The primary purpose of any professional sport is to make money. Of course it's in the sport's best interests to please fans and grow the fan base, because fans watch on tv (generating profit from tv deals) and buy merchandise, beer, and tickets. In terms of English RL, the fan base is already displacing itself by aging and dying off. If RL is to continue as a successful professional sport, it needs to support expansion AND find ways to support the game in the north of England. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

It's been said many times that RL needs to market to new, younger crowds and sell the game as entertainment much better than it appears to be doing currently. The Challenge Cup win by Catalans can be used as a huge boost to showcase this exciting game to new fans in England as well as France (and grow new sponsorships and revenue). Or it can be used to continue bemoaning the fate of heartland clubs.

Just like Belle Vue then

Batley has a good feel/atmosphere these days. You expansionists should go down sometime

I was there in 2016 when Salford played them. Yes was a good atmosphere.

Yet there's still only Mahe Fonua who's from Melbourne so it's quite clearly an example of successful expansion despite the fact that the player pool hasn't been increased.

There's a place for both but it has to be given time and at the right pace, or have the right funding in place with a guarantee that the owner/main financial backers won't pull the plug after two seasons.

For me, there's a few areas already in our leagues that could strengthen the sport considerably - London, Coventry, Newcastle and York but to name a few, along with Sheffield, who could all offer much more in terms of vibrancy and city name.

Rugby League as a whole needs to decide on where it wants to go and support these sides. The sooner we can get them to the top the better the sport will be. And that's with no disrespect to team like Halifax, Featherstone, Batley and Dewsbury but their commercial and growth potential is limited because they're in a saturated area already.

If we can expand within the UK reasonably then it should please both sides of the fence. The fact is that if there was a real appetite for the local communities around these locations to get them up, they'd have more fans and money than they have now. And that's the problem, you either move with the times or get left behind and fall down the ladder.

That's the same for Cumbria. If you want a SL outfit, get your heads together about the best way to do that. The RFL can't force clubs to do anything about it, the will has to be there themselves.

Imagine a top flight of

Catalans
Coventry
Newcastle
Toronto
York

+ 9 existing SL outfits

Yes I've been selective in teams included but for me Coventry, York and Newcastle are the areas we should be absolutely hammering. Coventry is the gateway to the Midlands, York because it doesn't have any major sporting outfits and is a rich area, and Newcastle as it's the gateway to the North East.

Following the success of Bristol in the World Cup, it's a shame that we haven't got more of a presence down there either.

It isn't necessarily about losing what we have but opening the doors and generating new teams with new audiences to add to what we have. For me, the biggest problem is that there isn't a link up between the top tiers and the amateur game which football has. So someone like Salford City, AFC Wimbledon, Ebbsfleet can buy *cough* I mean invest their way up the ladder. Why aren't we doing the same with amateur clubs? Why isn't there joined up thinking? Why is it even a case that we have summer seasons and winter seasons nowadays?

Where's the joined up thinking? I've just had a look at the National Conference Leagues and they're all northern based. Why aren't any southern amateur teams in these? Why don't we have divisions where Bedford Tigers can play Lock Lane while Southend Sharks visit London Chargers or Gateshead Storm play Waterhead? Why don't we have promotion between League 1 and the National Conference League with minimum standards for each?

It's time to get a grip across the game and have clear Tiered teams with the ability for someone with money and sponsors to invest in someone like London Chargers and take them to the top without the need of having to faff around with the RFL's application process and shoehorning them into League 1. If someone wants to set up a team put them in the Bachelor's Mushy Peas Regional Conference South or North Division at the bottom.

If new teams from overseas want to come in then fine but start at the bottom or let's create a league under the auspices of the RFL. What exactly are the FFR doing in France? Why aren't they driving governance of their own division? Why aren't they going out getting sponsors in? What exactly have they done over the last decade that Catalans have been in the league? They're sat on their thumbs. Who is asking these questions? Where's the ambition for a successful France team?