Just to back up what Eels Fan is saying about encouraging new Irish players into RL can I point out Brian Carney.

Came from Gaelic, played RL for Irish students, got a shout from the Irish national squad and then signed for Gateshead.

I think this expansion is a great idea. The French will obviously compete with the English teams and I'm sure they'll be a few Welsh teams that'll be able to give a few teams a run for their money. The Irish might not be there yet, but we need to start somewhere and the young lads coming through need some realistic incentive.

Have you read Pepe's post , if not , read it , if you have read it , answer it

For the comments about the Welsh and Irish being RU Players playing RL in the off season. Whilst I agree that its true at the moment, isn't there a chicken and egg situation with the RL Conference season being too short for serious players to make it their football code of choice?

The pool structure allows geographical pools to keep travelling costs down until the knock out stages.

The NR Cup would allow the season to be extended and potentially allow players to be primarily RL players.

The Edinburgh Eagles v Carluke Tigers in the Scottish Grand Final last year was a pretty high standard even with primarily RU players. Presumably Wales and Ireland would be better still (although I agree for the first season or two they would get heavily beaten).

If the travelling costs can be covered for the knock out stages then I say give it a go. Give the National Leagues a bit of international glamour.

Again I don't get the attitude.

The Jonstones Paint / LDV Trophy creates excitement for lower league clubs in Association Football as it cumulates in a trip to Wembley. Carlisle United v Southampton this year was the highest UK sporting attendance for the weekend.

With there being zero chance of a team from a semi-pro league ever winning the Challenge Cup, the NR Cup should be the RL equivalent to the Jonstones Paint trophy.

The group stage also provides much needed extra games for our clubs.

Whats not to like?

It would be a great incentive for young lads coming through but as far as I know there are no young lads in Irish RL. Students is the youngest it gets, there are no U18 or even U20 teams playing. It's all older guys playing in their off seasons with younger players (Who are usually very good union players anyway) mixed in.

Irish RL has plenty of structural work to do. A new development post that will deal with schools etc is up for application and that is another good step forward. The game over here is still at the stage of poor season planning (so many breaks makes it hard to keep player interest) and of course problems with getting enough players every week.

The All Ireland union comp is a pretty high standard of rugby ,after all players can be called up for provinces and pro players are all connected with a club. Problem is if top All Ireland players started playing in the NRC for a few months the IRFU could have a quiet word with players and clubs. They wouldn't want their structures interrupted.
Also fitness levels would play the biggest part in all the beatings the Irish sides would recieve.

I must say though, I think it'll be very interesting to see if there is truth in an Irish side being entered and the consequences.

'Much needed extra games ' , playing games against opposition is not what is needed

Playing games against opposition that people are willing to pay to watch is what is needed

You seem to be forgetting that playing games costs money , quite a lot for clubs that have to pay rent for the use of stadiums

What we need is more Championship clubs , real genuine semi pro clubs that people want to support and fans are willing to pay money to see their team play against

Ok, might it be time that you take a break from the computer have a cup of tea/lay off the redbull/have a nice sleep???

I was just saying that I like the idea and that I think that there are a lot of teams that could perform well. Pepe does make a good point though. But, if there is a suggestion that French/Welsh/Irish clubs would participate it wouldn't be a case of all teams involved boarding a plane every other week. The article in the OP suggests that the French would duke it out between themselves in two mini-leagues with either the best team or best two teams going through to the knock out stages. So, this plan isn't really going to exterminate 75% of all Championship clubs. There are also logistics to get around,but if the French are saying this will happen then the finance and time frame will probably have been arranged.

Its difficult to tell what will happen if Welsh and Irish clubs are involved (if the Irish clubs will be involved), but we come here to speculate and get a little giddy about the dizzying prospects of the future development of RL because its fun.

So what this is all about is once again expansion , unfortunatley the Championship clubs dont have the resources available to them to be at the forefront of the international expansion of the sport

What the Championship clubs need is more viable well financed English/British semi pro clubs that fans are willing to pay to see

That's one way to spin it. Another would be to say that it's a shame that St. Go aren't strong enough to put out a team on their own (it's only 6 years since they were champions) and that Toulouse haven't been able to fulfil their promise to enter a team in the LER. Probably best to have one decent team than two teams struggling to fulfil fixtures though.

There was a half-baked RFL/FFRXIII proposal for this season of a Northern Rail Cup pool of Toulouse + French regional selections, with the winner going into the quarter-finals. Quietly dropped around xmas.

20 English clubs in five pools of four gives 5 winners + winner of french pool + winner of welsh pool + we need one more to make it eight, ok let's find £2000 to bring an Irish team over. That's probably the amount of detailed planning that's gone into this. At least this time they've done it before the French LER fixtures have been announced, so the French have some ability to work out when to fit the games in.

Why do you not think they Championship clubs are viable, well-financed or well supported?

I'm an expansionist, I have no issues with the expansionist doctrine and actually quite like it. I agree with it logically, that for the business model of the sport to succeed it needs to expand, and I also like the thought that I could one day be watching a cracking away match between Wakefield Trinity and FC Barca. I also like the idea that Icould be seeing teams from the less glamourous, smaller towns around Wales/Scotland/Ireland, even, dare I say it, down South!

For all that I think expansion is a good idea I do think that the RFL have to walk a tightrope to do this. As well as spread the RL gospel they also have to appease the heartland clubs,which is a very delicate political situation. Finance is obviously a major issue, particularly for Championship clubs. It seems tobe that part ofthe problem at the moment with the Championship is that fans don't think there ismuch to play for if they are not going to get promoted at the end of the season. Surely, then expanding the NRC into other nations adds a bit more glamour and prestige to the comp? It surely adds a bit of purpose.

