I think I am speaking on behalf of everyone on here when I apologise to the people of Bangalore and Uzbekistan for comparing them with Keighley.



I think the smart money is on Toulouse as there would be little point in them being in the Championship to not get them up to somewhere near Super League standard. Having them in the Championship beyond 2012 is a none starter.

Widnes I don't know about. They have looked pretty poor in the Championship. Imagine how bad they would have been in Super League this year. At least they seem to be giving a few more young players a go this year. An advantage of having them would be the Cheshire derby matches but even that would not emulate Wigan/Saints and Hull/HKR in success.

There is a good chance that a team may drop out after three years and be replaced by Toulouse.

In the long term Gateshead, Sheffield and Doncaster will provide the best options. A United Cumbrian team is viable but it would require the intervention of a major backer or the RFL to make it happen and work.

Coventry, Ireland (Limerick/Dublin), Edinburgh, Barcelona etc, etc remain pie in the sky until someone actually comes out and says I want to start a championship team.

I predict that Super League will stay at 14 teams until at least 2015.

i agree, but id swap salford with wakefield. the rfl semm hellbent on a 'manchester' team (somone should give them a map of the area). i heard from one of the people in charge of the licensing process that wakefield were a little fortunate to get in and that the promise of a stadium played a big part.

Added to that there are better amateur sides out there than a lot of the Championship 1 sides as the 4th round of the cup keeps showing us. I am disappointed that none of the conference teams (the old NL3 and the National Conference) have been able to make the step up to become professional clubs. Where are these new teams going to come from if no one wants to do what Celtic/Skolars did and give it a go.



They made the same promise to get into Super League in the first place. Makes you wonder how long they will get away with it. Hopefully this new stadium is more than just a drawing and a press release like the last two.

The RFL will have no problem in bending the rules to get Tolouse in.

100% True

Have catalan got 1 extra oversea's player then anyone else



As "Therailwayendisuponus" Stated. The RFL will have no problem in bending the rules to get Tolouse in.

The rfl should be aiming for at least one top amatuer to step up into championship 1 every francise period, there a few clubs (bramley, nottingham, london storm etc) that arent a million miles away and with the right backing could make the step up.

The stadium is worth no more than a couple of points in the criteria. Currently Wakefield (last year and this) look to be gaining the point for competitiveness. Cas also this year.

No team can be kicked out solely on the basis of the ground. The criteria is designed to give a balance to assessing a clubs value to the competition, so yes Belle Vue may be poor, but that club is winning the battle on many more fronts.

Undoubtedly the licencing process has given some clubs, hopefully Wakefield included, as kick up the backside. Lets hope that all current SL clubs can prosper and the league can be expanded slightly, to incorporate the best club from the Championship.

as a st helens fans are you sure you want to post that.

ive been to KR.

widnes will certainly be stronger next time that probably 3 current SL clubs across all the francise criteria, as will toulose or close to it.

Certainly not. Catalans are already in SL, I was referring to future expansion teams. I have never had a problem with Catalans being in SL as I class them as a heartland team, albeit French heartland. They are from an area where RL is an established part of the culture and, as such, were always going to be a success. My only criticism is the number of Aussies they are allowed, not primarily because it is unfair but chiefly because I don't see how it helps the development of the game in France. Still, so long as the maximum permissible number is reduced each year (will it be?) then no problem.

Despite all the hoo haa about the plethora of criteria, there is a possibility that on-field performances (remember that criteria?) could still play a major part. Let's use Halifax as an example (just because they have started off the strongest this year).

2009 NRC winners, Challenge Cup finalists, Championship GF winners.
2010 NRC winners, Challenge Cup Semi-finalists, Championship GF winners
2011 NRC finalists, Challenge Cup Semi-finalists, GF finalists.

.............. and let's say the East stand gets completed and crowds in 2011 now average 4,200.

OK - the Challenge Cup stuff is fanciful and highly unlikely - but just say that the above did happen. How difficult would it be for the RFL to refuse a license based on the above events happening? We'd still be one of five clubs in Yorkshire, our crowds are still un-proven beyond 4,200 and we'd still be classed as a previously failed club. BUT, how difficult would it be to ignore those on-field results?

You're off the mark there. What really matters most is how various alignments could boost the TV contract and media coverage the game gets. The current TV contract gives each SL club about £1 million per season; if the average ticket price is £15, that equates to over 5,000 paying fans per home game. The key to the game's future is driving up the value of those TV rights, pure and simple.

If they add more value to the TV contract than a team that performed slightly better, then yes put them in. RL needs the alignment that will maximize that revenue, boost the international game and raise the sport's profile.

