Hope?

[Westy68]

Is there any hope now?

[ColonelWasp]

There's still hope until there is none left.

I know that The Legends are working behind the scenes on plans, but also think they haven't been "helped" by either the RFU or Derek.

I presume that the RFU will have timelines in place and no doubt will need to plan for next season even at this stage of the current season, but a little bit of "consideration" would be nice.

As I'm born and bred in Coventry I have followed Coventry from the Duckham/Rossborough era and did used to go along and have usually been to 2 or 3 games a season when Wasps haven't been playing.However with the sad decline of the club, I have followed Wasps since 1993 when I first saw Dallaglio play and to say that I was personally delighted when they moved to Coventry was an understatement.

However I do absolutely respect all Wasps fans views and totally understand that being based in Coventry certainly wasn't everyone's cup of tea.

We went to the first game in Coventry and then became season ticket holders after that and have also regularly followed the club up and down the country and several away games in Europe and enjoyed the friendly welcome at every ground I have been to (apart from Welford Road obviously).

I will still go to some Coventry home games later this season hopefully, but I would not go and watch any other Premiership game as it doesn't mean anything to me at this moment in time and like many on here I haven't even bothered watching on TV either.

God knows how the RFU or PRL think any die hard Wasps Fans are suddenly going to become Tigers Fans is totally beyond me!

[Peej]

They don't, it's just a conspiracy theory on here rather than confront the reality of the colossal cluster Wasps were making of managing the financial affairs smashing into the iceberg of Covid

[Shugs]

That’s interesting Colonel so two questions if I may 1) How is DR making things hard and 2) In your opinion on a scale of 1-10 how likely are we to have a side to follow in the Championship next year? (10 being we’re there, just got to choose what’s going to be on draft to 1, pit of doom, you’ll be mowing the lawn every Saturday).

[ColonelWasp]

I have heard from a couple of sources that he hadn't been as "co-operative" as he could have been, but think this has been resolved now.

I've always seen myself as a "glass half full" person, but the last few weeks have definitely tested me.

I'm 100% sure that The Legends people absolutely have the best intentions of the club at heart, but if the RFU are putting time and financial deadlines in place that are unrealistic in the current climate and if so maybe have their own "agenda" behind this that might not be good for us.

I think it may be 50:50, but that is only my opinion and not based on any direct factual knowledge at this moment in time.

I haven't heard anything "negative" from Frasers Group re Wasps playing at the CBSA, but neither have I heard anything positive (unlike CCFC comments yesterday) so again not sure how that impacts on the previous RFU statement about being in the Championship if we continue to be based where we were before Administration.

I genuinely don't know how much 'Financial Clout" the Legends Consortium has behind it, but I assume that they wouldn't have gone into this without some knowledge of what it entailed in terms of cost.

I'm just off to fill the other half of my glass up as definitely time for a beer.

[westwaleswasp]

They don't, it's just a conspiracy theory on here rather than confront the reality of the colossal cluster Wasps were making of managing the financial affairs smashing into the iceberg of Covid

10 team league is the aim. So as conspiracies go it is pretty lousy, because it has been publicly stated. This isn't a witch hunt, the witch has a pointy hat and is shouting 'I am a witch'. PRL now want a 10 team league. So that means they expect it to be more financially profitable than the 14 team league in the offing Sept. How this will happen when Wasps and Worc and the other club's fans are not attending with fewer matches to boot, is beyond me. Basic maths says fewer games and fewer fans watching domestic rugby plus people gradually killing off their BT subscriptions over the next 18 months will reduce income unless those fans are not lost to the Prem. In which case they will have swapped clubs.


 4 teams have called  for a salary cap raise and there has been talk of a European plus SA league, which I think won't fly fir sure  but it has been raised.

[Andywasp50]

I started supporting Wasps when they moved to Adams Park because they were my local club, and as a sports fan I couldn't believe my luck that they were on my doorstep. A season ticket was a no brainer. I also support Surrey cricket club, a decision made when I was about 13 because they were the nearest pro cricket team geographically and I could easily get to the Oval or Guildford. I grew up in Slough and got my football fix watching Slough Town and Fulham because my dad grew up there and he used to take me to Craven Cottage regularly where he met up with old mates.

What I'm alluding to here is that anyone, be it Coventry, Berks or London, who invests time and money in their local team through both good and bad times are the soul of a club, the sport and we're all equal. I love watching live sport, meeting likeminded fans and making new friends as a result. The ups and downs of a season, the debating of team selection, the beer, the banter, the smell of burgers, the occasion that draws everyone together and the joy of a good result combined with the anticipation of an upcoming game as the week progresses. We're all Wasps together and experience the same highs and lows.

I unfortunately work for a large corporate organisation in Berks where constant streams of graduates and shallow middle aged managers generally support Man Utd, Liverpool or Arsenal and in rugby England, more England or Saracens ("Owen Farrell is just sooo amazing...he's really good at kicking his points..!") Barely any of them have ever been to watch in person, even more so their professed side, yet it's the main topic of non-work conversation. Soulless fans ticking a box and watching from a distance on TV, emotionally detached. Hats off to all those fans in any sport who turn out week after week to support a club in person, particularly their local sides, regardless of standing and prepared to ride the rollercoaster of another season.

Also, just as an aside, for once I wholeheartedly agree with David Campese who has said rugby has an increasing problem with entertainment value. He said the 'amount of box kicking is unbelievable' and apparently the recent tri nations New Zealand v Australia game had a first half of 51 minutes where the ball was in play for just 13 of those minutes. He wants to see more of entertainers and ball in hand, citing the likes of Finn Russell and Danny Cipriani.