If you're talking finance as well is a good idea tohave teams play other home and away in the League, home and away in the NRC and then potentially play each other again in the play offs, knock out stages of NRC and CC? Throwing some foreign teams in their mixes it up a little, adds a little interest rather than spending a third of the season watching the same match. Also, if the teams play good rugby that will surely bring the punters in.

If this goes through it will be done as a very small step with one team from each nation making it through, notall of them, but its a positive one and one I find exciting.

" the sport " being what ?

Sorry but the Championship clubs are more concerned with Survival than expansion

Finance is the main issue if you are on the verge of bancruptcy as most of the Championships clubs are

Glamour and " prestige " dont pay the bills , fans through the gates do

i hope oldham get that ground up to date soon with a 5thou+ capacity.
a competitive oldham would be great for the cc

I thought that was the plan, one pool of French teams, probably TO, Pia, FCL Limoux and Carcassone (e.g. the playoff teams from the LER, minus UTC/Catalans and adding in TO).
Spreading the French clubs across the pools would be stupid and expensive.

Disagree with that comment completely. It's got better every year, the weekend in Blackpool is one of the championship clubs no 1 goals at the beginning of the season. When it was the 'Buddies Cup' it was awful, so I can't see how you think the standard gets worse.

Expansion has to be tried somehow and people who don't like 'expansion' clubs like Celtic Crusaders, PSG, Catalans Dragons and Gateshead Thunder being put straight into SL surely agree that this is an easier, cheaper and less risky way to test the water.

And where are these fans going to come from?

Certainly not from France,Wales or Ireland , or from locals just because we are battering a team from France,Wales or Ireland

Maybe from proper localised marketing to the people of the towns were clubs are already playing

Local people? Thats it?

Taken from Lezignan XIII www.fcl13.fr/elite-1/le-fc.lezig ... l-cup.html Quote FC.Lézignan in the Northern Rail Cup ? The Northern Rail Cup is a tournament which brings together English Championship clubs ( eg national league one) and Championship One ( former national league two) with the exception of Toulouse and the new Olympic team Scorpio South Wales who will compete in this 2011 . This year the 20 teams who are opposed . First phase : 2 groups of 10 teams, four teams from each pool after 4 games qualified for the quarter finals . This year the final will oppose the Widnes Vikings taking the title to Batley Bulldogs and will be played Sunday, July 18 . The English Rugby League ( RFL ) has decided to open the competition for clubs Welsh , Scottish and French in 2011 . For now the project is not yet completely fixed but would move towards a system of 2 groups of 5 clubs LER with a final between the top two in order to designate the team qualified for the famous Northern Rail Cup . As Champion of France , the FCL that already has a ticket to play the famous Challenge Cup played could " also " the competition by the federation . '" This site is saying Scottish teams instead of Irish

Taken from Lezignan XIII www.fcl13.fr/elite-1/le-fc.lezig ... l-cup.html Quote FC.Lézignan in the Northern Rail Cup ? The Northern Rail Cup is a tournament which brings together English Championship clubs ( eg national league one) and Championship One ( former national league two) with the exception of Toulouse and the new Olympic team Scorpio South Wales who will compete in this 2011 . This year the 20 teams who are opposed . First phase : 2 groups of 10 teams, four teams from each pool after 4 games qualified for the quarter finals . This year the final will oppose the Widnes Vikings taking the title to Batley Bulldogs and will be played Sunday, July 18 . The English Rugby League ( RFL ) has decided to open the competition for clubs Welsh , Scottish and French in 2011 . For now the project is not yet completely fixed but would move towards a system of 2 groups of 5 clubs LER with a final between the top two in order to designate the team qualified for the famous Northern Rail Cup . As Champion of France , the FCL that already has a ticket to play the famous Challenge Cup played could " also " the competition by the federation . '" This site is saying Scottish teams instead of Irish

Has there been anything released in the English press?

At least this piece states that only 1 team from the LER will be involved,so the cost thing that some forumers were worried about isn't there.

It doesn’t matter if it’s just one French club or not. I’d say that 80% of the clubs below SL are dicing with death. Any additional costs, for games which will probably lose money, could be the straw which breaks the camels’ back for many clubs.

This is how perilous it now is below SL.

Interesting. The Scottish RL site posted something about a club joining the National Leagues a couple of years ago but obviously this came to nothing.

Edinburgh Eagles we unbeaten in all but one game last season and I've heard that they were the club looking to join National Leagues. Paddy Coupar joined Town from the Eagles, so they have produced at least one player able to hack it at Championship 1 level.

Where they would play is another matter. When I went to see them at Corstophine it was a field and an RU club house. Certainly not suitable to the NRC.

And your solution? Keep doing the same thing that we've done for the past 50 years and hope for the best?

Mind you - I agree there needs to be external money available for the travelling costs of the French team (and Irish if its still applicable).

That's not what we have now though, is it?



Then we'd have to try and get people excited enough about coming to watch a French/Scottish/Welsh club in order to try and make some sort of a profit. Some of these clubs operate on less than 500 fans. I have no idea how they do it. Local rivalries are far more important to keeping these clubs afloat than French/Scottish/Welsh clubs. I know that doesn’t fit well with you, but it is the sad fact.

I believe Whitehaven are struggling badly to stay afloat at the moment. Do you really think that including French, Scottish and Welsh clubs in the NRC would help that?

Playing games that few would want to watch with traveling costs thrown in could only make things worse. We have the Challenge Cup for that. That’s enough imo.

A pool of French clubs with one/two progressing or one/two clubs playing in different pools? I think the French pool would be cheaper.