All is not well in that rah-rah game...

[urlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/club/9196204/Wasps-urgently-need-investment-to-stave-off-administration-following-breakdown-of-takeover-talks.html[/url

It's Richard Lewis' fault

common theme, rugby clubs sign top players, dont win, go bust.

They should get rid of franchising and bring back P&R.

What they need to do is to get rid of all those southern clubs.

Surely Rangers' insolvency and the near bankruptcy of 3 NRL sides is everything to do with SL and franchising as well?

Sport is no different to the rest of the business world.

A few tough months, a few bad deals, some over-commitment and suddenly you're insolvent

Its been more than a 'tough few months' economically speaking. SL is doing remarkably well if you take into account the overall economic environment and the fact that in terms of sponsorship etc you should expect secondary sports like RL to suffer disproportionately.

Interesting to see in the article's comments that the tophatters are calling for the up and coming clubs like Exeter to be supported instead of the incumbents. I think Exeter is in an expansion area, so it's a bit different fro the endless debates here.

There's also debate about the salary cap and stadias. No calls to sack the RU board, probably because they've been doing that for the past few years.

Will the Newcastle Falcons also have problems if they get relegated?

Not sure I'd call the south west an expansion area, that's probably the one part of england where ordinary people have some interest in RU.
I think folk on here are right to criticise the way RL is run at time, but I do wish we'd keep a sense of proportion. There is a lot that's wrong in RL, but we shouldn't assume other sports have all the answers.

Some RU clubs are in exactly the same situation as some of the in debt RL clubs.

Spending money that they hope success and new sponsors/increased crowd will pay for.

Some clubs get it about right, others end in the mire.

Daring to dream can be a bu99er.

Will RU ever break out from being supported only along the M1 and and M5 motorways ?