I keep saying it but the only way to make rugby league stronger, Super League stronger, the Challenge Cup stronger, the player pool stronger, England stronger is by improving the Championship and making it strong enough so that clubs can interchange between divisions without contracts going null and void, with no fear of facing the wilderness.

We need to get the Championship to a level where clubs in the 2nd division can spend to say a £1m salary cap, with their own TV contract, strong sponsorship etc.

We certainly do , can you tell Richard and Nige please , because they obviously think the opposite

Considering were arent that much ahead of that point with SL, any idea how we get there for the 2nd division as well?

Its just not only very unlikely, but largely not a priority.

I think the evil RFL empire should stop the beleagered championship clubs from entering the competition, strip them of the league format and make them play friendlies against amateur outfits from new areas like cornwall.

Then film starbug as it's announced.

If it was up to me, they wouldn't get in for free.

I'm sure Oldham would rather play at home in front of 1000 fans paying £20 each, instead of having to travel to Hull to play in front of 6000 with only a couple of hundred pay £15 each.

All you would see would be a door shutting behind me , and a couple of thousand others , no great loss in the bigger picture

You actually believe it could happen.

Only if your scenario was to happen

That's what I'm saying. You actually believe my scenario wasn't a gigantically OTT suggestion but something not too far fetched.

No it was farcial , never happen

Part of this problem comes with having so many teams in super league. The championship would look a lot stronger if they lost (just for example) York, Hunslet, Batley and Dewsbury but then gained.... Quins, Salford, Crusaders and Wakey.

You would end up with 8 clubs who have been in super league at some point along with Toulouse who will potentially apply within the next few years along with Barrow. Then there is also Featherstone who would hopefully be able to afford this through a better tv deal. Maybe even throw in south wales and/or the skolars which might help with the tv deal.

You would hope that league could afford a 1m salary cap.

In football they have so many big clubs that they can have PandR with a 20 team top flight along with a 24 team second tier and they still have clubs below that level bigger than any club in super league. Super league would be much higher quality with less teams and this would also clearly imrpove the challenge cup. I bet the 4 teams mentioned don't even spend to the full cap anyway. Also, if this was the case, maybe all the applications for a franchise would be from the 3rd tier and you could have PandR between the top two divisions providing facilities are up to standard. That would satisfy flatcappers and people like me who think franchising is a good idea.

How's about playing the entire QF round at Wembley or Cardiff on one day ala MM weekend?

I think a reduction in SL games to allow for group stages in May would be a good way to go personally. Gives more games for the lower teams against bigger clubs (potential cash cow for them to aid their development), would allow SL to blood some youngsters in the process, and possibly even extend the international window over this period as SL clubs losing a bulk of their stars to international games wouldn't be taking as big a burden if they were playing semi-pro teams (not to mention you'd be able to get them on the season ticket).

Renews old rivalries. More internationals. Shorter league season. More money for lower league clubs. Achieves a lot more than a one-off game that doesn't even happen for some clubs every year.

semi final doubleheader would be better

Just an extension on the group stage thing...

Just going on the premise that the domestic season is 27 league rounds + 5 cup games + 4 play-offs in SL...

Reduce the SL by at least two rounds (and two knock-out cup games) to make up for the 4-week group stages.
I'd go with 8 groups of 5 (so that all teams get 2 home games) played over a four week period, in seeded groups (i.e. top-end SL teams seed 1, bottom SL/top Championship seed 2, etc.), and one group being a wholly French group. This would have to include a couple of mid-week games due to the odd-number.
Top of each group goes to the next round (quarter final).
QF, SF and Final all at neutral grounds, possibly MM style QF (perhaps in place of MM), double header SF, and obviously Final at Wembley.
The seed 1 v 2 game being the last group game (most likely to be played under knock-out conditions to decide the QF qualifiers).
Seeds 3-5 have to go through qualifiers, with those not making the cut going into a seperate group-cup tournament (so that there are no clubs with a lack of fixtures, which has been a problem in the past for some of the lower league clubs). Possibly a new place for the NRC.
Running parallel with the first three weeks of the cup, have a 3-match series between England and the Exiles as well as a European Cup between France, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Like I said, renews old rivalries. More internationals. Shorter league season. More money for lower league clubs. Achieves a lot more than a one-off game that doesn't even happen for some clubs every year in terms of revenue generated from big clubs, and the SL club's crowds shouldn't be majorly affected due to still being on the season ticket.

Wembley should be kept for the final only. Getting to Wembley should be an achievement in itself not merely participating in a semi-final.
Any other stadiums would look embarrassing with the small amount of fans in it.
Personally I think the current structure is fine, and reducing the amount of SL games is not going to be viable financially. SL clubs need that cash. As I said there are issues around ticketing and pricing but the structure of the cup is sound. In my opinion it needs a better TV profile than the BBC currently provide.

Semi finals do attract quite alot of fans so 4 sets of fans on a double header at a neutral ground sounds like a winner to me

The 2 semi finals in 2010 had a total attendance of 27,000. In a 70,000 seated stadium it would be embarrassing. It would still not look great even at Elland Road and that's assuming that the prospect of a double header retains the same amount of fans. There is a tendency for RL fans to watch double header type events on tv rather than go to the event. That's also assuming the TV company are happy with this.

I'd rather have the semis at places like Huddersfield, Widnes etc where at least the money is staying within the game in some sense. I think the only non-RL ground that really attracts neutrals is Wembley. Which is totally unsuitable for semi-final double header.

Pretty much nail on head IMO.

82-0.....


absolutely pointless.....only the top 2 or 3 teams in the championship are able to keep the score some what respectable....so part of my revamp where only 2 championship clubs make the 5th round makes more sense than ever....

3,563 at St Helens today. They need to do something IMO.

How about scrapping the free ticket to passholders scheme and the seeding the 5th round draw so that all SL clubs play away at a lower league club? Income for the smaller club and higher chnce of upsets.

we're lucky if we get a upset once every 5 years...


this 4th round is a round our top players don't need to play...they could miss this round and enter at the next round with 2 championship teams.....

what we could do is,like i said, have the earlier rounds as the challenge shield, which would leave just 2 championship teams after round 4...those 2 teams would then join the 14 SL clubs in a open draw for the 5th round.......


its the future!

The lower leagues have the northern rail cup

If your team lost 82 - 0 to a side like Hull they really shouldn't be playing the game in any league.