Something along the lines of this in structure, although I don't care for what teams are in which league, salary cap limits etc as long as we get back to some more competitive games again, at both ends of the table.

We simply have to go back to ten teams in the top league and soon, we don't have the player pool to provide enough competitive squads for a 14-team league and I for one am bored of watching walk-over games in SL every week. Would sooner watch union at the moment.

Wigan
Warrington
Saints
Leeds
Hull
Huddersfield
Catalans
**Toulouse (or other French side)

Then 3 out of Cas/Wakey/HKR/Bradford
One of Salford/Widnes


There aren't enough good quality players around to spread over 14 teams, reduce it to 12 teams who all have the ability to spend to the cap, and have decent stadiums. Use the extra few weekends to schedule the cup earlier in the season, as well as allowing free weekends for a 3 series exile game (or something similar).

6 team playoffs, similar salary cap to what it is now (At least at first).

No P+R, but do try and focus on giving the championship some more attention, hopefully with some of the better quality teams in there it will help but somehow, someway, try and at least reduce the gulf between the salary caps. I don't know how, but thats surely go to be a priority.





However, I say all of this, but we need to give time for this franchising to work. The improvement made in stadiums across the competition are a big plus, and we need to give the system more time (as it is still in its infancy) to enable the junior development to kick in. There is absolutely no point switching and changing strategies every 5 years, before the previous one has even had a chance to work. Yes, there are flaws. However I definately don't believe P+R is the answer.

I do however think that the next round of licensing needs a major shake up, Broncos need to go (despite me being a big advocate for RL in London), Cas+Wakey if they haven't sorted stadiums (if they haven't already gone before then). Hopefully Widnes will have improved their on-pitch results, cos I believe with the setup they've got and the support from the owner that could be a playoff team by the end of the round of franchises.

Give it time, it might work. Same with the quota rules, there are loopholes, but they are slowly becoming rarer and rarer as the years go on, in 2 years time there isn't likely to be any way in which a club can have over 5 non-fed trained players. There isn't always a quick fix for certain problems.

Depends whether you are saying the ideal set up based on current team capabilities or ideal in some Rugby League nirvana

On current set up I don’t see why it has to be different to how it is now. Teams are gradually getting their houses in order, with some exceptions of course.
Whether I’d prefer Featherstone to Bradford is really not the point. The one that is sustainable and offers most in terms of support and player development should be in. Same across the board.

The reason Leeds or Wigan are always on the ideal list is not because of they are the best teams. They sometimes are not. It is because they have good support with potential for more, in a stadium that supporters are willing to come to, within a geographical area where lots of young people are interested in playing rugby league.

If you apply that scenario to say Bristol or Newcastle or even Sheffield then they would be ideal for Super league……but they don’t have those attributes, apart from number of people in the cities.
No one would ever question Wakefield’s place if everyone in Wakefield came to watch. Same with Salford. They have far more potential than Wigan or St Helens in terms of size….it’s just Wigan and Sts have actually achieved it and sustained it and deserve the credit for doing so.

So for me the ideal Super League is one that is financially sound and even profitable and is marketable. I want my team in of course but that wasn’t the question.
If we got 12-14 teams with minimum 10-15k crowds and constant British quality players coming through the ranks each year, then it won’t matter if it is northern based. The other areas will be breaking the door down to get in and Sky and the BBC will be throwing money at us to televise the games.
Unfortunately that is an intelligent leader and a lot of money away. Not necessarily a long time away.

I'd strip it down to 2 leagues of 10 clubs. A promotion/relegation of 1 team each year.

SL1: Wigan, Saints, Leeds, Warrington, Hudds, Hull FC, Hull KR, Catalans, Bradford, Salford
SL2: Castleford, Wakefield, London, Widnes, Halifax, Fev, Leigh, Batley, Toulouse, Not sure on the 10th

I wouldn't make a rulechange just for SuperLeague, but if I could I would seek having the same ruleset used all over the world, as currently the SL ruleset is different to the NRL ruleset, and both are different to the International ruleset.

Having a 10-team top tier, plus promotion/relegation, should concentrate the quality of players and give teams something to fight for (promotion/not being relegated).

