Only in your tiny little trolling brain. I'm all for the franchising system - i just don't like how it's handled at the moment - it's not transparent enough and it's too subjective - at the whim of a few panelists. That aside, i think it is the way forward and can only encourage those clubs not in SL to strive for something better - like Halifax, Widnes, Barrow, Leigh and Featherstone are aiming to do now. So whatever pattern you think your seeing - it's not prevelant from ALL fans of non-franchised clubs. You just think it is so that you've got yourself a target to slag off on here. Your posts are as destructive and troll-like as those fans that you think exist in the majority on here - the "cloth cappers". You're a tool.

as i said before, find me a fan of an NL1 club with aspirations of SL, and ill find you someone who is against SL clubs for toulose, paris or wales.

id hate to be so insecure about things

The interview I refered to at the start of this thread has now been put on the BBC's website. BBC National Radio RL commentator Stuart Pyke begins by asking him about the outcome of the decision regarding the proposal to take the Challenge Cup off the free to air protection list..... news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 363171.stm

The interview I refered to at the start of this thread has now been put on the BBC's website. BBC National Radio RL commentator Stuart Pyke begins by asking him about the outcome of the decision regarding the proposal to take the Challenge Cup off the free to air protection list..... news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 363171.stm

Factual innaccuracy.

Sold out 4 out of 5 games this season.

Back on topic: Who remembers the Manchester Knights? That was a resounding success wasn't it?

No chance. Imagine the reaction in your neck of the woods if they announced that FC and KR were to merge!

I can't find any fans of an NL1 club as the NL1 doesn't exist.

It was tongue in cheek, mate.

Anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that Paris in SL would be a disaster, that Toulouse aren't ready yet and that Crusaders has been a disaster. Doesn't mean people don't want teams there so much as wanting SL without being dragged down by very poor quality unsupported teams

ouch you win the argument then

a Paris bid backed by the resources of the Stade Francaise club would be a failure?





you couldnt make this up

toulose would get larger crowds within 3 years of SL entry than the laggard heartland clubs who have been around for donkey years do today.

Les Cats come from a smaller place than toulose and they average more than quite a few heartland clubs.

i think the way to improve rl would be to drop 3 sydney teams from the nrl and replace them with a png side, a second kiwi side and a perth side.


















I will leave dally to chew on that one for a while.

Cronulla, Roosters and?

to compare NRL vs SL :

arguing for leigh and barrow in SL is like wanting newtown, glebe or annandale in for a 2nd NZ side or PNG.

nobody is saying more NRL clubs for sydney.

think about this for a while and youll understand it eventually

SL has enough clubs from small towns and doesnt need any more

its got the basis of the heartland clubs in there.

many of the current heartland clubs are frankly a failure.

for the sport to go anywhere its got to get to meaningful places it isnt already in.

How do you know? Please post a link to the market research you have done on this as you seem so confident. I can't imagine you'd post anything so cocksure without such market research. That would make it pure guesswork and leave you open to ridicule. I think you're better than that though

I agree. That makes sense. But doing the latter bit before such places are ready is folly. Catalans were ready. Toulouse probably are - at a push. Celtic weren't. Paris certainly aren't.

catalans were ready eh ?






thats not what everybody was saying after their first year in SL.

keep it up.

the only way they will be ready is by being in SL and given a 3 year license. the people behind paris arent going to muck around with an NL1 side.

CC are a work in progress. im not prepared to write them off yet.

id say they achieved more in their first year under franchising than salford or wakey did

test match crowds have been good.

the clubs crowds in NL1 / championship have been very good as well.

the club last time round had a very strong business plan ensuring a good team on the pitch which would also help crowds.


when they are in SL in a few years time the facts will speak for themselves. RL in france is much more likely to work than most other expansion areas you can try

its already worked before

To compare sl to nrl only one city is allowed more than one team in sl, in the nrl they have 7 teams from the same city, clearly the nrl is thinking in a very insular matter. To compare sl and nrl, sl has teams from 3 countries, the nrl two, clearly the nrl needs to have a more expansion based aproach.

I've heard plenty of people support the idea of norths entering the competion.

to compare british rl and australin rl british rl can support 3 leagues, australian rl can only support one (and some random cup cometitions), clearly the australians need to work harder to create meaningful lower leagues.














that should keep him busy for a while.

the population of sydney exceeds all your heartlands combined !







how many PL soccer sides does London have? please stop this line of argument, its really dumb

There you go again - distorting the facts. I never said they weren't ready - you're making things up again

They certainly made more newspaper headlines and were a great attraction for the "authorities"

im sure you were one of the few people who all thought they were ready and didnt say a word when they came last in their first year and their were rumours they had a large debt building up and players werent being paid.

At last - you've got something right.

You talking Crusaders, or Hull KR?