Similar, but no pig muck.

Wednesday fan? Mr Price?

pretty good post there.

yeah the more championship clubs with realistic chances at SL the better for the game

outside of widnes who are a SL club, fax and leigh have real potential as SL clubs.

leigh with that fantastic ground could easily be in SL. fax with their ground completed can do things as well, pressuring clubs like wakey or cas who arent doing much on their grounds

Leigh have other problems re Sl but lets not set Starbug off on one.
Fax.. unless we go to a 16 team conference system OR they get a full restructure youth setup I fail to see what they'll bring to the table above already established W Yorkshire clubs who run full academies, already guarantee say 6000 fans (i havent checked averages) and are competitive. Hypothetically if they now were in Barrow I think they'd be in with a tremendous shout even in 2012 but to destroy a current SL club.. I'm not sure Fax are/will be worth that risk.

Outside of Widnes, imho your best bets are Barrow (location and stadium holds back what is a big junior conveyor, RL heartland area starved of SL), Toulouse/Stade (for obvious reasons) and MAYBE Leigh. Leigh though, they're behind Widnes by such a distance and in exactly the same geographical location.
Drop a bomb on Widnes, and Leigh MAY have a chance

As I said in another thread though, I would hold back an expansion franchise for 2014/5 guaranteed to one clubs application put forward in 2012. South Wales would be a great shout and it would allow two or three years growth time, as the Catalans had.

leigh/fax have no chance for the next round, more down the track.

only one SL club will get kicked out, the rfl wont have the guts to do more, and widnes take that spot

theyll only add paris and toulose if they can get their own TV deal that covers their costs.

so it will either be 14 teams with one team dropping out for widnes, or 16 teams with the previous scenario plus 2 new french teams.

barrow should never be considered for SL. the only way any cumbrian team should get in is maybe as a joint venture, and even then i wouldnt go for it myself.

I disagree completely on Barrow. There's a great opportunity to get a LOT of talent up there playing to SL standard. Like Perignan it's almost the forgotten heartlands and a great opportunity for expansion. They need a new ground and if that comes about I wouldnt have a hesitation at getting them in.
It wont be 16 teams, they've already stated it will be staying at 14 for the forseeable future.

Salford/Cas for Widnes in 2012 will be the only change and it's the right one imo, no point destroying 2 established SL clubs.
I guarantee they wont add 2 french teams for a long, long time. One maybe, 2 no chance

its all hypothetical but if the french clubs get their own tv deal theyll be granted entry

and reports from france are that stade francaise are interested in a RL team

why would the RFL turn it down if it doesnt have to fund it.

barrow would add zero to super league. it would waste a valuable spot on a team which adds zilch

Interesting choice of words , will Messr's Lewis and Wood be using that term in 12 months time ?

They will not dilute the player pool by 200%. Absolutely no way. It would either be Toulouse OR Stade in your instance.
Barrow have a ready made conveyor belt of local talent, they have a winning Chp side with local talent, unlike Sheffield, Toulouse etc etc there's also Barrow born and raised players running around SL. imo they're about the same stage as Leigh without the ground but in an 'expansion' area. If Leigh produce GB quality players they can go to Wigan, Wire etc etc as it stands, if Barrow produce them, they never get the chance. We had to move B Harrison down here at 15 years old, home schooling and so on and he will be a quality quality player. There's hundreds more like him.
Im not saying they should definately be in, but there's more chance of them being in than BOTH french SL clubs I guarantee you.
It's Expansion with an almost ready made team who, don't forget knocked a SL team out of the Challenge Cup this year and wouldnt need 14 aussies.

I don't think so Starbug but let's be honest here...

Lets , we cannot have the RFL destroying a SL club can we , they will happily destroy heartland non SL clubs though

if its 14 teams only widnes get in

the only way a french teams gets in is if its 2 of them as neither get in ahead of widnes.

you watch the rfl pull a rabbit out of its hat

are you telling me if stade francaise want a SL team the RFL is going to make them wait?

please.

and barrow would be a joke in SL. any young talent cumbria produces will find its way into SL anyway, you dont need a SL club for that.

why would the RFL admit another team with poor finances, poor ground, tiny population and will struggle to spend the full salary cap

who cares who won the championship, its largely irrelevant now.

hey if newtown win the NSW Premier League does this mean they should get an nrl spot?

and newtown would add more to the nrl than barrow to SL.

yeah im sure the RFL did its best to stop the LSV getting approved and built but hey it just slipped through the RFLs net

how many SL clubs would love to have a ground as good as the LSV?

probably half of them

I'd love to carry this on but its home time.
We'll have to agree to disagree: completely


Oh and if we're using that excuse then Perpignan's hardly a massive place to place Les Catalans. Barrow would be a similar proposition

You're funny

we can have both.
imo it has to happen if RL is ever to be held in the the same esteem that the other major sports are held in.
its also my opinion that SKY,french & spanish TV would need to finance this project simply because for it to work it would need the very best players from the northern & southern hemospheres to participate plus players from RU.
the thought of leeds,manchester,liverpool london V paris,barca,toul,mille with the best players in the world playing is awesome. madrid,milan,johannesburg next.
well its either that or wigan v warrington again.

the difference is les catalans and crusaders are in nations where RL is weak and needs to expand too.

barrow is in a place where there are enough RL teams and the wrong places in england to expand too

les cats are the only French SL club

barrow would be another poor SL club with a dud ground and poor finances

They have a wealthy backer, how do you think they've gone from division 2 to Championship champions in one year.
I did say it would be reliant on the new posh stadium they've discussed.
The Cumbrian market realistically is untapped, I think it could be a lucrative market in respect to Eng/GB
I didn't say they're the forerunner but imo they have as much chance as Stade and Toulouse

The attendence of 979 V Toulouse and 1100 V Batley is more than we would ever have got at Don Valley. We HAVE attracted some new fans, hopefully they'll keep coming back and crowds can improve further.

Have you got a comparison of the first few and the last few games to compare?

Do you, with an Owl on your jumper, endorse these "pig muck" comments?

I don't care if we're at Bramall Lane or Hillsborough as i'm watching my team - Sheffield Eagles. Both stadiums are a million times better than Don Valley will ever be.

Well said.

What has become of the DV? In use still?

Its an athletics stadium really and will continue to be used so.
Never in a million years suitable from RL and I hope Sheffield grow in BL, its just a little... big