I would have the top 4 sides in the playoffs.

As it is now with Hull KR Champions (I can dream can't I?)

As usual people automatically lump Wakefield with the teams they would like to cut.
People who as usual are ill informed.
It is now only 20 days to the decision of the Secretary of State re. the go ahead or not for the new stadium.
If the decision is positive it is onwards and upwards for Wakefield.
Already this season great strides forward have been made with revamp of existing ground as promised.
Crowds are averaging well over 8000.
Why be so eager to blow apart something that that is obviously moving forward apace.
Imagine the crowds in the new stadium with a successful team.
History demonstrates Wakefield potential.
Despite everything unlike other contenders Wakefield have never been relegated and never finished bottom.
Look at Huddersfield, not so long ago they were abysmal in every way.
Perhaps they should have got the chop then.

But you DON'T have a new stadium yet, so therefore your going to get lumped in....

Magicking six extra clubs capable of running as full time professional outfits (across the board, not just first team) isn't stripping down. It's expansion. It would be nice expansion if there were six such clubs out there. There's no evidence that there is, though.

Leeds
Wigan
Warrington
St Helens

6 Magic Weekends, once in Oz, twice in the USA, one in France, one in Cardiff and one in London.

Then they must all play each other another 3 times, games should last no longer than 60 minutes, then the top 4 should have a play off. London Broncos should play the winner of the Super League in the "Ultimate Cup". No promotion or relegation, no overseas players, there should also be 5 referees on the pitch at any single time, one to check for knock ons, one for offsides, one to see if the markers are stood square, one for dangerous/high tackles and one to referee the other referees.

Decent.

You have me confused inside man I thought you were a Wakefield supporter,or are there two with the same monicker?

Wigan fan. Think there's one without the underscore.

Magicking six extra clubs capable of running as full time professional outfits (across the board, not just first team) isn't stripping down. It's expansion. It would be nice expansion if there were six such clubs out there. There's no evidence that there is, though.'"

12 team leagues. Staggered seasons so that the promoted team can plan a month longer than SL teams, have a choice of out of contract players. Also, prize money for promotion into SL should be substantial and immediate so that the Championship GF winner can use it straight away to start building a competitive team/club structure.

Sl to have a top 5 playoff.

1 up 1 down in all divisions.

SL- March-October

Wigan
Wire
Bradford
Leeds
Saints
Hull
Hull KR
Catalans
Huddersfield
Salford
Wakefield
Castleford

Championship-Feb-September

London
Widnes
Halifax
Leigh
Fev
Batley
Keighley
Sheffield
Dewsbury
Swinton
York
Hunslet

C1-January-August

Barrow
Doncaster
Workington
Whitehaven
Rochdale
Oldham
London Skolars
South Wales
North Wales
Gateshead
Northampton
All other new teams...All Golds etc

I'd split Super League into two 12-team Divisions, giving 24 teams total. Something like this

Division One:

Leeds Rhinos
Hull FC
Bradford Bulls
Huddersfield Giants
Wigan Warriors
St Helens
Warrington Wolves
Catalans Dragons
Hull KR
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
Castleford Tigers
Salford City Reds

Division Two:

Widnes Vikings
Leigh Centurions
Halifax
London Broncos
Featherstone Rovers
Sheffield Eagles
London Skolars
Tolouse
Barrow Raiders
Whitehaven
Workington Town

-Promotion & Relegation between divisions, 1 automatic & 1 playoff
-Playoff between 11th in Div 1 & 2nd in Div 2, at same venue as GF, earlier in the day.
-Division Two teams to enter the Challenge Cup a round before the Division One teams
-Division Two to start 2 weeks before Division One
-Opening game of Division One season to be Magic Weekend, rematch of Grand Final & random fixtures, held at OT
-All CC games saturdays/sundays and on the BBC
-4 Week midseason break for Round Robin tournament between England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales & France, on the BBC

Given that there are only 14 professional full time clubs - and given recent history some would argue not even that many are capable of running as full time professional clubs - that's some trick.


