good go of it. No harm in trying
    Tonight on Sky Box Office for only £24.95, the St Helens Super Saints and the Hull FC Hoodlums battle it out for the first ever Matchroom prime-time rugby bowl championship final, live at the Totally Wicked Battledome!!!! Join us at 7pm for the pre-game show where 'the Power' Paul 'Scully' Sculthorpe and 'the Iceman' Gareth 'Gaz' Ellis will be having an arm wrestle live in the open air VIP lounge (formerly Tesco car-park) to decide which of their former teams gets to play with an extra man for the first ten minutes. Don't even think of leaving at half-time as we'll be choosing which of the remaining 500 fans in the stands wins this months 'stupidest idiot in fancy dress' award, with the winner getting a free ticket to next months Matchroom prime-time rugby bowl championship final (yes, there's a championship game on PPV every month!!!!), which will be played between tonight's winner and the team that comes up with the most entertaining new club nickname by the end of the night.


    Or, we could just increase the salary cap, let teams grow or die naturally, encourage people to invest in clubs and bring money into the sport. Have a 12 team competition called the Rugby League Championship where the team that finishes top wins the league, the bottom 2 get relegated and we then have an 8 team Premiership competition with the Final at Old Trafford to round off the season. We take the Challenge Cup seriously, with the Final the biggest day of the season at Wembley. We put tv rights out to tender for live games and set a minimum amount for anyone to bid if they want the rights, and we offer a free-to-air Saturday or Sunday afternoon highlights slot for an affordable price so that everyone gets access to the sport. We set a five-year goal for this plan to make the game better, richer, more viable and more popular, and if it doesn't.... then we give Eddie a call.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Webbo Again View Post
    I think there's potentially massive harm in trying.

    Hearn has said he'd want full and total control. Of everything rugby league (presumably pro- & semi-pro) - that means not just would the RFL be out on their arses, but individual clubs would get no say in how the sport was run.

    There would be no constraints, and we know how gimmicky some of his marketing can be.

    What would be the consequences to him if he failed? What would his initial investment be that he could lose? I doubt he'd be willing to 'buy' the sport. We could hand over the reigns totally to him like he's said would be the condition, but he fails to drive the sport to the popularity heights we demand, and then walks away. What's he lost? Barely anything tangible, just a blow to his reputation as a bit of a 'Midas' - but he'd loudly and forcibly tell everyone that RL is just too much of a basket case and not even he could save it (which would make the remaining sport even less attractive to sponsors and investors)

    Don't get me wrong, I'd love him to be involved from a PR and marketing perspective. But not at any price.
    Fair enough. I can't argue

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gray77 View Post
    Tonight on Sky Box Office for only £24.95, the St Helens Super Saints and the Hull FC Hoodlums battle it out for the first ever Matchroom prime-time rugby bowl championship final, live at the Totally Wicked Battledome!!!! Join us at 7pm for the pre-game show where 'the Power' Paul 'Scully' Sculthorpe and 'the Iceman' Gareth 'Gaz' Ellis will be having an arm wrestle live in the open air VIP lounge (formerly Tesco car-park) to decide which of their former teams gets to play with an extra man for the first ten minutes. Don't even think of leaving at half-time as we'll be choosing which of the remaining 500 fans in the stands wins this months 'stupidest idiot in fancy dress' award, with the winner getting a free ticket to next months Matchroom prime-time rugby bowl championship final (yes, there's a championship game on PPV every month!!!!), which will be played between tonight's winner and the team that comes up with the most entertaining new club nickname by the end of the night.


    Or, we could just increase the salary cap, let teams grow or die naturally, encourage people to invest in clubs and bring money into the sport. Have a 12 team competition called the Rugby League Championship where the team that finishes top wins the league, the bottom 2 get relegated and we then have an 8 team Premiership competition with the Final at Old Trafford to round off the season. We take the Challenge Cup seriously, with the Final the biggest day of the season at Wembley. We put tv rights out to tender for live games and set a minimum amount for anyone to bid if they want the rights, and we offer a free-to-air Saturday or Sunday afternoon highlights slot for an affordable price so that everyone gets access to the sport. We set a five-year goal for this plan to make the game better, richer, more viable and more popular, and if it doesn't.... then we give Eddie a call.
    Yes I'm on board.