The win at all costs conservative rugby is a race to the bottom for me, and having noticed Saracens again seem to have tapped up a lot of the exciting young talent in the PRL who have signed for them next season, the English game must be on it's last legs as a genuinely entertaining sport. The EAs may as well sponsor the competition next season their name is written so large across the borefest, and then take out multi season tickets at Twickenham and await the battle of the rest to see who they beat in the final. Tedious stuff.

[Covkid40]

I never really watched club rugby before 2016. In 2016 my 7 year old son wanted to watch a match live so I took him to watch Wasps vs Exeter which I believe was the first home game of the season. So began my sons fanatical obsession with rugby and Wasps. That first season we ended up going to every home game and a final at Twickenham. We have been season tickets holders since and attend many away games. I cannot even begin to describe how devastated he was when Wasps folded and how desperate he is for them to return in some form. We won’t be swapping allegiances to any other club and neither do we bother watching PLR on tv anymore.

[wycombewasp]

I only watched internationals before Wasps came to high Wycombe, I knew nothing about Wasps then but couldn't pass up the opportunity to watch live rugby so a ST holder I became, I then found out that Wasps were a west London club and being as I was born in west London I then considered Wasps to be my club which they will always be, I will never support another club, I can't even bring myself to watch any club rugby at the moment, BT sport has gone. I hope and pray that Wasps are resurrected in some form. There's  an empty space on a Saturday knowing I'm not going to be elated or depressed by Wasps result, mostly depressed of late but it didn't matter because I am a Wasp.

ONCE A WASP ALWAYS A WASP   

[WonkyWasp]

I was nearly in tears reading these last above postings. Hopefully those responsible for the (close, apparently) demise of Wasps read in particular the last two.  So very much our own family's experience. I hope  the RFU in particular read these, realise what they are doing/have done, feel justifiably guilty and conscious-stricken - but there probably little chance of that.  C O Y W ................

[jamestaylor002]

I became an STH holder since the move to Coventry. Before then, I played rugby but never really had a club I supported and felt a part of.

That changed when Wasps came to Coventry and a few people who I worked with at my old workplace decided to go across for a few games. I think I only took one game to decide I needed to go more often, and a ST seemed the right way to go. I've said it in many posts but in all the years I played rugby and followed the various clubs (very casually), no club stole my heart like Wasps did. I'd been looking for that rugby family for years and finally got it when I identified as a Wasps fan.

I have been supporting Wasps religiously for the 5 years since my first game (the Tigers semi in 2017) to the point where I was slowly converting my football mad in-laws.

As I'm sure many of us do, I have Wasps memorabilia in various forms. Some are Christmas decorations, one of my favorite pieces is a signed ball that I put time and effort into getting signed. Every time I looked at it in the past, I felt pride. I still do feel pride, but I also feel a great sense of loss.

I still have faint hope that the professional Wasps are resurrected, they are the only professional outfit I will ever support (the RFU can get fudged if they think I will go support Tigers or Northampton). I would hope that we are able to hear something soon because I feel like my hope/denial is taking me down a garden path that will lead to more heartache.

I think for anyone who says "oh well, we will just go to "x" club to watch rugby now" I would argue weren't Wasps fans (even if they say they were). I would suggest that they are rugby fans who just had convenient access to live professional rugby and, if it stops being available, will look elsewhere that's relatively close by. There's nothing wrong with having that outlook, I don't judge at all, but the RFU are hugely missing the mark if they really think all Wasps fans will think the same (which a lot of us absolutely won't). Other people on this forum are echoing exactly how I see things - I will just go and put more effort into my local club (for me, it's Lichfield). I will likely go back to play and, once I can't, it just means I'll watch more than play.

I apologise if I'm recycling the same opinion in almost every post I make, but this is the only place where I think people truly understand how I feel.

[InBetweenWasp]

There is some optimism amongst some of the staff and players hoping to be involved in whatever form the Legends bid might revive Wasps into.  Likely to be more news in 4 weeks or so, until there's news either way. 

By all accounts, the execs at PRL don't see the future as simply a 10-Team Prem and are investing time and energy looking at how best they could create 2x competitive divisions, to ultimately expand top-flight rugby in England.

I'm assuming that the RFU would be supportive of this, as it would take away the RFU having to fund the league (which they're already actively seeking to reduce as it is)

[Heathen]

Thank IBW. A glimmer of hope. The best Xmas present that we might get this year!!

[Neils]

Thanks for the "glimmer".

As someone has said on the almost dead site it is nearing time for the Administrators Report (with the major element sorted).

However I wish the "Authorities" could give a green light (even partial) so that somebody could take charge and start arranging matters - maybe this is going on unercover!!

[NellyWellyWaspy]

There is some optimism amongst some of the staff and players hoping to be involved in whatever form the Legends bid might revive Wasps into.  Likely to be more news in 4 weeks or so, until there's news either way. 

By all accounts, the execs at PRL don't see the future as simply a 10-Team Prem and are investing time and energy looking at how best they could create 2x competitive divisions, to ultimately expand top-flight rugby in England.

I'm assuming that the RFU would be supportive of this, as it would take away the RFU having to fund the league (which they're already actively seeking to reduce as it is)

Here's the thing. It doesn't matter how you slice it, there is nowhere near enough money in English rugby to make it a professional game. A lot of players want it to be a profession, otherwise they cannot afford to play. That expectation gap is the issue. Take a look at the Championship. In the main, players are not paid.

At best, especially if the money that there is, is not shared around but instead mainly available only to a few clubs (partisan benefactors of clubs like Sarries and Ealing), a top league of either 8 or 10 clubs is all the RFU will end up with. Other clubs will be excluded due to lack of money.

TV money will the reduce.