Mate, I went to the first test between GB and France after Catalans came in the league. We had not played France for years but here was a chance to get the test games on every year, but one club could not produce an international side. Had Toulouse come in as well and had the two clubs had say a dozen top French lads each in their sides providing quality test games I'd have been made up.

Because that is why the French were invited into Superleague

Now there are no more Tests because there weren't many quality players in the first place (Touxagas,Raguin, Pelo, Casty, Duport, Khahtabi, Fakir, Gossad, Guisset and Bosch were quality) the inclusion of two English/Aussie teams from France is thoroughly pointless. We have 15 years evidence of which way the French game is going and as we only see only a few French lads with first team shirts it's clear French RL is gone as a professional game. They don't have the players nor the TV money.

There can be no justification to make ambitious clubs like Newcastle, Bradford, Featherstone York etc who all applied for SL recently to sit out a future Superleague in which two "French" clubs playing virtually no French players and providing no TV subs take SL places they should have..

Why does this nonsense go on? Because Superleague bosses can't agree to do anything in unison. IIRC it's probably Hetherington who won't vote the French out. I suspect however that the other Superleague clubs won't vote Toulouse in. Certainly when there was the chance recently for Toulouse to come straight into Superleague this year many armchair fans called for them. most SL bosses didn't.

Yes if we had a load more money we could be one step towards more SL clubs, BUT we would still need the second step of more quality players which France can't even offer for the one team that have in there. As it stands we need 14 well funded SL clubs to avoid the loop fixtures and we need them all to be English to up the SKY subs.

It may be reunification between SL and the RFL and a majority voting system may see some progress.....

Round and round we go again.

The whole point is that if the league increases then, necessarily it should be on the basis of increasing TV revenue and not just making the slices of cake smaller.
IF we are saying that RL has already maxed out the potential revenue and is incapable of improving the take from Sky or, whoever else, our sport really is in dire straits - what a poor reflection this would be on our game.
Those negotiating the deal should be bigging the game up, on the back of an up coming world cup, across all variations of the game.
We certainly shouldn't be accepting that our sport only exists along part of the M62

Ambitious Newcastle won't have very many north east accents representing them this year.
Ambitious Bradford lost heavily to another club that don't play their home games in their own city.
Featherstone ignore the laws of the land and York not only lost at home to Toulouse,but are yet to win a game at their new home stadium.
Yea.They will boost the current status of Super League and Sky subscriptions will go through the roof.
The home international side will certainly raise their standards....isn't that what was supposed to happen with Super League and summer rugby?

This is a non argument.

The correlation you use to push your agenda utilizes a flawed measure, namely that if 95% of English/British R.L Clubs (percentage picked at random to make point) are located along or very close to the M62 then of course the percentage of financial failures or administrations is higher. For your argument to work in any way you would need to point to the exact number from each region & the percentage within that region.

Good luck with that !!!

FWIW, I have already stated that I am all for a RLWC to be held in France.

So you’re writing off clubs with a history of and that continue to produce fans of the game and young players that go on to represent their country on the strength of one round of fixtures with squads built on championship budgets? With all due respect that approach hasn’t ever and never will work in building support for whatever the latest expansionist pipe dream is.

I think you have taken it out of context.
As it would have meant you reading a lot of previous input from Donnyman,it may help if I assure you I am certainly NOT writing of any of the above named clubs,or any other clubs that have lost,by necessity,and by no fault of their own,any young players,and any clubs who have done without money by whatever circumstances.
Nor am I,or will I,attempt to shatter any expansionist dream:quite the contrary.

1. So on that basis the drop in TV revenue according to you should mean what? A ten club league? It has been suggested the top 10 clubs play each other 3 times.

2. The dire straits comes when the TV deal is pulled, don't you get that? Therefore the game survives on an English TV deal?