    Although I do have a fair collection of bowls in the kitchen

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ralph Fridge View Post
    Fair enough. I can't argue
    Name one other sport which would let one individual take charge, I for one don't even class Snooker or Darts as sports, they are basically glorified pub games, and like I've posted before Boxing has been infiltrated by dangerous individuals no doubt for money laundering purposes like Widnes and Barrow FC were, Curtiss Warren flying over Barrows ground in a private plane and bragging "I own them"

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    Quote Originally Posted by Woolyback View Post
    Name one other sport which would let one individual take charge, I for one don't even class Snooker or Darts as sports, they are basically glorified pub games, and like I've posted before Boxing has been infiltrated by dangerous individuals no doubt for money laundering purposes like Widnes and Barrow FC was
    Formula 1?

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    Quote Originally Posted by maghullsaint View Post
    Formula 1?
    I have my doubts whether it is actually a physical sport, but accepting your point, Ecclestone was more or less forced out by all the manufacturers and given a title President Emiritus and is now owned by Liberty Media a multinational corporation not a one man business

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gray77 View Post
    Tonight on Sky Box Office for only £24.95, the St Helens Super Saints and the Hull FC Hoodlums battle it out for the first ever Matchroom prime-time rugby bowl championship final, live at the Totally Wicked Battledome!!!! Join us at 7pm for the pre-game show where 'the Power' Paul 'Scully' Sculthorpe and 'the Iceman' Gareth 'Gaz' Ellis will be having an arm wrestle live in the open air VIP lounge (formerly Tesco car-park) to decide which of their former teams gets to play with an extra man for the first ten minutes. Don't even think of leaving at half-time as we'll be choosing which of the remaining 500 fans in the stands wins this months 'stupidest idiot in fancy dress' award, with the winner getting a free ticket to next months Matchroom prime-time rugby bowl championship final (yes, there's a championship game on PPV every month!!!!), which will be played between tonight's winner and the team that comes up with the most entertaining new club nickname by the end of the night.


    Or, we could just increase the salary cap, let teams grow or die naturally, encourage people to invest in clubs and bring money into the sport. Have a 12 team competition called the Rugby League Championship where the team that finishes top wins the league, the bottom 2 get relegated and we then have an 8 team Premiership competition with the Final at Old Trafford to round off the season. We take the Challenge Cup seriously, with the Final the biggest day of the season at Wembley. We put tv rights out to tender for live games and set a minimum amount for anyone to bid if they want the rights, and we offer a free-to-air Saturday or Sunday afternoon highlights slot for an affordable price so that everyone gets access to the sport. We set a five-year goal for this plan to make the game better, richer, more viable and more popular, and if it doesn't.... then we give Eddie a call.
    I sense a hint of sarcasm.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gray77 View Post
    Tonight on Sky Box Office for only £24.95, the St Helens Super Saints and the Hull FC Hoodlums battle it out for the first ever Matchroom prime-time rugby bowl championship final, live at the Totally Wicked Battledome!!!! Join us at 7pm for the pre-game show where 'the Power' Paul 'Scully' Sculthorpe and 'the Iceman' Gareth 'Gaz' Ellis will be having an arm wrestle live in the open air VIP lounge (formerly Tesco car-park) to decide which of their former teams gets to play with an extra man for the first ten minutes. Don't even think of leaving at half-time as we'll be choosing which of the remaining 500 fans in the stands wins this months 'stupidest idiot in fancy dress' award, with the winner getting a free ticket to next months Matchroom prime-time rugby bowl championship final (yes, there's a championship game on PPV every month!!!!), which will be played between tonight's winner and the team that comes up with the most entertaining new club nickname by the end of the night.


