I have taken this off the Fav forum on Total rl, Quite interested that the independant panel has RIchard Lewis And Nigel wood on them. Hardly independant is it.
The RFL have sent out the following Super League licensing frequently asked questions. Posted below for info.
What are the aims and objectives of Super League licensing?

Licensing is a central factor in ensuring Super League reaches its aim of being the best elite Rugby League competition in the world. Licensing is designed to ensure:

The promotion and continuous improvement of the standard of Rugby League in the UK and the training of young players in each club.
The impact of the Super League is broadened beyond its traditional heartlands, and the development of the league in strategically significant areas is continued.
Super League clubs have appropriate management and organisational systems in place and to promote the highest standards of financial and business management of clubs.
The promotion of high quality infrastructure in order to provide players, staff, spectators and media with well appointed, well equipped and safe environments.
The promotion of the highest standards in clubs commercial, marketing, media and community departments.
To satisfy the requirement to ensure a financially strong company Super League through sponsorship and broadcast revenue
What period is the next licence for?

The next round of licences will be awarded for the period 2012 to 2014.

Who will decide which clubs obtain a licence for 2012 to 2014?

The independent RFL Board will determine who gains membership to the Super League in 2012. The board’s decisions will be based on a detailed and comprehensive assessment of each club’s application.

Who will carry out the assessment?

The assessment process is co-ordinated by the RFL’s own executive with further specialist contributions from external agencies, including property consultants Savills and financial experts KPMG.

Who sits on the independent RFL Board?

The board comprises five members, none of whom have club affiliations - RFL Chairman Richard Lewis, RFL Chief Executive Nigel Wood and three non-executive directors: Clare Morrow, Bob Stott and Maurice Watkins.

Clare Morrow is Chair of the tourism marketing agency Welcome to Yorkshire and has previously worked in television with ITV Yorkshire, where she was Controller of News and Regional Programming and Head of Sport.

Bob Stott was a director of supermarket group Morrisons plc for over 20 years, including a period as chief executive. He is a non-executive director of the Leeds Building Society, the Greyhound Board for Great Britain and bakery group Frank Roberts and Sons.

Maurice Watkins is a senior partner at Brabner Chaffe Street and one of the country’s most prominent sports lawyers. He is also a director of Manchester United, a director for the British Association for Sport and Law and a member of the FA Premier League Legal Advisory Group.

Has a club from the Championship already been awarded a licence?

Yes, Widnes Vikings were awarded a licence on March 31 after their application was assessed as the strongest from a Championship club alongside that of Barrow Raiders and Halifax.

The decision was announced in March to give Widnes extra time to make the transition from being a predominantly part-time operation to being a full-time, fully professional Super League club.

Halifax were deemed to have met minimum standards and their application went on to be reassessed alongside those of the existing 14 Engage Super League clubs. Barrow did not meet minimum standards and were eliminated from the assessment process.

What criteria did the Championship clubs have to meet?

The minimum criteria for a Championship club to be awarded a Super League licence are:

Club has reached a Championship Final or won the Northern Rail Cup in 2009 or 2010.
Club has a stadium with an operational capacity of 10,000.
Club has turnover of at least £1,000,000 in financial year ending 2009 or 2010 (turnover of charitable Foundation can be included in this figure).
Club has an average attendance of at least 2500 in 2009 or 2010
When did the Super League clubs submit their applications?

Super League clubs were required to submit their applications by close of business on Friday April 1, 2011.

What happens if Halifax’s application is stronger than that of two existing Super League clubs?

Halifax’s application has been assessed alongside that of the 14 existing Super League clubs. Should their application be deemed to be stronger than that of two other clubs, Halifax will be awarded a licence and two Super League clubs will not have their licences renewed.

Has the assessment process changed from the last round of Super League licensing?

In the last round of licensing, clubs were initially assessed and awarded points on reaching minimum standards. In this round of licensing, clubs will be assessed against A Grade criteria. The figures and information used within the criteria are those of a perceived A Grade club (for example 5,000 season ticket holders, audited turnover of at least £4 million, no insolvency event between 2008 and 2010). These criteria are designed to reflect the advancing standards within Super League, and take account of the feedback received from clubs following the last round of licensing.

How have the applications been assessed?

Clubs have been assessed on criteria in 5 key areas:

Commercial, Marketing, Media and Community.
Facilities.
Finance.
Governance and Business Management.
Playing Strength and Player Performance Strategy.
Clubs that meet all of the A Grade criteria across the 5 areas will be awarded an A Grade licence. Clubs that materially meet all the A Grade criteria and/or satisfy the RFL that they will meet the criteria in the next round of licensing will be awarded a B Grade licence.

The RFL will then allocate the remaining Super League licences to those existing Super League clubs and/or Championship clubs which applied for a licence and met the Championship Club Minimum Criteria. The licences will be allocated to those clubs that the RFL board believes are the most suitable, taking into account the:

Extent to which each club helps meet the SLE Strategy and the strategic aims and objectives of the Licensing process;
Historical activity of the clubs under consideration; and
RFL’s reasonable opinion as to future performance of the clubs under consideration.
How have clubs planning new or redeveloped stadia been assessed?

