The leadership of the RFL has to be from someone outside the sport.

Richard Lewis did a damn good job, but many of his desirable reforms, like licensing (which gave us Catalans), have been scrapped in favour of the tried and failed policy of P & R, which reflects the wishes of the less important M62 clubs in the Championship.

Toulouse should have been licenced into Super League, and financially strapped London should have been retained under RFL control (like Bradford and like the Gold Coast Titans are in the NRL). The SL roster as it now stands and as is likely to change (if at all) is not attractive to corporate investors, who want a national and international competition. With licensing we could have retained London in Super League, along with the popular and important Bradford Bulls, and put Newcastle and Toulouse in (which most fans on here want anyway) and had a much more attractive product.

All of the above is beyond the comprehension of a provincial accountant.

Population (2015)
• Greater London 8,630,000
Sundays attendance: 350.

A long failed experiment.
As for France, boot Catalans out of SL and play in a French league under RFL control, eh?

You are a real genius aren't you? Catalans, the only non-M62 team in Super League, and a great success, you want to boot out of Super League? Absolute genius you are.

If you insist on playing with it at least get things in perspective......

12,000,000 people in London and no chance once it became obvious to small towns that Ian Lenegan might own 2 teams and Leigh might not get the chance to replace Wakefield, which on a scale of 10 -TO - 1 on the sporting conscience is about minus 12.


The people that count in sponsorship, marketing or advertising couldn't point Leigh or Wakefield out on a map for Christ's sake......

That 8,630,000 figure will include people living in an area like Crawley, which is the best part of 90 minutes travel fro The Hive.

On that basis, do you think it's an outrage that Castleford don't attract more supporters from Hartlepool? Or that Leigh don't attract many fans from Wolverhampton?

Stick with your Foxy Bingo sponsors. Leave the RBS and other global brands to snap up sports with a expansive vision. The RU world cup is about to start. Undertake a compare and contracts exercise with the RL world cup and see which you think is better. (Not the product the event).

The main point about Nigel Wood is that he has no method or apparent interest in guaranteeing expansion of the game. Licencing is the only method of guaranteeing expansion and growth.

If Toulouse is restricted to a tiny salary cap such as now exists in League 1, it will have less chance of promotion to Super League than the M62 teams that don't have to travel every other week.

We know which is better (off the field), nobody has disputed that. But you could transplant the entire RFU/IRB marketing team into the RFL and it would make very little difference.

It doesn't matter how much noise you make or how much you try to woo sponsors, RBS aren't going to sponsor RL in its current form because it only gets them limited exposure to people they don't give a sh|t about.

RU gets them exposure to people with money and who live in the right areas.

Like er.....Londoners?
Damn.......if onlynwe had a side to build the game aroundndown there.

This thread just about sums up our sport, Fans who think £250K is a big wage (in todays big companys mid level managers expect that) People asking for a new leader from out side the sport will have to realise to get that type of person start bidding at a million + pension deal.
As for wanting Hetherington? I was under the impresion he did run the RFL already. I have no gripe with Nigel Wood as I dont know much about him or what his brief is, But for a breath of fresh air try someone with the right contacts in the media one name shouts out at the moment & that is Clare Balding, flavour of the month at the moment.

I don't know what they put in the water in Beverley, but it's clearly created an altered state of consciousness; one in which mid level managers expect to earn quarter of a million quid a year, and Clare Balding would be a suitable or viable candidate to run the RFL.

Can you send me a bottle?

Jeremy Clarkson's still on the dole, I believe. Worth sounding him out?

Clare Balding is not a CEO. She is a presenter and a damned good one too!

If we could get someone like Richard Lewis to be Executive Chairman of the RFL, on £350K -- have Clare Balding as President (the public face and voice of rugby league) and confine Nigel Wood to the Championship, and League One -- which is precisely his level of competence -- all would be well. In fact it would be brilliant.

Other than Blatter I can't think of any other head of a sport that's universally disliked. I wonder if he's ever read any feedback on here

Oh, I don't know: that old Brazilian crook who used to run the Olympics, Seb Coe, widely disliked (although maybe mostly for being a Tory), few union fans seem to have a good word for Rob Andrew, Bernie Ecclestone...

Sepp Blatter but fatter ?

I work in the aviation industry £250K is about average for senior engineering managers & managing pilots, our CEO is well over a million with share options & we are not the top payers a national sport looking to be a big player should be paying market rates.