    Or, we could just increase the salary cap, let teams grow or die naturally, encourage people to invest in clubs and bring money into the sport. Have a 12 team competition called the Rugby League Championship where the team that finishes top wins the league, the bottom 2 get relegated and we then have an 8 team Premiership competition with the Final at Old Trafford to round off the season. We take the Challenge Cup seriously, with the Final the biggest day of the season at Wembley. We put tv rights out to tender for live games and set a minimum amount for anyone to bid if they want the rights, and we offer a free-to-air Saturday or Sunday afternoon highlights slot for an affordable price so that everyone gets access to the sport. We set a five-year goal for this plan to make the game better, richer, more viable and more popular, and if it doesn't.... then we give Eddie a call.
    Quote Originally Posted by Angry Dave View Post
    I sense a hint of sarcasm.
    I would love us to go with that sarcasm, other than an 8 team playoff.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Belgian Saint View Post
    I would love us to go with that sarcasm, other than an 8 team playoff.
    8 team Premiership. League is won by FPTP.

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    Time to go back to basics guys.

    Abolish the salary cap.
    Attract more money launderers.
    Hire someone to force BBC to buy sky out.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gray77 View Post
    Tonight on Sky Box Office for only £24.95, the St Helens Super Saints and the Hull FC Hoodlums battle it out for the first ever Matchroom prime-time rugby bowl championship final, live at the Totally Wicked Battledome!!!! Join us at 7pm for the pre-game show where 'the Power' Paul 'Scully' Sculthorpe and 'the Iceman' Gareth 'Gaz' Ellis will be having an arm wrestle live in the open air VIP lounge (formerly Tesco car-park) to decide which of their former teams gets to play with an extra man for the first ten minutes. Don't even think of leaving at half-time as we'll be choosing which of the remaining 500 fans in the stands wins this months 'stupidest idiot in fancy dress' award, with the winner getting a free ticket to next months Matchroom prime-time rugby bowl championship final (yes, there's a championship game on PPV every month!!!!), which will be played between tonight's winner and the team that comes up with the most entertaining new club nickname by the end of the night.


    Or, we could just increase the salary cap, let teams grow or die naturally, encourage people to invest in clubs and bring money into the sport. Have a 12 team competition called the Rugby League Championship where the team that finishes top wins the league, the bottom 2 get relegated and we then have an 8 team Premiership competition with the Final at Old Trafford to round off the season. We take the Challenge Cup seriously, with the Final the biggest day of the season at Wembley. We put tv rights out to tender for live games and set a minimum amount for anyone to bid if they want the rights, and we offer a free-to-air Saturday or Sunday afternoon highlights slot for an affordable price so that everyone gets access to the sport. We set a five-year goal for this plan to make the game better, richer, more viable and more popular, and if it doesn't.... then we give Eddie a call.
    I hope we get rid of the salary cap and let the clubs stand or fall. Increase the size of the league and have a franchise system with no relegation. Keep all TV revenue for the top division and if teams below that level must go semi professional so be it.

    We are in a mess so I hope whoever takes over from Elstone has the stomach for tough decisions.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pasty View Post
    I hope we get rid of the salary cap and let the clubs stand or fall. Increase the size of the league and have a franchise system with no relegation. Keep all TV revenue for the top division and if teams below that level must go semi professional so be it.

    We are in a mess so I hope whoever takes over from Elstone has the stomach for tough decisions.
    We are never going to get rid of the cap like it or not it is here to stay,even the nrl with all it's money has a cap. We can raise it a bit but that is about it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by brook View Post
    We are never going to get rid of the cap like it or not it is here to stay,even the nrl with all it's money has a cap. We can raise it a bit but that is about it.
    I’d like to see home grown players cost less against the cap than they currently do, the dispensation is currently up to £100k, id like to see that at least doubled, clubs should have the ability to retain more of the talent they produce, that would force lesser clubs to improve their academies, rather than waiting for players to be released by the bigger clubs.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tomsepho View Post
    I’d like to see home grown players cost less against the cap than they currently do, the dispensation is currently up to £100k, id like to see that at least doubled, clubs should have the ability to retain more of the talent they produce, that would force lesser clubs to improve their academies, rather than waiting for players to be released by the bigger clubs.
    That is far to sensible an idea for the rfl.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pasty View Post
    I hope we get rid of the salary cap and let the clubs stand or fall. Increase the size of the league and have a franchise system with no relegation. Keep all TV revenue for the top division and if teams below that level must go semi professional so be it.

