what do you expect with no team, no TV coverage and no media coverage, and being AFL heartland? The same could have been said for RU 5 years ago, now it is going well on the back of a S15 team.



Come back in 2013 and you'll see a difference!



ps I went to Manly last year and walked through the town and didn't see one single poster, merchandise, people wearing Eagles gear etc etc

yes i understand but just thought australia being rugby mad i would of seen more rl coverage etc, obviously on the wrong side of australia though for this!



are perth applying for a franchise place in 2013 then?? will this happen...



what happened with the last team, were they in the nrl... what were the crowds



alot of ex pats will go support perth if they get in the nrl again i would imagine, hope they get in.



i saw the afl stadium in fremantle...where would perth rl play

Yes we are and we are favourites at the moment. Likely to be us and either Gosford (North of Sydney) or Ipswich (Brisbane). Check our out our facebook page for bid detials and comments: www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/gro ... 6833492366 and if you fancy joining the bid campaign and expanding RL: www.warugbyleague.com.au/data/cl ... s_2011.pdf Yeh Q'land, ACT and NSW are RL (East) Vic, SA, WA, and Tassie are AFL (Sth and West) NT is both Last time we were in (1995-97) Crowds were ok but with the war everyones crowds dropped badly as fans left the game disillusioned with what was happening. 1998 they had to cull 22 teams down when SL and ARL merged back together and the short sighted NRL decided to rape Perth and move them to Melbourne. Our last few trial games here have been getting around the 15k mark and we are getting a major stadium redevelopment in time for 2013 so things are looking good. We will play at NIB Stadium. Currently around 20k capcity but new $80million main stand is being built and capcity will go up to around 25k new stand

Yes we are and we are favourites at the moment. Likely to be us and either Gosford (North of Sydney) or Ipswich (Brisbane). Check our out our facebook page for bid detials and comments: www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/gro ... 6833492366 and if you fancy joining the bid campaign and expanding RL: www.warugbyleague.com.au/data/cl ... s_2011.pdf Yeh Q'land, ACT and NSW are RL (East) Vic, SA, WA, and Tassie are AFL (Sth and West) NT is both Last time we were in (1995-97) Crowds were ok but with the war everyones crowds dropped badly as fans left the game disillusioned with what was happening. 1998 they had to cull 22 teams down when SL and ARL merged back together and the short sighted NRL decided to rape Perth and move them to Melbourne. Our last few trial games here have been getting around the 15k mark and we are getting a major stadium redevelopment in time for 2013 so things are looking good. We will play at NIB Stadium. Currently around 20k capcity but new $80million main stand is being built and capcity will go up to around 25k new stand

sounds good, thanks for the details, ill join the facebook page



hopefully then i can go see some rugby league next time im in perth

come back in 2013!

It did a lot of good for British RL from what I understand but in Australia it basically has put the game into a holding pattern for the last ~15 years. The Broncos were averaging 43K+ in '93. By '97 when the SL War was in full swing and we had dual comp the average had fallen to 19K... We're only back to 35K now in 2010.



It was around this time that the crowds for the AFL teams in Bris/Syd grew significantly. Sydney's AFL team went from 9'000 in '94 to 35'000 in '97.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but stats like your last one cannot be simply coincidental if it is accurate.



It's impossible to say what would have happened, if anything the game has proven itself remarkably resilient over the last 100+ years so I refuse to accept that in this country we would be playing in front of 2,000 fans at most places. I'm not saying that RL hasn't had benefits from Super League but we simply do not know what would have happened in it's place. We may have become a mainstay on national TV and seen an exodus of our better players to the NRL meaning that we competed better internationally.



Likewise in Australia I don't think we can simply say that RL would be the dominant force in the southern hemisphere. There is a tendency to only look at the good points and ignore the unforeseeable yet inevitable problems. If we look at Souths now, ironically I think they are stronger because of the SL war. I remember prior to their exclusion they used to get some miniscule crowds but I think they are more well known now because of it.



As a historian I would be extremely interested to see the parallel universe where SL never happened in 1995. However if you asked me to gamble and swap what we have now for the unknown effects of no-SL, I wouldn't take that risk. Despite numerous worries, the game is in a relatively strong position at the moment.

Wigan would still have been at Central Park.

We would still have the Ashes and not pointless end of season jollies that no-ones really bothered about.

oldham would have gone bust............oh hang on..

There would be no top flight rugby outside of the M62

Warrington at best would be at Wilderspool at worst gone bust owing the council millions(more than they did)

You doubt whether Leneghan, Moran etc would have bought into RL

Saints, Cas, Wakey, Salford wouldnt be making plans to build new grounds

RL wouldnt have the profile it gets on TV that it has now

There would be no or not as much funding from British sport funds etc



...for some off course traditional run down grounds, ing against a wall......is where we should still be

Keighley Cougars would be one of the most successful clubs in this country playing in a redeveloped stadium.



As it turned out completely the opposite happened due to the "situation" that developed with Messrs Lindsay and Hetherington at the World 9's in 95 to sort out the "ing" contest between Packer and Murdoch!



That still leaves a nasty taste in the mouth even today.