depends on which city and which heartland club

paris (stade francaise) / toulose offer more for SL than leigh / barrow etc.

it depends on the actual bids. Stade francaise Paris bid which has strong financial backing is clearly much better than a PSG. im not a fan of places like barcelona etc

widnes for example are a much stronger heartland club than barrow or leigh as well

its not as simple as your statement indicates

So Paris is good , but Barcelona is bad , just because you are not a ' fan ' of one of them , and you expect us to take you seriously

I was reffering to existing SL clubs not Championship clubs

So You suggest a large european city as long as they have a stadium and financial backing should replace who ?

If the RFL are serious about expanding in France then maybe they should be concentrating on building a French 'heartland'. The Dragons thrive on being Catalan and Toulouse are also part of this identity.

When I went to Beziers hast August to watch Cats play Hull FC there was a crowd of 9,800! And Beziers is an hour an a half from Perpignan where Cats' home is. The town had its annual festival then and displays of Catalan identity were all over the place. It was still evident when I visited Mille on the same holiday (now there's a place that just feels right for rugby league...).

And Barcelona is essentially Catalan - so there you are: build the Catalan thing Mr Lewis. Just think of those fabulous Magic Weekends!

it wouldnt, it would be judged on a number of things as has been said

why not, if they want to be playing SL rugby in a couple of years, why not tell them to get their youth structures sorted


not a squads worth no




yes, it shows we are willing to accept change and growth, 3 years in the championhip wasting time and money doesnt show commitment as much as you want to pretend it does! it doesnt show anything, its simply an arbitrary stipulation to placate the flat cappers, it means nothing and acheives nothing

frankly its a little pathetic the flatcappers can be bought off so easily with something so worthless

if a team has the potential support base, has the stadium, has the business plan, has the skills to execute it and the commitment and financial backing to do so then yes we should give them the opportunity of an SL side

so why hasnt it changed in over a hundred years?

since you cant read, wakey have to be out of SL next time.

and next time toulose and widnes have to be in, as well as probably paris.

My post was quite simply an attempt to get DM to post what you have , and then ask why the NRL havent done the same with the Wellington Orca's ?

He is a fan of expansion in Europe but not in Australaisia

Changing the point of the argument again Smokey , you know where I was going with that post

you were wrong

because the NRL have a faction (unbelievably) which is more parochial than anything we can muster in RL in this country

Ah … of course. Two people attending the same international match. It has to be a cospiracy.

Or a CONspiracy even

Read it more carefully.

Most of the teams required are absent.

Many of the areas previously with an influence have little or none.

This needs to change, through exposure, especially via TV.

The ESL should be fused to this structure, not replace it.

Etc.

A valid point, but there is more pressure in the Championship than in the academy league, which is why SL sides look to lending academy players to Championship clubs. Which suggests that the Championship is a better test of whether a club is ready for SL than having an academy side.

The Championship also gives them time to develop a home following and establish the idea before they join SL.

1 - You can have an exploratory meeting without deciding the outcome.
2 - I could see the RFL going two up two down with one Championship club what ticks all the boxes and the other being TO - even if they don't tick the boxes, but I'm not convinced. Personally I wouldn't want TO in the SL if they can't get their act together to perform at the Championship level. Looking at the French side vs Nz we saw that the players are there in France and TO could chose to sign an all-French side that could compete with the best. But they don't want to try that because it's a risk. How much more of a Risk will they have to go to to compete in SL?
3 - Barrow is an excellent idea, RL heartland, big money backer, expansion area.

Which two ?

All these threads currently discussing possible new SL clubs all seem to have one unanswerable question

Which club/s should be dropped out and why ? , oh it's easy to say ' the worst performing ' , or this/that club if they dont get their stadium built , but deep down everybody knows that there is NO fair way of doing it and whichever club/s are chosen will be decimated by it

So Who gets the ' chop ' and how should it be decided

Being TOTALLY radical here

Based upon RESULTS and League position?

It's a concept that has possibilities!!!!

In the last year or over the 3 years [ but you cannot do it over the 3 years because 2 clubs will have only been in SL 2 years when the decision has to be made

Why should Stade Francais entering superleague mean another club should necessarily drop out of the Superleague?

Surely the important distnction to be made here between what is being talked about regarding this idea and all other clubs hoping for a franchise next time around is that Stade will be completely self-funding.

In other words, the existing teams or whoever gets the existing spots still get exactly the same cut of the cake that they get at the moment, but a team can be added because they do not require either RFL support or the Sky money.

Now there are problems with this, as other posters have pointed out- not least the idea that a club is supported by a single individual. However, Stade are huge, and their president has grown them from almost nothing. He has a track record therefore which should count in his favour. Plus leading figures in France are involved who would not wish to see the venture fail.

The coverage such a team could garner in the French press would surely grow the game, with articles in L'Equipe for instance.

None of this though has to be to the detriment of the English game, as I have said, there is no need for any English team to suffer as a result of Stade's inclusion plus a stronger French national side in the long run gives us stronger opposition.

bury your head in the sand all you want.

who said im not a fan of NRL expansion to NZ or PNG dunce?

im a massive fan of the Warriors and all theyve achieved in the nrl.

eventually i want a NRL team in PNG together with a 2nd NZ side.

its just that next time round central coast will be one side, and the other a toss up between perth and queensland