    We are in a mess so I hope whoever takes over from Elstone has the stomach for tough decisions.

    it is irrelevant whether the person who replaces him has the stomach for the tough decisions, because the club owners will just vote down anything they don't like. I'm sure that Elstone would have been happy to have a lot more power and be able to implement his ideas if he was able to.

    His/her first order of business should be to remove all that power from the clubs and pass it to an independent executive board.....but the clubs have to vote on it for it to happen, and they will just vote it down because they are worried about their position.

    The only way I can see any change is for the top clubs to threaten to walk away and set their own independent competition up.. Saints/Wigan/Wire would probably go for that and they could probably take a few others like Hull FC with them, but it would need SKY to want that too and I dont think they would have the appetite for that.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tomsepho View Post
    I’d like to see home grown players cost less against the cap than they currently do, the dispensation is currently up to £100k, id like to see that at least doubled, clubs should have the ability to retain more of the talent they produce, that would force lesser clubs to improve their academies, rather than waiting for players to be released by the bigger clubs.
    I’d go further than that if a club brings a homegrown player all the way through their academy into the first team that player should be cap exempt thus rewarding player development

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tomsepho View Post
    I’d like to see home grown players cost less against the cap than they currently do, the dispensation is currently up to £100k, id like to see that at least doubled, clubs should have the ability to retain more of the talent they produce, that would force lesser clubs to improve their academies, rather than waiting for players to be released by the bigger clubs.
    Very good call. They'd never go for something so sensible.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gray77 View Post
    8 team Premiership. League is won by FPTP.
    I know where you are coming from. I remember and liked that format from the 60's. My concern now is that we are used to calling the OT game the Champions, and that it would retain more value than a team being consistent over the season. I think it will be down to perception in the eyes of the fans. If we stick with sky, we will still have all the razzmatazz around the OT game. I don't have a better solution and would much prefer your suggestions to what we have now.

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    Whoever gets the job will need to be able to herd cats. It seems the Superleague chairmen are never in agreement and it's not even them who run the sport!

    Totally barking situation.

    A marketing expert would be ideal maybe second someone from a sponsor with experience but someone with sports marketing experience and not an accountant.
    Learned comment from The Don

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    Quote Originally Posted by Eddie Hemmings' Wig View Post
    it is irrelevant whether the person who replaces him has the stomach for the tough decisions, because the club owners will just vote down anything they don't like. I'm sure that Elstone would have been happy to have a lot more power and be able to implement his ideas if he was able to.

    His/her first order of business should be to remove all that power from the clubs and pass it to an independent executive board.....but the clubs have to vote on it for it to happen, and they will just vote it down because they are worried about their position.

    The only way I can see any change is for the top clubs to threaten to walk away and set their own independent competition up.. Saints/Wigan/Wire would probably go for that and they could probably take a few others like Hull FC with them, but it would need SKY to want that too and I dont think they would have the appetite for that.
    This is it in a nutshell. The thing that might have brought about a different scenario (for better or worse) was the private equity deal going through. My suspicion (and I admit that it is only speculation) is that Elstone has walked because that equity deal was basically his project - a project that, had it gone through, might have given him power to get decisions through - and the clubs voted it down.

    I found Elstone to be generally unimpressive in the role - I heard a lot from him about where RL needed to get to but I can't remember ever hearing anything about how it was going to get there. But I do feel sorry for him in a way, as his hands were tied from the start - as far as I can tell he was employed to demonstrate some sort of unity amongst the clubs as they broke away from RFL governance, but as far as leading the competition goes he might as well not have been there. The game was effectively throwing his doubtless considerable salary down the toilet.
    Last edited by Dux; 13th February 2021 at 16:46.

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