Richard Lewis has said last year that there is no limit on the number of clubs that can be given a Super League license in subsequent rounds.

It is starting to look like the next round of Super League licenses are going to go to Toulouse and at least one English club. It also looks like there is no way that a Cumbrian team can be added because no one club is viable financially or in terms of players and spectators and stadium, and a combined team is not viable because of distances between clubs. It also looks like there is no way for Featherstone to get a license because there are already much stronger candidates nearby in Castleford and Wakefield, and five west Yorkshire clubs are enough in a competition that aspires to be national and international. Halifax also seems to be not viable for some of the same reasons.

If you exclude Cumbria, and any new west Yorkshire clubs other than the existing ones, then which clubs would you like to see added in 2012 and 2015? Of course financial backing is crucial and we cannot know which of the potentially financially viable clubs will get financial backing in time. So leave current financial backing aside. This is a question where you would like to see new potentially viable franchises.

I have listed clubs that I think the RFL would be interested in. I seriously doubt that Leigh is a candidate that they are interested in, because of its finances and proximity to Wigan. I also doubt that the RFL will add [iboth[/i Sheffield and Doncaster by 2015 because of their proximity and the competing demands of other geogaphic areas.

I am also sure that only clubs that first participate in the Championship are going to be considered, so that of continental European clubs only Toulouse can be considered for 2012. Any candidate for 2015 woud have to be a participant in the Championship by 2013 at the latest. So, if any more continental clubs, or Scottish or Irish clubs, are to become candidates, they have to prepare a candidate for the Championship soon.

Please divide your choices between
(a)[i minimum two to maximum four Anglo-Celtic [/i
and
(b) [iminimum two to maximum four continental European[/i,
and
(c) limit the total number to a maximum of [isix[/i (6) on the grounds of likely availability of quality players by 2015:

Anglo-Celtic

Widnes
Sheffield OR Doncaster
Gateshead-Newcastle
London II
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Dublin
Belfast

Continental European

Toulouse
Paris
Lyon-Rhone
Avignon OR Vaucluse (Avignon and Carpentras)
Mille
Barcelona

It doesn't matter, some clubs will be out on their feet after 3 years of getting tonked on poor attendances due to performances and the recession.

Give every franchise to Toulouse. You know thats what you want everyone to answer !!

That is unintelligible nonsense and not even remotely funny (except perhaps to the village idiots "vastman" and "Roofs."icon_wink.gif.

I want people to say what they feel. There are no right answers. I just want to know what other fans think in April 2009.

I really want say Toulouse...


but Featherstone is my choice.

The Central Coast is my choice for the relocation of your failing NRL club.





I am sure that other fans have serious opinions.

widnes and toulose will be in SL next time.

the only question to me is do they expand to 16 teams or do 2 teams drop off

people list wakey and cas as the likely suspects to be kicked out

for me the 2 current worst clubs are salford and quins.

if salford dont start on their ground then they should go.

halifax look like being a chance and leigh are quite disappointing.

down the track id like to see -

1. 2 more french SL clubs
2. gateshead
3. south yorkshire
4. midlands
5. scotland, ireland.

the biggest growth area for RL is france.

and on nrl expansion just for fun :

in 2012 its going to be :

1. central coast bears.
2. perth or another queensland club

down the track we need.

1. 2nd nz side
2. png
3. 4 - 5 NRL clubs in queensland

10 years down the track NZ and france are going to be the big growth areas from today.

and PNG is a potential gold mine for the game

Sheffield OR Doncaster
Gateshead-Newcastle
London II
Edinburgh


Toulouse
Paris


That should be enough to expand the game in France and prepare them for a French league with the top clubs competing in a European SL play off. Expansion in the regions will also be covered although i am disappointed that you gave no consideration to Leicester or Nottingham.

A scottish team would be enough to allow for a proper european four regions competition. I am sadly unable to find a place for an Irish club at the present time.

I wonder if we would be looking at a two conference competition with the best teams then playing off in a more convoluted play off competition similar to American football in the states.

Look, we can't answer any of this yet until [iyou[/i answer our important questions.

Widnes Vikings and Toulouse.

Ditto

Widnes

Then expand slower

Gateshead or Sheffield

If you really want to move forward with the game FFS stop posting the same old threads. Its like having UKGold on the VT

OMG he is serious, you make Walter Mitty look sane. None of those teams will ever exist because no one in those areas cares for or wants RL. London 2 is hillarious, considering London 1 limps on after 15 years with little more support since day one. Paris - hasn't that been tried.

You reallty are a very bad joke a repetitive troll or a complete loon (hah, no ones that stupid) - who knows I can't work it out

toulose do exist as a RL club

indeed if you check, youll find they are currently playing in NL1, or whatever name the comp is now

and they will be in SL next time

Widnes, Toulouse and Barrow in, Bradford out

yeah kick out a club which averages 11,000 for one that will average 3000 (barrow)

Its been a while since they averaged 11000, Bradford are bankrupt and slipping into an abyss. There are 3 much more viable clubs within a 10 mile radius

Am I missing something here?

Surely this discussion is irrelevant until we have seen who has/hasn't managed to reach NL and LER finals?

No, not really.

I was just interested in what other people, fans of the game, wanted to see happen.

Whether it will happen is another matter.

The only problem with AP is that he is not the head of the RFL. The sooner he gets a position at Red Hall the better the game will become.

It is not the same old thread.

In other threads I have said what I wanted to see happen.

In this one I am asking other people what they want, within the parameters of reality that the RFL criteria have created for these licenses (crowds, modern stadium size, not being within a certain distance of another SL club, financial viability etc).

I just want to know whether three years after Les Catalans has come on to the SL scene, with great success, and two months after Toulouse has joined the Championship, whether people on here are more open to new expansion clubs than before.

Thanks for following the criteria of numbers of choices I requested, and using up the full six.

I wish that there was a place for a club in Leicester or Nottingham, but RL is too weak in those places at this time for the game to be realisticaly able to get a team into the Championship by 2013. If some rich businessman were to appear suddenly, and start funding a club in either place, then that would be a reason to reconsider.

However in most of the Anglo-Celtic areas I had specified there is grass roots rugby league being played, several are already in the Championship, and there is an active search by the RFL for new expansion candidates for the Championship (the RFL called for proposals from Scotland and Ireland last year).

In the continental European case there is grass roots rugby being played in all the cities mentioned. Obviously Toulouse is way ahead of everyone else. But you have Elite 1 clubs in the Lyon-Villeurbane-Rhone valley region,, and in the Vaucluse region (both Avignon and Carpentras). You have an Elite 2 club in the Paris region (Corbeil) though a lot more grass roots work would need to be done to get Paris ready for a Championship team.
You have less advanced teams in Mille, and a recently started competition in Spanish Cataloniia, around Barcelona.

The admission of Toulouse into SL in 2012 is going to excite a lot more interest in France (and perhaps Spanish Catalonia), and maybe some of these other cities will get active and enthusiastic backers to make a bid.

I agree

I thought you would TBH.