You obviously haven't got a clue about the financial constraints that a lot of clubs outside of Super League have to cope with. For your information, my club have cheap offers for virtually every home match, and advertise the fact. You still seem to be missing the point, which is that whilst we do what we can to attract fans, we can do without one of the 'bigger' and more recognisable names in the game making a play to snare fans from our local area.

As for not wanting the game to succeed, I guess that from your post you'd be happy for the smaller clubs to go belly up.

FFS, what's in my sig?



If they're taking away fans from your club, look at your club.

If they're attracting new fans, be happy about it.

This is absolutely despicable.



It’s a bit like Tesco coming on your local shopping parade in the middle of the council estate asking you to shop at Tesco rather than the local Off licence.

What the F()CK











Do you really believe that it is wrong for a competitor of yours to try to attract your customers away?



You think your horrified

?



I am more horrified that you typed your original post, checked it, read it back to yourself and then still pressed the post button

The parochial attitude is what has held the game back from actually pushing on to become a truly national sport. If you look at some of the marketing strategies employed by the Bulls and ask how much would they actually cost?



Getting your players to visit schools and give out free kids tickets. Most kids tickets are less than half the price of an adult one and a lot of the kids who got these tickets would require an adult to take them to the game. So right there, you've made money on that free ticket. Then once they're in the ground you've things like food and drink to buy as well as other match day items like Programs.



If you look at the early Bullmania days, none of what Bradford did was really that revolutionary in terms of marketing, it was just revolutionary in terms of RL. And it worked and earned them fans. But as for "stealing" fans? No, that's simply not the case. People saw a better option in terms of entertainment and took it. Damo made a very good analogy when he compared it to Tesco and the local off-licence.

Again, I'll repeat myself. Both the Batley and Dewsbury clubs have given out thousands upon thousands of free tickets to schoolchildren in the local area over the last 14 years. Do you seriously believe that we are so far behind the times the we haven't, and don't continue to use it as a tool? This is an attempt to expand our clubs and safeguard our future by attracting new fans at a young age. And then we get Bradford Bulls, a household RL name operating in the heavily publicised Super League offering the same people the same deal. As a potential new fan, what would be more attractive? The answer is obvious.

Rugby League is ostensibly a sport built around Northern conurbations, and if the bigger clubs operate in the way that Bradford are doing in this case, then smaller clubs will eventually die.

Maybe a good way to solve our so-called 'lack of effort' on the self-promotional front would be for the RFL to give us more SKY money, which would allow us to up our game in this area?

Of course, thats never going to happen, and the welfare of Championship clubs doesn't really matter as long as everything is all well and good in Super League.

So your horrified that I am concerned and upset about that fact that an organisation that has so many financial advantages over the organisation that I love dearly and have supported for over 25 years, making a blatant attempt to attract our exisiting fans and current fans whilst plonked less than a mile from our home stadium?

Shame on me.

I've no doubt that if the RU decided to start a Guiness Premiership club in Wrexham and made a play to snare Crusaders fans through a cheap season ticket deal, a lot of people, including yourself would be up in arms that an attempt was being made to kill our expansion club off.

You tell me what the difference is, especially given the fact that due to the franchise system and the likelihood that Batley and Dewsbury will never ever get to play in the highest echelons of Rugby League, we are playing a different sport to Bradford Bulls.

Sport is a business, get over it.



If any supporters leave then the small club is not doing enough to try and keep them in.

Yes.....was I not clear in my post. I don't care what my competitors do, so long as I counter their activities. I don't care what my peers earn at my company...so long as it doesn't impact on my ability to earn money.....FREE MARKET ECONOMY!

...not for you concern, but for artuculating it



...nope.....don't care less and wouldn't if it happened. FREE MARKET ECONOMY!



None!...and here's why

The guy who makes home made anti-dandruff shampoo...which is of a higher quality, better for the enviroment and provides employment for 5 local people with specialist skills (one of whom has a handicapped daughter, another will be a coach of a local team and another will have been doing this since Adolf Hitler fancied Dover as a holiday destination....with the other two being apprentices of this art) will always have a niche audience...but Proctor & Gamble...the makers of the worlds largest selling product to this audience, Head and Shoulders...will always be...well, head and shoulders above it!

Simple...FREE MARKET ECONOMY.

And...his better quality, more organic, eco-friendly product won't get stocked at Tesco either.......FME



If our soap guy wants to play with the big boys...he needs to ger Palmolive colgate involved......but if he does that...he won't be the independent supplier his customers like.......FME



Simple fact is that Bradford have gone from being trailblazers in SL to bottom feeders...they needed to address the loss of fans and have tried to do so....get over it

I have a lot ofsympathy for the OPs comments.



If Batley and Dewsbury who do a lot of community work in school, clubs etc then get shafted by a stronger and more aggressive powerful neighbour they will lose support. this then makes it harder for them to do that community work etc which brings new fans into the game.



Bradford may pick up fans from othere areas but they will probably put nothing back into those areas. If they were planning to do schools work or community work they should be doing it in BRADFORD



they are a parasite feeding on the work of smaller clubs.



There is no symbiotic relationship betwen them . they are just feeding off them.





However that is the way of modern society and buisness and RL is a buisness for better or worse that is the way it will be.

....and the fact is that if the Bradford Bulls aren't advertising for fans, there will be a soccer club that is, or an RU club, or the cinema, or some poor TV programme or Mecca Bingo or whatever else.

Putting up an adertising board = shafting?