All along the ridiculous journey of the fake Canadian club and the calls to put another fake Canadian club in SL for a "derby" along with the calls to put the tiny "French" club Toulouse in for a "French Derby" (with few French players) a relatively tiny number of RL enthusiasts mainly hanging around message boards have wholly ignored the reality that expansion isn't spreading the same number of pro clubs across the northern hemisphere.

It was always just a dream, yet a small number of people seemed to believe it, (we have about 120,000 RL fans and only a couple of hundred on message boards) or at least liked winding up those who can clearly see RL's survival isn't closing down English pro clubs who attract TV money for fake overseas clubs who don't attract TV money.

It's just a wind up Ste.......

They can hold the World cup anywhere they want for me, and if it's in France I hope you have a great time Ste....

I also hope Leigh can get used to the pace of SL and start to pick up some wins....

But not by depleting the clubs inside the traditional boundaries. We forget entirely what Catalans and Toulouse have done to French RL by walking away. Just imagine if Leeds and Wigan decided to go join the French league for next season 2022, and to accommodate them two French clubs were relegated from the Ellite



This would be a nonsense and not in any way "expansion". But exactly the same thing as Cats and TO have done

It is a world cup. I can guarantee that someone will be travelling abroad.

Quote ="Levrier"It is a world cup. I can guarantee that someone will be travelling abroad.'" can you that's good https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-52646738

Quote ="Levrier"It is a world cup. I can guarantee that someone will be travelling abroad.'" can you that's good https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-52646738

With the talk by some that the tv deal would shrink with a second French club how about this thought.

The last tv deal which was highly successful included Catalan.

The current reports say the next deal will be significantly lower and some would say that is so because of Toronto entering Super league last year. Now replaced by Leigh where are all of the reports that the tv deal will increase with the addition of another English team?

you need to let it go or it will make you poorly

It's what Donnyman has been telling us for months and will no doubt do again.

Quote ="Donnyman"icon_lol.gif '" Keep laughing! Don't want to upset you,but,not only a World Cup in France.....BUT - games in India and the middle east! French government involved. Not chasing the money... Best if you are seated while you read this - https://www.intrl.sport/news/rugby-leag ... -olympics/

Quote ="Donnyman"icon_lol.gif '" Keep laughing! Don't want to upset you,but,not only a World Cup in France.....BUT - games in India and the middle east! French government involved. Not chasing the money... Best if you are seated while you read this - https://www.intrl.sport/news/rugby-leag ... -olympics/

Quote ="Ornery Optimist"Keep laughing! Don't want to upset you,but,not only a World Cup in France.....BUT - games in India and the middle east! French government involved. Not chasing the money... Best if you are seated while you read this - https://www.intrl.sport/news/rugby-leag ... -olympics/'" what is up with you get a grip man you seem to suggest that were saying the game should be played just along the M62 it will be fantastic news for the game to expand but do get a realisation to what it can do financially going into ruin

Quote ="Ornery Optimist"Keep laughing! Don't want to upset you,but,not only a World Cup in France.....BUT - games in India and the middle east! French government involved. Not chasing the money... Best if you are seated while you read this - https://www.intrl.sport/news/rugby-leag ... -olympics/'" what is up with you get a grip man you seem to suggest that were saying the game should be played just along the M62 it will be fantastic news for the game to expand but do get a realisation to what it can do financially going into ruin

hows this going to work now with the world cup bid https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56716708

hows this going to work now with the world cup bid https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56716708

Just to let you know, I am not part of International Rugby League, and I am certainly not the head honcho.
He is the chap making the statement.

nice side step what's your thought on zero flights that the journey under 2 1/2 hrs take, can see the trains being manic

I don't envisage a problem.
They still have public roads and a reliable train service.
I hope you have your tickets for this years World Cup games.
I'm a bit John Lennon - '' Imagine there's no countries.''
Wonder how successful the World Cup in England manages to be?

It wont be successful

you didn't see a problem with that club overseas but that went titties up