A dedicated poster?
How the hell can you be a dedicated poster on a message forum?

Are you saying the RFL changed the rules for the 'drop zone' mid season or that they have just said to Leigh 'you're relegated' for a laugh?

Steve O'Connor also spent a huge amount of money on the stadium - the players' area and office space in the South Stand, gym, physio room, team meeting areas etc. in the North Stand. I was really impressed when I was given the tour. That will be included in the loss for last year.

I have a 3 month old that has a spare dummy if you want it.

You have left me with nothing to add, thank you.

I especially like this part of your post - well said. If I hadn't vowed to keep Taggart's famous outburst in my signature until end of soccer season I would have put above in.

Excellent news.

It is to be hoped that others are in similar situations although I doubt if some are.

Seriously, I just hope they don't fall down again just like so many others have done, including the Cougars!

Ok, so you've justified Catalans inclusion in Super League there...

I loved my trip to Toulouse and believe in the long-term it will benefit British RL in terms of potentially having a half-decent French national side, but that's hardly going to be achieved when the pivotal positions in the Toulouse side are all filled by Aussies. Really can't see why they can't have started off in Championship One and earned their way in to the Championship, and on the same rules as everyone else.

widnes and toulose will be the right clubs to enter SL next time.

CC havent been as bad as has been made out here and with a better squad and potentially noble as coach will improve.

Yes, getting battered every week in front of one man and his sheep has been a real credibility boost for Super League, hasn't it?

When the rumour mill of Celtic and Rangers joining English league was doing the rounds, which league do you think they would have started in ?
Wasn't Toulouse in equivalent level in their original comp?
Ideally you are right, but lets face it no matter what expansion clubs do (unless they are doing it "the right way" like Skolars) or however they are considered for SL/NL etc they are "cheating the rules" in some way. Every one of them has been the same accusations.
In the Championship comp - Get rid of the Quota rule, get rid of the salary cap and base it on being able to afford instead, and get the franchise system in the championship too. All going by the same rules then

1. Good point, but you generally expect it to take much longer to home grow a SL scrum half than a SL Prop. It took us (Catalans) two years to develop Bosc and we started off with Jones and Maguire as our halves and an almost-all foreign backline. Now we only need to develop a standoff. Expect TO to develop their key players in a similar timeframe.
2. C1 clubs could not afford to travel to France and their players would not get the time off work. I think that it would probably have been better for TO to start in C1 as they could have fielded essentially their LER side, they coudl have stayed in both comps, they could have played more French players and less foreign signings that would have cost them more.

Someone already posted that Leigh are going down with a really high points total, 9 wins and 11 losses, and unprecedented good run for a relegated side. Exactly the same win:lose ratio as TO have. Should both clubs have been in C1 last year?

There aren't actually any full-time clubs in the Championship these days (Widnes reverted to part-time mid season) so C1 is no different to the Championship in that regard, while I was under the impression that the RFL have, quite rightly, footed the travel costs for all of Toulouse's games this year?


No, as we'd earned our place in the Championship by staying outside of the relegation places, while TO were new to the competition and as such should have entered at the same level as the Crusaders and Skolars did.

I could be polite, but hey, WTF.......
[size=200F^CK OFF YOU TROLL![/size

20 posts into another ID....

and I challenge you. Show me documented and factual proof of any financial help given to London Broncos or Harlequins Rugby League by the RFL (as in we received money).

If Toulouse would be another Les Cats they deserve a spot. Not sure how strong they are compared to where Les Cats were when they put their bid together? Is there enough support in Toulouse to sustain a SL team?

Interesting question wether French teams add any money value to SL. Given the TV rights are not worth any extra with French clubs in and obviously clubs don't beenfit from any away fans I wonder what value having Les Cats is. I suppose eventually the hope is the French national side improves and strengthens the Int game leading to more money coming to the RFL that way?

can any one see the super league being expanded to 16 teams? widnes definately deserve a place and i would give tolouse a place, celtic should stay and be given chance to build- there crowds for their first season havent been that bad and compare pretty well to the other union sides in the area.

personally if any team is going to drop out i can see it being salford. it would take some guts dropping one of the other sides as wakey and cas have come on leaps and bounds this season on the performance side.

15 teams with Widnes and (not 2lose just yet.)
28 regular seasons games with SL teams in the CC at the last 32 stage is 28 SL games and a maximum of 5 more weekends of CC action. 33 weeks action per season with maybe a 1 week break for a mid season international game.
MM if they insist on keeping it, with the gate money split between the "home" sides every alternate season..........

Halifax and Widnes in

quins, celtic out!

Huddersfield?, Leigh?etc., etc

Lost your way again?

Here, knock yourself out .....................

[url=http://halifaxafc.proboards.com/index.cgi?Not Mensa[/url

[url=http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/local/Lancaster-City-0-FC-Halifax.5622146.jpPub league news[/url

Oh dear, hes back!

Come on love, let us have a serious discussion for once

Like the one you've started here?

[urlhttp://viewtopic.php?t=428979[/url

No thanks

Championship 1 is a similar level to the French Elite. There would have been no point in spending the money. In the Championship, not only is it more financially viable, but it is also a more attractive competition and thus has been bringing in more sponsors and fans for the club (TO's crowds have been pretty impressive judging by the published figures).

At the end of the day, TO are a franchise, just like Catalans were in SL. They come from a different system, and thus will be treated (rightfully) in a different manner. They have competed will for their first year, just like Catalans in SL. Both teams finished in relegation spots, but with very high figures (in fact, pretty sure both have had the most points for a team in the relegation positions in their respective comps).

It is in the best interest of French RL, the Championship, Championship 1, and rugby league in general that they are in the competition they are in and no other at this stage in their development. And like I said earlier, it made no difference if Toulouse were taken out of the competition or left in as Leigh would have been relegated.

I think the idea is that in the long term they will add to the TV contract. The interest will eventually build in the RL-strong French regions the more clubs that are added. When TV companies in France are willing to pay more money, that's when expanding the league becomes an easier option.

IIRC, SL gets about £60m for three years from Sky, with clubs getting £1.1m each (probably got one of them figures wrong, but I'm sure the £1.1m is close to the mark). If we can manage to get a £2.2m a year deal from French TV at some point in the future, that bank rolls two SL clubs there. If that figure increases, we can add more.

Speculate to accumulate. Rome wasn't built in a day. A cat with gloves on catches no mice. Blah-dee-blah...

Yes please , as soon as possible

There were many arguments on here as to why the Catalans needed a relegation exception , as the gap between SL and NL 1 [ as was was too big and would have caused massiv disruption , that decision has been vindicated

As for Toulouse in the Championship ?

There is no good reason for them to be excempt from dropping down [ or a reason to start in the Championship rather than C 1 , in fact I think it is counter productive

The gap between the 2 leagues is not that big and they would have been able to use more local players in key positions

Also because they have the safety net their players have not been tested in a higher intensity than they would if the fight against the drop [ or push for promotion was part of their season

I have no doubt if they could have been relegated this year they would not have ended up in the bottom 2

So what have they brought to the Championship ?

Not a lot except the opportunity for fans to travel to France

What negatives have they brought ?

Cost being one and because they have finished below Leigh in the table they have further damaged the credibility of our comp and the sport in general

Working in a football city like Liverpool I have found myself explaining to quite a few customers today how we have ended up going down and a team below us is not

Another kick in the guts to our fragile fan base following on from the franchise decisions last year

We really need some fairness and integrity if the Championships are ever going to be the ' Vibrant worth winning in its own right comp ' we have been promised