Toulouse and Toronto are to play at magic weekend.

Leigh get a £500K parachute payment not mentioned on the rules.

Anyone guess what will happen next season?

Discuss at will chaps...

Some people on social media are saying it is fake news though so not sure what to believe.
If it is true then that looks to me like a pre- cursor to a 14 team SL franchise system on its way with these two teams getting exposure to 'wet the appetite' before promoting them into SL.Big Nige on his mission to mirror the aussie league system with closed shop in the top league and feeder clubs/ minnows comp for the rest? Going to be really hard for the heartland clubs if that transpires.
If the parachute payment is true no wonder Leigh have been signing shed loads of players to try ensure they get straight back in Sl before all this possible change happens.
I'm old school and still believe in rewarding successful teams with promotion and those that aren't good enough with relegation. That would also apply to Fax as well.

the parachute payment is true

Quote ="Living The Dream"Some people on social media are saying it is fake news though so not sure what to believe. If it is true then that looks to me like a pre- cursor to a 14 team SL franchise system on its way with these two teams getting exposure to 'wet the appetite' before promoting them into SL.Big Nige on his mission to mirror the aussie league system with closed shop in the top league and feeder clubs/ minnows comp for the rest? Going to be really hard for the heartland clubs if that transpires. If the parachute payment is true no wonder Leigh have been signing shed loads of players to try ensure they get straight back in Sl before all this possible change happens. I'm old school and still believe in rewarding successful teams with promotion and those that aren't good enough with relegation. That would also apply to Fax as well.'" The club are still awaiting confirmation from the RFL so doesn’t look likely to be played in Toronto. Also rumours are indeed true. Disgraceful, reward a team that can’t be d to enter the challenge cup and the other team that isn’t even playing half it’s fixutes in its hometown venue. ( thought that’s what expansion was about ) www.totalrl.com/toronto-toulouse ... c-weekend/

Quote ="Living The Dream"Some people on social media are saying it is fake news though so not sure what to believe. If it is true then that looks to me like a pre- cursor to a 14 team SL franchise system on its way with these two teams getting exposure to 'wet the appetite' before promoting them into SL.Big Nige on his mission to mirror the aussie league system with closed shop in the top league and feeder clubs/ minnows comp for the rest? Going to be really hard for the heartland clubs if that transpires. If the parachute payment is true no wonder Leigh have been signing shed loads of players to try ensure they get straight back in Sl before all this possible change happens. I'm old school and still believe in rewarding successful teams with promotion and those that aren't good enough with relegation. That would also apply to Fax as well.'" The club are still awaiting confirmation from the RFL so doesn’t look likely to be played in Toronto. Also rumours are indeed true. Disgraceful, reward a team that can’t be d to enter the challenge cup and the other team that isn’t even playing half it’s fixutes in its hometown venue. ( thought that’s what expansion was about ) www.totalrl.com/toronto-toulouse ... c-weekend/

gonna be some disappointed people imo

Is this 500k in addition to the 750k they will get ? No wonder Beaumont didn't look worried about relegation. Will HKR & The Dulls be claiming a retrospective payment where in the murky depths of the RFL Rulebook are the Rules on Parachute Payments Lurking.
How come a Team can opt out of a Cup Competition Level playing Field my eye !!

Beyond belief.

Don't be bitter Michael,we have 7 overseas players to pay and house as well as 3 French men, hope to see you soon, and more than a couple of times next season.Good turn out tonight at the LSV for handing out the Squad Numbers.

Not bitter at all Charles I have nothing against Leigh its just the whole system of secrecy & apparent unfairness emanating from the RFL so should Teams relegated to Champ 1 rcve a parachute payment?
As always look forward to seeing you & all my Leyther Friends next Season

Ditto with Fax fans and a visit to the Shay. Missed that last season. Games between us have always been exciting, and next year will be no exception.

Apparently, the SL teams, including us (!) voted to 'sacrifice' £45k each, of their Sky money to soften the blow for whoever got relegated. Just as well, as it turned out! Being 'old school' I am well used to the RFL changing the rules at a whim, but I'm not sure whether they were ever involved in this one - which is even more disturbing! As for HKR, well they will presumably be the willing recipients of this SL generosity next season, when x sorry, if, they get relegated!



I too am intrigued at the Championship presence at Magic weekend. Perhaps the RFL simply wanted to treat speccies to some proper (i.e. Championship) RL? What I find annoying is that Toulouse cop out of a lengthy, tiring trip to Toronto, in addition to the tiring, injury inducing Challenge Cup ties. Of course, we may yet all be copping out of a trip to Toronto, if their ground improvements are delayed!

Maybe that's the reason why our canny owner has given three double all expenses paid trips to the Toronto away game, to lucky season ticket holders. Let's face it, a weekend in Manchester doesn't incur quite the expense as one in Toronto, nor does it have quite the same appeal - well, not to Lancastrians, at any rate!

Magic Weekend / Summer Bash are "extra" fixtures, so Toulouse will still have a trip to Canada?

I've never understood the rationale behind "parachute" payments. If you're relegated then why should you have such a massive advantage against your new adversaries? Clever stuff though for the other SL teams to provide the cash - not sure why the top teams would have gone for it though?

That aside, having two overseas Championship teams at a SL event does take the RFL to a new level of incredibility. You could say that it will devalue the Summer Bash, but given they (naturally) won't bring any support, they won't really be missed.

Quote from L/Express "Toronto have surrendered their Home advantage to take part in order to continue raising the clubs profile"

Presumably they are still attending the Summer Bash? For instance, Toronto are playing Leigh, at Blackpool.

You'd think they would want to increase their profile in Canada

Good point!

What I can't understand is why Toronto would give up a home game against a French team when I thought a lot of French people live in Canada,surely that would have been one of the games at home where they would have tried to get more home fans watching

Is there a chance that Toronto could be giving up more than one home advantage, because of their stadium/pitch re-development? Fax and Leigh fans were advised to hold off booking their trips to Toronto, because of this - advice that I'm not aware of having been changed yet

It's all very confusing this. Why can't clubs just stick to the same fixture arrangements as we 'Luddite' English clubs?

Yes they are

Merry Christmas to all.

Thinking about this it does sound like a good idea if you could trust the RFL as far as you could throw their top man, after his Christmas dinner.