in light of all the recent financial events surrounding doncaster, widnes, swinton, and to some extent leigh at the end of last season start of this season(off loading there better players) its seems that full time rugby in the national leagues and the push for SL before the 2009 franchise system comes in is taking its toll.
Donny were doomed from the start , they may have a brand new staduim and a sugar daddy who has put 1 million in to the club, but poor management and no off feild development have taken its toll, add to this poor crowds and making a poor part time team full time....then it was always going to end in tears
Widnes have had the benefit of 3/4 years of SL cash and a new staduim built by the council, they have a healthy fan base..yet they too have come unstuck in the push to get back to SL...150k being put in last week just to keep them going for the next 10 weeks and stave off going in to adminstration...yet they still stay full time and continune to sign players WHY?
leigh paid the price for going all out for SL in 2004 and going into SL on a less than stable finacial footing..add to this their poor display in SL it cost them in both money and fans through the gate...staying full time last year to push for SL once more,there squad under performed and was cut to bits at the end of the season due to finacial restraints
So when you look at us at Haven our lot is not so bad...
yes everyone is aware the ground needs to improve even if we just stay in NL1...but both Donny and widnes prove a good ground means nothing if the clubs are on the verge of going to the wall
Fulltime, last season i thought if ever we are going to do anything we need to go fulltime...looking at recent events, now im sure that Fulltime rugby in NL1 is not sustainable for more than a couple of seasons (if widnes do not go up this year then i think they will revert to part time) ...could we recover from the situation donny or widens find themselves in...i dont think so we dont have people willing or able to put in 50k/100k of there own money to save what would be a dying entity
What we do have is a good BOD who will not put the club at risk for a short term gain...we are one of a few RL clubs who for that last 4 years have made a profit...we continue to be one of the most consistent performing teams in the NL,s and have been for 4 season...we have a chance for the ground to be developed should the council and westlakes get there act together, we have one of the best player development structures in any league from scholarship throught to first team and backed up by one of the best community programmes around..
when looking at going in to SL this is what the RL should be looking at, clubs on a sound finacial footing and all the support structures in place...but as we know with of any of this ,if say Widnes or Cas or any other club win the GF if their ground meets the standard they will be allowed in to SL regardless of there Finacial situation...because there business plan will say they will do this and that things they have failed to do on numerous occasions in the past