Why is it that so many "What I'd do to fix Super League" suggestions basically consist of "abolish Super League and go back to the the mythical golden age that didn't really exist before 1995"?

oh - and has this now become the third current |Let's get promotion and relegation between semi-pro and pro leagues" thread?

Not me though



I have noticed most people seem to want to drop Cas down with us mere mortals in SL 2 though

I think some people are missing the point of this thread (or maybe it's just me!). Your 'ideal' SL doesn't necessarily have to be totally realistic, merely what you would like it to be in a dream scenario of unlimited funding/player pool etc.

Mine would be the current teams, plus two cumbrian sides, Featherstone and a midlands expansion team, with only two overseas players allowed (one of whom could be a marquee player outside of the salary cap) and a requirement of at least 7/8 of the squad to have come through the club's youth ranks. But we all know that's not going to happen.

Take it you support a current SL club.......... the lower league clubs are being killed at the mo due to greedy SL clubs wanting all the money to themselves, the money should be split more even than in does at the moment.
If a SL club cant be run with the higher crowds/sponsorship etc that they get (lower league clubs don't get this) then they need to take a hard look at themselves and maybe stop over-paying their players..............before SKY come along clubs used to be run without that money so what is their excuse in current times?

Rugby league will soon be a dying sport unless the current running of the game changes.

My special format.

12 teams
23 game season home/away + magic weekend
5 team play off

Alot of people suggesting more teams. The game currently cant sustain the teams it has.

Tier1

1.Wigan
2.Wire
3.Huddersfield
4.Catalan
5.Saints
6.Leeds
7.Hull FC
8.London
9.Widnes
10. Salford or KR

Basically all these teams are able to spend to cap (not sure that KR and Salford are but best of the rest and need even amount of teams)

Tier 2

1. Salford or KR
2. Wakefield
3. Bradford
4. Castleford
5. Halifax
6. Featherstone
7. Sheffield
8. Leigh
9. Batley
10. Keighley
11. Dewsbury
12. CUMBRIA (merge in to one side for whole region like the 9's)

Tier 1 playoffs top 5

Promotion and relegation is via playoffs
Bottom 2 clubs in tier 1 play a relegation playoff, loser goes in to a game with tier 2 GF champion, winner of that game in tier 1 for a season.

Tier 2, top 6 playoffs winner plays tier 1 relegation loser for chance in P&R

Most of the ideas written before on here are not practical.

Most people agree that Super League has too many English clubs becuse of the limited number of good English players.
Many people also think that there should be a second SL club from France, to make France stronger and makee Super League more European.

So I can propose the following Super League clubs (and put the demoted clubs from current SL into the Championship):

Wigan
St. Helens
Warrington
Salford
Leeds
Bradford
Huddersfield
Hull FC
Hull KR
London

Catalans
Toulouse

This is a good list because we reduce number of Englsh clubs by 3, so all English clubs get stronger.
Then we add one more French club, Toulouse, which can be allowed 8 imports from Australia or New Zealand and 17 or more French born players.

So we get good results from this list. Super League becomes more competitive and France becomes stronger as a national team. (Bein Sport TV would like a second French team).

Later we can add a team from Wales, maybe Shefffield, and maybe even one or more new French teams if the game in France becomes more popular.

I think this is making more sense than two tiers and other strange thoughts.

I'd really like to see the bottom team in SL get relegated to the Championship and the top team in the Championship get promoted to SL.

I'd also like to see a more fair distribution of money througout the SL and Championship. TV rights to include the BBC being able to show at least 1 live game per week.

Finally reducing the number of overseas players to bring through more home grown talent.

lets just leave it as it is for the next round of franchises when (i predict) at least two more SL teams go bust (london & take your pick from the current bottom 8 sides!)

then when all settles down the powers that be will realise expansion isnt, and will not work in london and that France is only good for 1 team (after they have probably attempted to sneek Toulouse in by this point).

Waiting in the wings will be Fax, Fev and Leigh to save the RFL's graces and step up via promotion (just like in the good old days when our sport wasnt treated as an experiment)

This, i believe is the most likely and realistic approach, but hey its only an opinion.