What the clubs want and what is best for the future of the game is different!

... and who are London going to merge with to form one strong club?

Thats funny. Based on current form Cas would be in the top 4.

Bless

No point turning this into a my dad's bigger than your dad contest. At least with P&R the teams that perform better on the pitch are rightly the one's who earn their stay in SL. Until we realised licences made SL a closed shop, it seemed more important how many plastic seats a club had rather than how many games they won. Yes that might help [isome[/i clubs with stability, but c'mon it's fecking boring.

I'll always remember Hull KR's first SL season and the battle with Salford to avoid relegation. There were some big games at the business end of that year and the excitement, nail-biting and ultimate relief was so much more intense than any time we've scraped into the a*se end of the playoffs. Not saying I wouldn't take the playoffs every time over a relegation scrap, but whilst financial and development regulations are vital, there should always be something to play for in sport.

This is a decision that is going to split opinion straight down the middle. Hence there being at present over 13 pages of comments!

It all boils down to how the money is distributed across the sport. If teams that are promoted and teams that are relegated are given some money to ensure they don't go bust - along with regular compliance visits then it could work.

Teams in the lower leagues want ambition and to aim for the top - fair play I say. But teams in the top tier shouldn't be left to rot in the lower leagues when they do get relegated.

What is obvious is that the previous version of P&R didn't work. full stop. If it had of worked, there would have never been a franchise system to solve the many issues that at the time existed in the game.

Although London and Catalans are now no longer exempt to relegation, thought has to be given as to how to sustain the sport in those areas if they are relegated at the end of the 2014 season. We can't afford for RL to shrink back to a solely northern based game. No sponsorship or TV coverage worth it will be interested if that was to be the case.

We're finally getting to the point where the GF and top end of SL isn't dominated by the same 3/4 teams each year - this needs to continue - and if we can maintain the player development numbers and put them into 12 teams instead of 14 - that competition will become even tighter - which is what the RFL, TV and us fans want to see.

I'll hold out from judgement until I've seen all the finer details of how this change will sustain the sport at all levels and actually help RL in England GROW!

I agree with what you're saying mate, but surely once a team gets relegated they cease to be a 'top tier team'?

No one's got the god given right to be in the top tier, that's what people have to forget about.

I totally agree has long has they also put the 2nd 12 on telly has well

Hypothetically if London and les cats in ish bottom the 2015 SL could be the smallest geographical spread of top flight RL for decades.

I am struggling to see how seeing three clubs be ripped apart from relegation is a good thing just so a smaller club can have the chance of promotion.

I bet the millionaires who have been bankrolling clubs are thrilled to see their investments being put at risk. The 12 remaining clubs are not going to get anymore central funding so what is the point?

That depends on how you choose to define current form does it not? you could say that on current Cas would be joint bottom of the league, with 6 others. The final league standings reflect the entire season, only if you get into the play offs does current form become more important than season long performance overall.

firstly are you on about the same millionaires who have just voted for this and secondl what investment is this you talk about all ive seen for four yrs is people prpping failing clubs up

I don't agree with this.

Last few years
GF Wigan v Saints, Leeds v Saints, Leeds v Warrington
League Leaders: Wigan, Warrington, Wigan

This season
Top 4 currently.. Wigan, Huddersfield, Warrington, Leeds

Other than Huddersfield not dropping away this year, no other team looks like coming close to getting involved.

In what way are London a bigger club than Halifax, Featherstone, Leigh? Why are people teary eyed about them? We all want RL in London to succeed, but them getting hammered every week and moving ground every couple of years means they havn't.

Leigh had a nightmare season in our only SL season in 2005, for lots of reasons. We averaged 4600 that year. Fax have averaged over 7k in SL seasons and Fev are a club that has consistantly improved every year, they improve on the pitch and off.

What do London bring exactly? Apart from being in London? Is that it? Londons very existence in our premier RL competition is that they will play at a ground within the M25?

Maybe these 'millionaires' should make sure their money is invested well on a good youth development system, value for money players and good coaching.

When people invest in business, there's always a risk it can fail, why do SL owners and chairmen deserve a saftey net at the expense of quality competition?

Basically you saying they're happy to bankroll a losing club just as long as they aren't relegated. That's pretty-much what's wrong with the current SL anyway!

Well I'm all for it - I want to read another million pages of stats from William Eve in 2015

What is the goal? If it is to have a competitive top flight then forget relegation. Just have clubs in it that can guarantee max salary cap spending. Relegation was a disaster for most clubs pre licensing, my club has only just started to bare the fruits of jnr development programmes after 7 years, get relegated and we can kiss all that goodbye again. It is shortsighted and will see the game contract once again. Flat cappers must be wetting themselves.

Could someone direct me to where it says the two teams who finish bottom in 2014 will be relegated?

Just wait until either Wigan, Leeds, Saints or Hull FC look like they're going to go down, they'll soon change it back, i mean they did last time didn't they?

Brian Carneys shares his disappointment here :- www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... 6/8818567/ "But don't let the excitement of next year when two are going to be relegated fool you into thinking we've got a long-term sustainable plan." I think he has got that just about right.

Brian Carneys shares his disappointment here :- www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... 6/8818567/ "But don't let the excitement of next year when two are going to be relegated fool you into thinking we've got a long-term sustainable plan." I think he has got that just about right.

I'm pretty sure that everyone is going in with the intention of doing what is best for themselves and then what is best for RL.

However in the end it's about who holds the power and who holds the money and what do they want out of it?

Neither P&R or licencing are the golden shot that will solve RL's problems.
RL's problems are based on money and the lack of it in comparison to other markets that we compete with. Getting more money will not come from either P&R or Licencing. We need to grow our market. How this is done with less teams in the elite competition is a bit of an economic puzzler.

I don't think there are any easy answers to gaining more income, just hard work, by mainly the clubs to grow their income and supporter base.

Really? Have you watched any CC1 (not Champ 2) this year? It has been a thriving and exciting competition, where all teams have been reasonably competitive. Clubs have been able to join the competition without facing beltings week after week.

Last year four teams were promoted, because Championship teams whinged that they did not have a proper fixture list. Now they are going to potentially dump five clubs back down without any thought for the consequences to CC1 because it suits the agenda of the same clubs who whinged 12 months ago.

Still that's ok because you only want to see 24 clubs thrive (one of which is presumably your's)

That depends on how the new set up is financed. If it's true about the parachute payments, that may well not be the case.

Also as far as Hull KR are concerned, they'd still be seeing the fruits of their investment and junior development had P&R been in place, because they've never finished bottom of SL. That suggests to me that with the right sort of financial management, clubs can prosper regardless without taking away vital healthy competition.

Only 1 other team has to worry anyway, seen as the other teams have refused to change their stance on the Bulls only getting half their Sky money next season, you can pretty much guarantee we'll be relegated due to being massively hamstrung. Hardly a level playing field is it?!

Sort of curled up at the edges?