i wouldnt put them ahead of toulose but if the financial backing is there for Paris then the RFL have to increase the number of teams in SL to 16, and thats assuming an existing SL club gets kicked out for widnes.

One wonders if, as the superleague grows, we will see a conference system similar to the American Football system in the USA...


that would certainly allow more teams to enter without screwing the fixture list.

Try staying on topic guys and not making this a Leigh relegation / Toulouse's purpose in the Championship-type thread please.

Thats the way it's going chief.
Only alternative is if the Chp receives decent funding and there's enough strong clubs left there to create a valid D1 without it becoming a feeder league

,

When the RFL Announced that Toulouse were entering the Championship every single media statement included a reference to them ' preparing to enter SL in 2012 ' , very few if any mentioned anything else



No I stated that the Championships [ both , I have always stipulated that desperatley need money to survive and prosper , be that money given to the clubs or spent by the RFL on those clubs , what exactly do the Championship 1 clubs get out of Toulouse being in the Championship ?

So stop making things up that I have not said

So Toulouse being relegated is me ' Forcing ' them onto smaller clubs , every sporting competition has a large element of luck




Salford had those players already signed up before their relegation was confirmed [ you know this so stop trying to look stupid , however as I posted [ but you ignored , the RFL stated that Toulouse would have 5 quota spots because they had already signed 5 players , but they subsequently only announced these players 2 or 3 months later , how convienient ?





Yes which has as much credence as yours



Sorry you've lost me there , what money ?

Dont understand this bit , which bit did they ignore ?




Irrelivant , only Widnes had more than 2/3 F/T players and they changed their training to P/T when cullen took over , both Championships are 95 % part / time



Dont make me laugh, away fans apart from Leigh,Widnes,Fax and Fev are virtually none existant at both levels [ Apologies to those loyal few that do travel



All Clubs at both Championship levels are ' poor '






As I explained in my other post , Salford had already given contracts before relegation [ in the similar way Leigh had already spent over the Championship 1 SC before being relegated this year , but Toulouse had not given those contracts out when their entry was announced [ or they decided not to say who they had signed for 3 months






Everybody is entitled to their opinion




And Toulouse to travel to the UK



Or Toulouses failings , [ You cannot have it both ways , although you do try quite often



Sorry I didn't realise that they have never played RL in Toulouse till this year , in that case I stand corrected , so this is not the Toulouse Olympic RL club that has won 4 French titles and first played in 1937 ?

You really need to try harder Smokey

Once there are enough teams it will hopefully go back to two divisions.

Hopefully

Sod the two divisions. Get Toulouse in and Paris.

The likes of Salford, Leigh, Wakefield, Wigan and Widnes have had enough chances in Super League and never made the grade. Get rid of the dead wood from the competition and get some ambition and passion into it.

The Paris franchise is a must if it's as cashed up as it sounds, Toulouse look very capable of joining based on their crowds and performance in the Championship too.

Sod the flat cappers, lets make it interesting before it goes out of business altogether.

Are you kidding?

Club loyalty coming to the fore here, but Wakefield have had just one continuous tenure in SL, avoided relegation (celebrating mediocrity, yes, but it is an achievement given limited resources that the club has had), and improved year on year since JK's appointment. Stadium and financial issues (not exclusive to our club) aside, I don't understand why so many people suggest Wakefield should be booted out of SL when it is the likes of Salford and Castleford that have been up and down between the leagues over the years.

As for Wigan, three consecutive play off semi-finals and a CC semi suggest that they're bringing something to the competition and may be able to go one better soon. I hope you were joking with that one.

One of my main concerns with bringing in more French sides to SL is attendances. We've got Harlequins, Crusaders, Huddersfield and Catalans who bring miniscule away followings which can't be doing much good for the coffers at "heartland" clubs. While expansion is obviously important for the growth of the sport, attendances are going to suffer (eg. Wakefield's estimated revenue in 2009 wasn't achieved, definitely not helped by the recession. Nor the quarter of home games that mustered even smaller crowds due to no away following). Games with a small away following generally have less atmosphere and don't advertise the greatest game in the best light. Difficult.

What a funny statement



Come on, reduced away support is no reason for anti-expansionism. Clubs should be able to rely on their own fans to generate revenue. Lack of away support is a nonsensical and pathetic argument.

SL should be full of mediocre heartland clubs and nobody else ....

the real shame about Les Cats is how they achieved more in 3 or 4 years than quite a few heartland clubs in over 100.

both toulose and paris have to be included next time. the RFL have to find the finances for it, be it via offering Sky another game to televise or whatever.

the opportunity to so quickly revive RL in france again is not to be missed

we would all benefit from this.

people still talk about the champagne RL played by the french in the 60s against australia

really? I'd say HKR and Les Cats having worked there way up over a number of years have been more succesful than the likes of Quins and Crusaders (so far) and before them Paris & Gateshead.

Les Cats are a heartland club you kno[ibh[/iead.

then why do all you flat cap dunces decry toulose

You would think that Toulouse will be the next French side in Superleague. The fast tracking of a Paris franchise team would be a serious double standard given the amount of hoops toulouse have had to jump through. I also can't see them having the time to build a team in time to fulfil the 2015 criteria via the Championship.

On the other hand Paris team should not be rejected out of hand. To have a sports team that is itself a successful expansion side behind the bid can only be good.

So instead of admitting you were wrong for making a dumbass statement you come back with a sweeping generalised statement like that and a stupid smiley. I don't decry Toulouse and if you actually bother to read certain other people's posts (whom i assume you also perceieve to be flatcappers) most actually don't decry them either. It's your perceptions that are rabid and unfounded. I'm going to call you a kn[iobhea[/id again too because you deserve it.

Kno[ibhe[/iad.

Go on , explain , they finished next to bottom despite having 5 quota players , as far as their attendances go they were reasonable , nothing more , despite several clubs taking a decent number of fans over to France , Leigh took around 400 out of a gate of 2,300

They managed to get 1,900 locals to go and watch Leigh? Fantastic effort

Toulouse is a rugby (mainly union) mad city. I was taken aback by it when I went a fortnight ago. I still think they should only go into Super League if and when they have met all the criteria. In the meantime the emphasis should be on them bringing through French players.

Brilliant news, we need competition for places in super league wherever it comes from. It is also another step along the road to a potential french league existing on its own and a possible european comp seperate to the league, this is the way to go IMO.

Paris cashed up, that's a very big IF, and even with the cash they need the players: 8-10 SL ready French players to add to top League players from Oz, Nz or the UK.
TO look promising, but they never push themselves as a club (not players, but club). If the club had the ambition they could have signed all the top non-Catalan French players and been in the playoffs this year, but they play it safe, which will see them rise to SL level, but very slowly and probably miss the boat for 2012.

If you put 3 French teams in SL in 2012 you would just have 3 average teams with lots of foreigners keeping them ticking. Even a second side would risk diluting the top talent from the Dragons. It has to be phased in and they have to get French players at the right standard, which means TO taking the plunge and making a dareing bid for a GF place and Paris actually having a league team in a competition.