Considering the recent comments regarding clubs financial positions you see this as a possibility ? , well I hope you are right , but I wont be holding my breath

If we can get more money from the sky deal again i dont see why not, the sl clubs would still end up with more money that they have now and the championship would be more stable.

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Sorry but not that good a plan , sure you dont work at the RFL

The rfl havent had problems with increasing the sky deal the last few times, and its not as if rating for rl on sky arent good.

Not a lot of options though is it , so basically the whole sport is controlled by SKY television and our future is at their whim , scary having all our eggs in one basket isn't it

Yes but after more than a decade i'm used to the idea.

Which is part of the reason we are in the mess we are , until the sport can change this reliance it will not move forward

Like most of what you write this is absolute bollox

The game is healthier than it has been for a long long long time. It is growing, and has been growing and has been for the last 7 years. The sport will always be reliant on one sports network offering more than the others. In fact its how we sell our rights.

The game is fine, it is in rude health and is now correctly looking to expand.

We were in a mess pre 96. the last 13 years or so has been an unequivocal success

PSG
Oldham
Workington
Gateshead twice
Sheffield
2000 WC
London Bronco's tax bill
Celtic,Newport,Wrexham Crusaders
SL clubs losing £500,000 ave per season
Clubs cheating salary cap
Visa gate
Several lower league clubs in administration

So not quite

There have been some successes , yes , but we are a healthy sport

I think Smokey is talking about Leeds RLFC. Isn't he?

Doubtful , He is an Arsenal fan apparently

8 years of continual growth,
The return of international RL
Profit making Tri-nations having just been expanded to the quad nations, still making a profit.
The Multi-million pound profit making 2008 world cup.
Massive increases in average crowds,
more amateur players than ever before.
The amateur game played in more areas than ever before.
Les Catalans.
More money invested in the grass-roots of the than ever before
The Grand Final
The RFL clearing its multi-million pound debt
The RFL making a profits year in year out
French RL
Selling the TV rights for SL to NZ, Australia, The US, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia
The WCC
More development officers than ever before

go wash your mouth out

Changed that as well have you ? , why doesn't that surprise me

who the hell ever told you I was an Arsenal fan?

We didn't play any internationals in the 80,2 and 90,s



A debt caused by a disasterous 2000 WC

They didn't play RL in France till 1996



Didn't Widnes and Wigan win the WCC ?

There have been some very major successes , most notably in playing numbers and the spread of those playing numbers , and also in the running of the sport at international level with the 3/4 nations and the pacific and european cups

However the professional and semi professional parts of the sport have not moved on in any major way , the vast majority are either deep in debt or are reliant on individuals non repayable investment to continue operating at all levels

On a playing side we have progressed nowhere at international level and are no nearer winning a major competition

I notice you havent mentioned the Challenge cup at all , unsurprisingly , it is in deep decline as shown by it's possible removal from the special list

You say ' massive ' increases in spectators , I'm not sure on that one , are you saying they have doubled across the board since 96 ?

Liz said the same thing but was Royally caught out....................



This is you isn't it?

unfortunately the 90s saw a big reduction in internationals due to things like the super league war

among other things. The RFL had NEVER made money and had incurred debt EVERY year up until the early 2000s. Now it regularly makes money it can re-invest in the game

i didnt say that. I just said french RL had had major success in the since the inception of SL

Again i didnt say it didnt exist before. Simply that it had become successful since SL.
aswell as bringing in millions more in sponsorship, corporate hospitality and tv rights among many other things
this was even worse prior to SL. So making that area better

This is unfortunately a negative over the past few years. Though i would argue for the first 6-7 years of SL the quality of player improved dramatically. Unfortunately over the last 5 or so it seems to be declining a bit
It is. It needs to adapt or die.

i dont know about across the board. But i wouldnt think we were miles off that

ha ha

The French having their own professional superleague will never happen for several reasons:

1) The French teams that join Superleague are going to make their fame and 'fortune' that way. Why would they abandon playing in a high profile European league to set up a risky, lower quality national league?

2) The sporting world is moving towards continental/intercontinental Superleagues. Why should we make a retrograde step by reverting to a national league when the original intention was for it to the be the European Superleague? Top class national leagues will one day be a thing of the past, we need to market our competition as the equivalent to the Champions League or the Heineken Cup, even if we only have 2-3 French teams in it.

In any case Toulouse should have priority over Stade Francais or any other expansion team. They have been in existence for a long time and have worked hard to join Superleague, narrowly missing out to Catalans the last time around. Before a Stade Francais application was considered i would want to see what they could do in the Championship and what sort of crowds they got.

Irrelivant , ask Smokey

and instead being a Manchester United fan , you accused me of not following my home town club and you then stated you were an Arsenal fan , I'm not surprised you have forgotten , you change colours more than a Chameleon

None of this ever happened. Honestly. I was born and raised in Leeds and support Leeds Utd (unfortunately).

What a random thing to make up

it is irrellevent

Stade Francais would be better served spending £1m on a top class youth academy and attracting the best french 16-20 year olds. Putting them in the SL academy for two years and spending two years preparing for SL than spending that money attracting older players who will only play for them for two seasons in the lower leagues

apologies if this is not relevant but it is "irrelevant"...