I don't think Sky will pull the plug. I think they'll offer the same amount in the next round of negotiations. I don't think ANY SL clubs will go to the wall - the franchise systems stops that from happenning because they've been vetted by a professional panel



I understand why you've predicted armageddon but hasn't the game always been "on the brink"? If we're talking debt and the precipice then "wendyball" must be on the verge of implosion by comparison. Sporting clubs always seem to survive/get bailed out by someone. Thank God it's a hobby for many a rich backer eh?

Nearly 40 replies for a wind-up! Nice work FrogRL....

You're 39 on the list



Anyway, isn't this the raison d'être of RLFANS.COM ?

If anything we need more (all) Yorkshire teams in super league. Then let the French, Welsh, London and the red rose county teams play in the national league one. We still get to meet each other in the challenge cup. However you can only be promoted to super league if your from Yorkshire.

It’d be great having two elite rugby league competitions.

I see what you did there



Actually - it looks like I was wrong and owe FrogRL an apology.

Seems that M. Larrat IS proposing a Stade Francais XIII for SL in 2012, possibly entering a team in the French Elite next year as preparation. There was very little detail given in the radio interview.

Quote ="Damo-Leeds"If anything we need more =#FF0000(all) Yorkshire teams in super league. Then let the French, Welsh, London and the red rose county teams play in the national league one. We still get to meet each other in the challenge cup. However you can only be promoted to super league if your from Yorkshire. It’d be great having two elite rugby league competitions.'" There you go Damo www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPjJFv1NDBg

Quote ="Damo-Leeds"If anything we need more =#FF0000(all) Yorkshire teams in super league. Then let the French, Welsh, London and the red rose county teams play in the national league one. We still get to meet each other in the challenge cup. However you can only be promoted to super league if your from Yorkshire. It’d be great having two elite rugby league competitions.'" There you go Damo www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPjJFv1NDBg

If it were true, could we really turn up the chance? We should ensure guarantees of investment for a minimum of say 6 years.

Stade were a poorly supported club in a city where the general perception was sport was a very low priority. But with investment and a fresh approach they took the Parisian style and flair image and made it their own.

They always had low crowds and took that to filling the Stade de France on numerous occassions, boosting the average at Stade Jean Bouin to over 10 000. No mean feat.

That kind of ingeniuity is what SL lacks in my opinion. Stade v Harlequins filled Stade de France with 80 000, unthinkable only a few years ago. Just as unthinkable as 50 000 in the Parc des Princes for Quins RL v Stade RL possibly???

So thats 10 million then

Technically speaking, there are no 'red rose county' teams left in SL.

Wigan - Greater Manchester
Saints - Merseyside
Salford - Greater Manchester
Warrington - Cheshire

Same is true for any major sport in 21st Century, they are all totally dependent on TV money. Sky, I'm sure, will negotiate hard, but there are not that many long-established sports with a solid, regular TV audience available, so I can't see them dropping SL. ESPN provides a little competition for the rights, and the BBC managed to pinch some live international coverage when the last round of rights came up, so there is reasonably healthy competition for rugby leage TV rights in the UK at the moment

Agree with all of the post (us agreeing twice in one week, who would have thought eh smokey) except for the last bit, a french sl would allow more elite french teams and also give us a much better chance of expanding to places like italy and germany in the long run. We may not get the chance to have a british sl full of teams from england, ireland, scotland and wales and a french league with teams from france, spain, italy and germany, but if we ever do we would be fools not to do so in my humble opinion. I would keep a joint playoff structure between the leagues so clubs from all the countries could play each other. Obviously this is long term thinking, at least 15 years in the future.

Why can't Cas, Wakey and Harlequins split off and form a second SL with Widnes, Halifax etc... ?

Because that idea is far too sensible , but it would mean a splitting of a % of the SKY money to fund it , and who would decide who goes where ?



