I'd Kick Hull KR out and replace them with South Sydney......the bunnies have less Australians on their books

Forget Hull KR. They are a proffessionally ran outfit who are going place, neither of which can be said for Castleford. Put them out of their misery.

Your reasoning behind such an opinion?

Whichever club loses it's SL status for the greater good,they have nothing to fear.The Championship is a vibrant competition,worth winning in it's own right.

I got it!!!!

You are fat Mick Nanyn! Bad luck on never making it in superleague but unfortunantely.... You were just too shocking! You are better off at 2nd rate clubs like Widnes in their council owned stadium.

Yea you are right long term growth is important and so we should look to those teams that are producing the England players of the future, the ones with players in the England academy at the moment.

Only the best run clubs in the country could produce talent like that surely? Well looking at the England academy first 17 the teams with more than one player are Wigan, Warrington, Bradford and.... Castleford.

Yea, no future in Cas



Maybe you should get your 2nd rate club to call Wigan or Wire they may have a few rejects for you to sign now they have some more good young players coming through the ranks. They will fit in with all the rest of the rejects you have, and you never know if you sign enough of them your joke of a club might even be able to beat Batley if you ever have another day out in Blackpool.

It is true that the Championship is a vibrant competition well worth winning, however, the relegated club will have to become part-time which means job losses, they'll also lose £1M Sky cash per year and the pulling power to attract sponsors etc. The majority of Championship clubs have poor away support compared to SL clubs so attendances will suffer greatly also.

There's a big difference between going down for 1 season and going down for a minimum of 3. The likelyhood of the demoted team being accepted in 2015 is also in question, as they'll most probably be in a weaker position than they are currently in.

Oh dear it looks like someone has well and truly taken the bait, anyway lets dissect this hate-filled post.

Stadium: This is almost not worth making an argument out of comparing the Stobart Stadium to the "Jungle". Hows that new stadium coming along anyway? I couldn't care less if we are playing in a council owned stadium, the amount of money O'Connor has pumped into it himself has developed it to top class standard with state of the art facilities for players, management and media. Meanwhile Wheldon Road can only be described as a health and safety risk and the sooner it gets bulldozed the better, I'd prefer not to be at risk of getting soaked to the skin or contracting asbestos related illnesses.

Academy: Don't know if you caught much of the academy season last year? If not you'd have recognised that Widnes had one of the best academy sides in the country beating all Super League teams they came up against and finished top of their table. It does beggar belief how we haven't got a single representative at national level but thats the RFL for you, anyway you must admit we can't have done bad for a lowly Championship side!

Joke of a Club:

i'll leave that comment and trust you got out the wrong side of bed this morning, and if i remember correctly it wasn't so long ago you were enjoying a trip out to Blackpool?!


FWIW I actually enjoy a visit to Cas on a warm summers day and we've had some decent matches in recent years but its obvious as its getting closer to license decision time your backsides are twitching like a rabbits nose, I believe its either you or Wakey are for the drop, you've had 3 years to get a stadium sorted and I don't think the "but we've got a player in the academy team" will stand up really.

All the best
Steve O'Connor

Yes,I am aware of the downside.However, it will be a small sacrifice to make for the good of the game.Whichever heartland club is demoted can take great consolation in the knowledge they are contributing to the games expansion by making room in SL.

Not sure that the stadium at Blagnac would be sufficient as, although there are two reasonably big stands, there isn't much in the way of terracing elsewhere. Would be great if they could strike a deal to play at Stade Toulousain though - it hosted the France-England game in 2008 as well if memory serves me right.

Yeah, but Stade Toulousain became unavailable at short notice for the recent France international, owing to a fungal infection (mushrooms) on the pitch. For some reason, this did not prevent the RU club playing there. Maybe summer is not the mushrooom growing season for French RU grounds, but I think TO would be unwise to rely on having it available week in, week out.

Anyway, the good news is that the council agreed on Wednesday, to upgrade Minimes. No details on plans or timescales yet, but it seems not to be conditional on SL entry.

Because the RFL won't kick out Harlequins because they need a team in London and they are bringing through alot of youngsters at the moment. Dorn was the only overseas player in the team for quite a few games last season. Also Crusaders will not be kicked out unless they go bust as they want a team in Wales. For Wakefield's other competition in Salford and Castleford. Salford have made a number of good signings for next season and i expect will come close to a top 8 finish. Castleford are getting better each season compared to Wakefield who seem to be declining IMO which is highlighted by the poor signings they have made.

So, basically, out of the heartland clubs under threat, the licensing decision will be based on next year’s squads?

I'm not sure what this is about. I mean, I don't understand your bitterness to joining a vibrant competition worth winning in its own right and making way for someone for the good of the game.

Obviously not just on that but Cas and Salfords better squads will give them a upper hand as they will be more competitive in super league.

Whats so funny?
Is it the fact we have flown past you on a RL standing as if you were going backwards?

I can't speak for wnf, of course: but personally, I have no intention of making way for you.

However, if it turns out to be that it is us who lose our licence, irrespective of who is successful in this early, championship clubs only, application round, I promise not to go off in one and blame the RFL, Widnes or anybody else, other than ourselves, who've known for three years what we need to do to be successful in the 2010 bids,



And if we're both successful in our bids, I look forward to renewing our onfield rivalry. You game us some good work-outs in 2007

I promise to be mature about it if that happens.

quite right Matt - friday night game which started well for the french with James Wynne scoring an early try but it was the usual story after that !!! The mighty Leon was MOM by a mile in a team made up of mainly Saints & Rhinos players if I recall - the french side (pre BG) was ordinary even by their standards despite a decent performance by captain JR now of Wakey fame.
interesting to see that french team to the present set-up : the french seem to have loads more promising kids coming through and i'm ten times more optimistic for the french than I have been for a while - keep up the good work Bobby !
Blagnac is limited though marginally better than Minimes tho' Stade Toulousain would be the ideal choice ie easy access etc IMO at least as a temporary measure to take the future SL crowds or maybe use both ie,Stade T for the 'big' teams then Blagnac for the 'smaller' visiting fans teams like quins ?

Thought so.

So you think Wakey should be kicked out because in your opinion they will be poor in the 2011 season! Hardly nailed on (as you put it) is it? I thought the franchises where about the last 3 years criteria, and future business plan, plus facilities.

Wakefield have always been one of the most underrated teams in SL, a lot fans take a look at the signings and just assume they will struggle. Been here many a time before and it's a situation they revel in.

Let me stand on the terraces of a traditional ground rather than be shoe horned into plastics seats with the leg room allocated to a jet2 customer. For this privilege you pay top dollar and are forever standing up when the action gets exciting. Which in the case of rugby league is 80% of game time. Stick your football stadia up your ars*s and lets get back to affordability. Have we forgot the last few years of credit and overstretching ourselves as greedy people made money on the back of other peoples' debt.

Lets gradually improve matters and lower the criteria for franchises. If we have 20 teams meeting this criteria, then lets copy the American Football model of divisions based on geography, which also incorporates rotational inter divisional matches and end of season play offs. Cas for example would not solely be playing matches in their division but would be up against Lancashire and Cumbrian teams too.

The criteria for franchises can be gradually improved at a slower more sustainable rate. I don't want rugby league to be part of a 'closed club' of selfish teams administered by faceless toss*rs. Lets be more open to supporting our smaller teams and give them a chance to grow.

Stop the backbiting and sacrificing, stick together and change tactics, it doesn't have to be the selfish way.

I just don't think we can support 20 teams though, I agree about the idea of conferences and divisions, but I'd like to see a Western and Eastern Conference, divided into North and South. It'll cut games.