They have no control over the businesses that run the individual SL clubs... not quite the same thing.







The RFL Player Pathways are considered best practice in English sport, from u12-18. I've been in meetings with professionals from lots of sports in the deep south, and heard presenters talk about us in reverential terms. SL gets involved in signing players when they turn old enough, but the junior development and pathways in our sport are exemplary (and run by the RFL). Of course the pro clubs know what's going on at junior level....







I couldn't possibly comment

. Actually, it's better than I've known in almost every commercial organisation I've worked in. Which isn't to say it couldn't sometimes be better, but its an aspiration. There are crossfunctional teams and groups working on specific projects, but sometimes things are missed (as happens everywhere). The RFL has gone from 50+ staff, to 200+ staff and 100 community coaches, in about 2 years. Any organisation would find that a challenge... but they work very hard at it.

One major aspect that really does not help Leigh is the fact that within 10 miles there are several SL teams. Bearing in mind the fact that for a few quid more your'e gonna see top rank SL players, if you are a floating supporter who are you gonna pay to see?

That is the problem ,unless you are a lapsed supporter who would only come back to Leigh .The new support we are trying to attract will as you say look to SL for a game as they have the best players but not always necessarily the best games.A new fan of the sport may not bother with the fact they come from Leigh or the surrounding area and prefer to watch Wigan as they are doing well at the moment ,a fact of the 80s when they were winning everything and a lot of people jumped on the band wagon of their success .A friend of mine who is a Leigh fan and lives in Leigh has a neighbour who supports Wigan and calls Leigh ,hows that for loyalty to your town club ,but some people are like that ,they will only support a team that is successful all of the time

Which is the reason why personally I wouldn't have anything to do with any SL club



We are more in competition with them than any Championship club

Its a real shame that people seem to prefer supporting a team in S/L rather than their own rugby team because of varied reasons, mainly the glitz of being a popular club with the trappings of success.



Now you could argue that makes me a hypocrite because I support Man utd, but I started supporting them many years ago when I was a lad living up hag fowd and back in 1982/3 Man utd were not the champions year in year out as they have been of late.

My first season of watching ' utd ' was in the old second division , I remember ' Pancho ' s 1st goal for them



And 58,000 on against Sunderland for a league game



So I had about 18 years of grief from Liverpool fans before they finally saw real success , in fact it was just after I stopped going they started winning

.....and just when all the local small football clubs where rubbing their hands at the prospect of mass exudus of Utd fans supporting their local clubs.....bugger they start another club instead





Still think we can get support from SL fans as well as trying to get the town and surrounding areas supporting us.

I think you're all on to something important, here. For me, small clubs in the shaow of their big neigbours HAVE to become a focal point of the community, and have to work with the community to foster and be the flagship for civic pride. It's a challenge, perhaps greater than marketing a standard straight-up business brand. But I really do think there's an opportunity there.



I used to tinker around the fringes of the music industry, and that's very much gone that way... sure X-factor manufactured crap sell in the thousand, but there's a real demand for the authentic.. for real musicans, playing live shows in local venues of a couple of hundred.



To me, Leigh should be in every school with Leigh stuff. In every club, at every age group, with Leigh stuff. Should make a huge deal of the history of the club, and its growth along with the industry and culture of the town. We should have the town crest on the shirt, and in 50-foot graphics at LSV. Buy the Leigh Arms and turn it into a club sports bar, showing every SL and Championship and NRL game, and showing Fred Parky's entire back catalogue on other times, and selling Johnny Woods Ale and Dessie Special Brew made under branded licence by a local microbrewery. And, as Starbug has said, work with the Championship clubs to build a collaborative business brand with each non-SL club becoming an outlet.



I support Leigh because I grew up with it, because my mum supported Leigh, and her dad before her. That personal heritage is bound up with the club. In our godless, rootless world it is absolutely who I am and where I come from. I bet there's thousands of Leyth folk, of all ages, who are crying out for something to believe in.

An absolute joy to read wembley 71 !!!!









Marketing ideas for the ales ..."jonny woods ale , its got a kick that's guaranteed to hit the spot...every time!"



And how about a nice pint of "drummonds Yed" with a strap line of "you won't know what's hit you, or where you've been "



I love the town crest idea for lsv it needs some character and identity.

I think starbug should start going to Old Trafford again!

You would have to pay me to watch the rubbish served up in the premier league



I watched a sunday league match last week , now that was ' entertaining '