We dont have 14 SL clubs , We dont have 10 if the truth be told

Because I said so.

If TO and Paris were proposed for 2012 we would need to see expansion of the league by two clubs, which would require some french TV money. Possibly the French clubs would get French tv money +2/3 of a UK share of the SKY money. With the extra clubs would expect SKY to offer a bit more, though probably can't afford ~20% more.
Expanding into France would have the advantage of not diluting the UK player pool into more clubs, so keeping the level high. More clubs would mean more games/more gate money, even though some clubs would not bring away fans. Hopefully we would see more rotation of playing squad to reduce player burnout, so better use of academy players and more player development.
From a french pov, yes the Catalan side would be less competitive as players would be drawn to TO and Paris. However this year we have far too many Forwards, we could lose half of them and still have a great pack; suprisingly we also have 4 french halves in our 25 man squad, so would expect to be able to offer two to TO/Paris. Obviously all three French clubs would need 8 Antipodeans to compete, but compete they should (better than Salford/Crusaders last year).

The LER would struggle with their best players drawn into the french clubs for a couple years. That said TO are already out of it, St Esteve/XIII Catalan still play a mid-table role and Paris do not yet exist to leave a gap.
I agree it would be good to see a Paris team involved in the LER and in the SL academy comp before they were to join, though France plan to field a French academy side in the SL academy comp, replacing the Catalan academy side (than Iestyn Harris doesn't believe exists).

It's called demotion. Oh, hang on a minute...we scrapped that....

I still think some sort of European Cup competition wouldn't be a bad idea but it seems most people tend to disagree.

i wouldnt have a problem with that. Though i would argue a joint play-off structure would mean it was the same competition.

I would also argue it would be much more difficult for a newly formed french SL to support the development of the rest of europe than the stronger british SL.

i expect if we went to that sort of structure we would probably look at having two mixed british and european leagues

Fully agree with Smokey.
The RU club is expanding its stadium and Max Guazzini, the chairman of the RU club, sees an opportunity to use the stadium all year with a RU club (winter competition) and a RL club (summer competition).

The Stade Francais is a big opportunity.

First the inclusion of Paris in the competition will change dramatically the potential of the competition for French media. With Paris in, Orange and other broadcasters will be ready to pay substantial amounts of money to get the rights of this competition.

Second, the SF presents very good guarantees. The PSG was a football club, with the first troubles, and the lack of backing of French clubs, it threw in the towell quickly. This time, SF is a rugby club and a RL club will benefit from its structures. It is seen as a long term complement to the RU club. The success of the SF in rugby in Paris (started as a very small club, now on of the biggest in Europe) bodes also very favourably for the chances of success of a RL club there. Finally, the French RL clubs and RL Federation are now fully backing the idea of French clubs goings in SL.

If the SF was included with Toulouse in 2012 I believe that this would give a new dimension to the SL very quickly. Transforming it in the real European competition it aimed to be when it started.

To start with, SL would certainly be able to rely on a significant amount of French TV money.

Isn’t Paris a poorer London. Juts look what London did for rugby league

Stade are rumoured to have a wage bill of over 20mill. quid. They are bringing in a salary cap in FRU next year of around 7 mill. Maybe he is looking for somewhere to spend the rest and bring in RL players who may be able to make it through to his true interest. Like Wrexham who only seem to be in it to help out the soccer club, I have grave reservations letting any team in just to assist another sport, especially in area that is unlikely to add anything to SL in terms of jnr development, Tv viewers, fanbase etc.

Should have no problem finding 10 million over 6 years then , if they want in fine , just stump up the cash first

again with this 6 year thing huh? lets make it 10, its a more round number.

I think he has picked 6 years as it is the length of 2 sl licences, enough for a team to put down roots and build up a support base.

:204duwmf


Correct , it will not be good enough for them to just buy the best squad of players available [ mostly from abroad ie Aus/NZ/GB to win SL [ cant wait