Probably not, lets face it any sport who can exempt ANY team from relegation while the others have to fight it off will do what they like.

I'd like to see the next 6 years be devoted to developing a club in the mindlands who can compete at SL/championship level. you have the teams in the heartlands and now Crusaders and Quins in the south but whats in the middle. something around birming/coventry would fill out the map nicely.

The Way I see it is within the next six years where not going to see too much change but then again I may be wrong because look at how fast Celtic Crusaders have moved up. But in the long term I think the RFL will attempt to get rid of small town clubs in favour of big city clubs.

Some of the clubs that are in now I can’t see existing in the EUROPEON super league in 20 - 30 years are -

Castleford or Wakefield or both

One of these will have to go if we want to fit in a Barcelona or Berlin. I hope I’m proved wrong because I want to see these clubs in the top flight till the day I die. But I think either one or both will go in 20 to 30 years if the RFL have they way.

Bradford Bulls

The whole club is on the decline already. I feel that if this club finish in the bottom two this season it’ll stay they for the next two and result in been relegated. This will be too much for the club to handle financially and will probably cease to exist before long.

Clubs that I can see in Super league in 2039

Leeds Rhinos
Wigan Warriors
Celtic Crusaders
Catalan Dragons
Toulouse Olympic
A Scottish Team
A Irish team
St Helens
Hull FC
Hull KR
Harlequins
London Skolers
Warrington Wolves
Salford City Reds

No Cumbrian side?

I can’t see that happening at all or I would of put it. Mergers don’t work and I don’t think there’s a big enough fan base for any of the clubs is they?

All is good expandeding the game...but we can't, just keep making rules up as we go along.
Lets make them "boxes ticked" to be put down to perfomances on the field. Not someone sat behind a desk, picking who they like and who they don't.

I will use my own team as a e.g.

More than 80 years history of the club, always been in the top flight apart from 2 years, "there was life before SL"
A team with 1 of the best fan bases "for the size of the town"
A town the is Rugby League through and through

Many people on here are saying Cas, should be 1 of the teams that should go...what, to swap a team that..

A team with no history?
A team with little fan base?
A town/city that dosnt give a t@ss about RL

Castleford have just the right to be in SL as any other team.....but im not the man sat behind the desk

Two teams from Hull yet only one from proper Yorkshire!

Hudds will always be in due to the history, a good ground and relatively far from other yorkshire clubs. (i've not mentioned on field success as the time period covered is 30 yrs so will go up and down)

How long does London need to develop the game. 12 years on and there still getting crowds in the 3,000's.... I mean comon its not a small place London is it?

In the spring of 1994 it was announced that the Australian NSWRL side the Brisbane Broncos was buying the club, which would be renamed 'London Broncos'.

In 1996, despite not playing in the top flight, the London Broncos were selected by the RFL to be part of the new Super League on the basis that it was essential for the sport to have a high profile representative in the capital.

You have hit the nail right on the RFL head.

That is why the RFL promoted Celtic Crusaders. That is why Richard Lewis is looking at the possibilty of a second London club in the Olympic Stadium post Olympics.

That is also why they are gung ho for Toulouse, even though there are no Sky subscriptions legally in France. But Toulouse is advantageous for several reasons. Not only does it make the Super League look more international, more like the more popular Heineken Cup than the less popular Guinness Premiership in RU. It increases the player pool in France, which the French national team needs in order to become competitive, and hence makes the international matches more financially valuable for the RFL and the FFRXIII. The addition of Toulouse also enables the FFRXIII do get a better price for its TV contract, and thereby gets the FFRXIII off the RFL or RLIF begging bowl.

All of these arguments will apply to a Paris franchise, in spades. Do not think that Toulouse will be the last French club to join the Championship and later Super League. Having Paris in SL ups the value of the Sky, BBC and French TV contracts. It also helps increase the French player pool and the quality of the French national team.

one name:

Bobby Goulding.

Can you explain what you mean?

First off I’d just like to make a massive apology to Huddersfield fans for forgetting their club. It wasn’t ignorance but I purely forgot about you for a moment whilst I was writing all this down. I can see Huddersfield in SL in 2039 also if they crowd continues to increase along with other requirements.



The RFL have an unhealthy obsession with expansion as I think we all know. I can’t see the RFL ever letting go with London and will always push to make it second to football. The amateur scene seems to be flourishing up London but the fan base as you said is doing the latter.



Same can be said for Catalan Dragons & Celtic Crusaders really. Just that all three have diffrence paces of fitting into the on field and off field agenda. I think we all agree that if either of these three where a Yorkshire or Lancastrian team then they would have been dropped years ago. But its another rule for expansion clubs and another one for English heartland clubs.