Yes and no. Collaboration would be a massive boost, but there is a lot that can be achieved. Remember what Keighley managed in the early 1990's? And, yes, they WERE shafted by the RFL.

Twenty years ago Joe , as I said the world changes , adapt or die



Collaberation is THE only option any more

Collaberation of what tho? We as a club with other clubs and break away? Or we as a club along with another club and progress on one front? Or different?

How about:

- sitting down with the other semi pro clubs and coming up with some joint maketing ideas

- sitting down with the RFL and sharing ideas on the promotion of the Championship

- sitting down with Co-op and Irn Bru and looking at how to cross promote brands and products

- sitting down with Sky and seeking their advice on marketing and promotion through tv

- sitting down with the SL clubs to see how they've done things, and how we can work together to support one another

- sitting down with Miners and Easts (and the rest), and creating a mutual support network at all levels of the sport in town



Breakaway, on any level, means death within 5 years.



Rugby League will flourish when all the clubs realise that, if the pie gets bigger, then we all get more pie even if we're getting smaller slices.



Leigh's "natural" place in a genuine national sport is somewhere in the third or fourth division, where Bristol, Newcastle and Birmingham are in the top flight, and Saints may struggle to stay up with them. But that Leigh club would have far more money, and far bigger crowds, that we have at the moment.

There's been some interesting comments on this thread, thanks for not turning it into the usual 'RFL hates us/Franchising' thread.



That said, it largely focusses on LCRLC, when what I was hoping for was some suggestion as to how the game as a whole across the North can be regenerated. I've often said that the Oldhams of this world deserve to go bust as they're financially unviable - I don't want it to happen, but in the real world it has to happen.



How do we turn a club like that around, or do we abandon it to the market forces wolves?

If the people in the town do not support it then it will die, but it must he left to die a 'natural' death and not be financially supported by its parent organisation, and the same rules must count for all no exceptions.

Collaberation between all the Championship clubs , we have 2 sides to our sport



Sport itself , where we are in competition with the other Championship clubs



Business , where we are not in competition with any other Championship clubs

The red ones yes , although what Irn bru has to do with the Championships , I dont know



Also the ' sit down with the RFL and share idea's for the promotion of the Championships ' seems a little strange , I would have thought that was more the RFL s responsibility to lead and something that should be happening at council and APC meetings ,



The blue one , why would we want to be asking one of our main business rivals for their assistance ? personnaly I'd have nothing to do with any SL club , they would all happilly see the end of the Championships

All the clubs get financial support from the parent organisation.

For the same reason we should be working with the Championship clubs: because the bigger the game, the bigger the pie. There is a point at which we are business rivals in competition for players, speccies (and for places in SL).



But there's a greater common cause, to make sure kids in Abram, Golborne, Bongs, Culcheth, Newton, Wogdin, etc, are playing and watching League rather than football, or union... or the Sony PS3. We can scrap over which clubs the kids turn to, but we need them all in line over which leisure activity they choose.

But as i said , we are not in ' business ' competition with the Championship clubs , SL clubs are business rivals , it is in their interests to see us struggle



Far too often they speak with forked tongue when in discussions with Championship clubs , I wouldn't trust any of them



The RFL also have an agenda , they are massively SL biased ,



We are not in competition for SL places Joe ,the RFL would happily burn down the bridge right now , in fact I think they will

But NOT at the same rate or amount.