They may be poor, but their crowds are no worse than Halifax's were in SL, and only slightly worse than Leigh's, and only a little worse than Salford's now. Incidentally as far as I'm aware London have never finished bottom, so Rugby not exactly as poor as some heartland clubs eh? You also have to take into account their youth work, theres a lot of talent coming through down there and they prefer to blood youngsters than buy Australians, unlike Hull 'let's have 10 Australians in our side' Sydney Rovers. What part of 'without London, I don't think we'll have Sky' don't you understand? The RFL doesn't have the money to set up random clubs in Bath and Newcastle, RL clubs rely on wealthy benefactors, such as Hughes who ploughs millions of pounds into Harlequins and into the sport of Rugby League, and your hair brained idea is to tell wealthy benefactors like Hughes to bog off so the RFL can bankrupt themselves setting up a club in Bath?

You and BCFC Bradford seem to have a lot in common, you should get together and maybe be friends

what, like schizophrenia you mean?

You suggesting some people should start playing with themselves...?

The fact that the RFL have not thought of it before clearly shows just how useless they are.

No too many persona, could get caligulan and Ancient Provocateur might come back

No comment

I am not terrace singers alter-ego you know, have i not made that clear?

Oh aye because Gateshead (not a million miles from Newcastle), was such a resounding commercial success and Bath is absolutely gagging for an alternative to rugby union and there's loads of spare fields for someone to build a stadium.

I can see you've really given this some thought

oh yeah, gateshead were in super league. what happened to them?

I emailed the RFL "Dear Mr RFL, Why carnt rugby be like football all over the country? Why does it have to be like 'M62'? It would attract alot more supporters. Yours sincerely, Mr tigertot (aged 12&3/4)"

Here is there response "Dear Master tigertot, Doh! Why didn't we think of that? We will bring it in for SLXVI, it will be the best SL eva. Happy birthday for March. Kind Regards, Gary H Rhino."

very good,as an ignorant froggie,do I detect a hint of sarcasm there ?



[size=150Allez Olivier !!![/size

Mais non!

Tigertot sarcastique? Ce n'est jamais la situation ...

Don't see you round these parts often, Coddy?

You are right, though.

spoke to Olivier at a recent LER game and seemed really exited about being back with MP not to mention the challenge of living & working in England again (brrrr) - he's a smashing lad and all the best to him - 'bon chance mon pote'

Blame the barmpot that I responded to. I'd seen his latest missive on the sin bin and just followed him here

En es-tu absolument certain?

Lost the original reply I was righting so I'll keep this brief!

Expansion clubs will always be a sore point for traditional clubs who lose out on a place in SL. However if we want the game to grow and not slip further into obscurity it needs torch barers in these new markets. I would imagine the RFL judge these teams not on the success on the pitch or through the turnstyle, but rather by what they offer behind the scenes such as offering the new market to watch top RL if they wish and developing the schools and grassroots in their local area. London may not be a hotbed of top flight SL teams (thank God as otherwise there would be even more people complaining that their team isn't in SL!) but the game is much healthier at grassroots than it was 15 or 20 years ago.

As for the success of the expansion teams... London have been a steady SL team and have a challenge cup final behind them as do Catalans who also have a decent record apart from a poor year last year. Crusaders have had a poor year and a reasonable year but really need time to develop which they haven't had as the last two pre-seasons have been disrupted with moves and takeovers and the first year they lost half their squad.

Out of the current teams who look in doubt...

Cas seem to have a well organised and intelligent board who have developed the club and team over the last few years (beginning even before franchise). Traditionally they have a loyal support base in the town and their new ground will allow them to develop this and make them more attractive to away fans as it is in a fantastic location. I can't remember them 'buying' any players in but they have developed their playing squad by bringing players in and developing their own talent but there will always be a risk that any genuine superstars will be poached by 'bigger' clubs. If/when their new ground gets build the question will be whether any of the NL1 clubs who are looking likely to get the nod will bring anything more to SL - in my opinion they won't. Also, the last time they went down was because Wigan bought their way out of trouble and broke the Salary Cap.

Salford seem to be looking quite good with a new stadium now underway and a massive recruitment drive to try and bring some success on the pitch (a last hoorah for the Willows maybe or a need to justify their place in SL?) I've seen their recruitment with interest and just hope they've got their finances in order as they seem to have brought a boatload of players in as the last thing they need is to breach the cap.

Wakie seem to be floundering from one crisis to the other over the last few years off the pitch with financial problems and then a stadium that was approved and then wasn't as part of the land is on Leeds City Council land or something (I was on holiday when that particular story broke) This looks like being a major spanner in the works when it comes to getting a franchise - if they were in trouble with Belle Vue they're going to be even worse without a ground! In a way it's a shame as they've been reasonably successful on the pitch since they got back into SL.

OK... Maybe not that brief.

Why do people still claim that Rugby League is a sport played in only Yorkshire and Lancashire when the the only team left from lancashire (Blackpool) was booted out of the league?

In Super league we have:

5 teams from Yorkshire - Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Castleford and Wakefield (for now)

2 teams from Greater Manchester - Salford and Wigan

2 teams from Humberside (or North Lincolnshire or whatever it's calling itself this week) - Hull and Hull KR

1 team from Merseyside lah - St Helens

1 from Cheshire - Warrington

1 from Wales - Wrexham (or Crusaders or Taffy Crusaders or whatever this years rebranding is)

1 from London - London

1 from France - Catalan Dragons

So the media can justify their pathetic & patronising coverage.

East Yorkshire has been ever since an enlightened government decided to ditch an administrative region that nobody asked for or needed. Unfortunately radio and emergency services continue to perpetuate the farce that was humberside.

So you have six Superleage teams in Yorkshire, Sheffield dropped out of the competition long ago

I know what he means. That isn't a mistake