New stadiums or redevelopments of existing stadiums have only been taken into account if the RFL Board was satisfied that the stadium will be open or the redevelopment finished by the start of the 2012 season.

When will the identity of the 13 other licence holders be announced?

RFL Chairmand Richard Lewis will announce the decision of the independent board at a media conference in Manchester on Tuesday July 26 at 11.00am.

When will the clubs find out?

The clubs will learn their fate on Tuesday July 26 at 11.00am when Richard Lewis reveals the board’s decision at the media conference. Immediately after the announcement, the RFL will contact each individual club with details of their grading and to set up a meeting at which they will receive detailed feedback on their licence application. The RFL will not make public summaries of all the applications until the feedback process with the clubs is completed.

All sounds fair enough to me

Mmmmmmm.

But then....



Well Quinns and Crusaders certainly have problems there dont they. I would be shocked and amazed if our application wasnt stronger then both these but then i would be shocked and amazed if they even considered not awarding either of those teams a franchise.

Like Starbug says it all sounds pretty fair especially the independant panel bit. I cant possibly see anyway they cant let us in.

"The impact of the Super League is broadened beyond its traditional heartlands, and the development of the league in strategically significant areas is continued. "


That's it right there, forget it!

It might be a good idea to make this a sticky so that if there are any RFL unanounced arbitary changes that suddenly appear to suit their real agenda then it will be even more obvious than it is now that they do what they like when they like whatever they have said previously.

Okay I admit it I'm bitter, twisted and cynical and should really believe every thing they say.
Sorry RFL you are a credit to the game and we would not want it any other way, thank you so very very very very much.

"New stadiums or redevelopments of existing stadiums have only been taken into account if the RFL Board was satisfied that the stadium will be open or the redevelopment finished by the start of the 2012 season."


OH DEAR CAS AND WAKEY!

Never mind them , Salfords wont be ready

I do hope this has been posted on the VT!

afew of them will be worried! haha

and reading that they should be!

Near the start it says" it`s for promotion and continuous improvment of the standard of rugby league in the UK and the training of young players in each club."
Well if that is the case why are we all spending a fortune on France?

All i can say is, if they stick to what the say about stadiums we should be in, however they need 14 teams so us and one other team out of wakefield, castleford & salford should be in. But somehow i can not see it happening

I like the fact that asking if Halifax will get in is a frequently asked question.

Come on RFL, give the public what they want

That word in there - subjective - means they can put in any club to suit their agenda. Smokey TA is an expert on it - at least he hopes it will get him the highest job!

My take on it is - the top 5 clubs are obvious, the rest all similar, why have us jump through hoops in the futile knowledge that the RFL will "subjectively" build a super league of whoever they want! I suppose it makes the sport vaguely interesting every 3 years - seeing how much the RFL can squirm and put spin on their soul destroying decisions

What about the player strength thing - obviously we do not have any SL pleyers so we will have to be marked down on it, as stupid as that rule seems.
Also, we have not added to SL in recent years so even the worst club in there has better chances than we have.
It's all bollox as we have all said on numerous occasions.
Hopefully though I may be forced to eat my words when we become part of the family.

How can Nigel Wood be deemed impartial when he is ex-Fax CEO?

The simple answer is he can't.

Since leaving fax he has done "bog all" for us and I expect this trend to continue

Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls and other such clubs should have saved themselves some time and just wrote. we are Bradford Bulls in there application and sent it off.

He did us no good when he was here, BLUE SOX. my @rse.

Just had a quick trawl and noticed that Crusaders and Quins don't have much on their forums about franchising but Cas,Wakey, Salford etc. are all talking about it, strange.
WOnder if they don't care or think they are exempt yet again?

Quins and Crusaders don't have any fans to debate it.

Boots n All has seemed to change its tune on it too, quite scathing about some clubs that haven't even had a lick of paint?
Im inclined to think its just lip service though, Terry O'Connor, Bill Arthur and Michael Steele all hinting at what we continue to gripe about.
For me Cas, Crusaders and Quins are in a process with us, Wakey are gone, the others can rest easy, I think it boils down to whether they get tough on Finances or Stadiums.

They RFL can solve the gripes about giving clubs like Halifax a license by putting us in SL. It's a win-win situation for them. If we succeed they can say "great, we were right". If we fail they can say "we gave a club like Fax a try and they failed, therefore we ARE going to be more selective in future" and the conspiracy theorists will be gone.

The ' Scapegoat ' technique , yes we at Leigh know all about that , how many times have we heard the ' SL almost bankrupted Leigh ' bollox , when in fact we broke even in SL

But sad that they are in SL when clubs with fans are not!!!!!

Is anyone else getting even more positive about this decision like me?!

what better way to shake up interest in a sport than a 'massive unexpected announcment!'

Most of the RFL's announcements are unexpected by normal people and Nigel Woods underpants and Richard Lewis's ears are both massive.

Are you suggesting that Mr Lewis is going to come on live telly with Woody's underpants on is head with his ears sticking through the leg holes with the chosen teams written on the front.



Because that would really shake em up, in fact some may never be able to watch tv ever again.



PS. Watching Quins, Crusaders and Salford has a similar effect.