There is concern that there is not really enough matches in a season for the Champsionship / Championship 1 sides at the moment. We found out when all the semi-pro clubs were in one Northern Ford Premiership that the mismatches hurt the progress of the struggling clubs, hence the split to 2 leagues in the first place. People are talking of the addition of clubs to Superleague, even a new Paris franchise, but where are the new Championship sides going to come from?

The Scottish RL website had talked about a club in NL2 from 2010. The background to this was that Edinburgh Eagles were unbeaten in the Scottish Conference and looking to play at higher level. However this doesn't seem to have progressed and is looking unlikely for next year.

When I lived in the Midlands I enjoyed watching Telford. The new Bucks Head would make a great Championship ground and their web-site shows off some of the youth development work; however they are probably at least a decade away from being able to put a realistic bid together to join the Championship.

Then theres Hemel. Always close to joining but requiring a ground to make the step up.

So who do you want to see make the step up to Championship1 standard and who do you think would realistically be able to make the step up.

Nobody until the clubs in the Championships can get nearer to being self sustaining , ie earned income

If Bramley ever get a suitable ground them and noone else for a very long time. Realistically the only new C1 clubs are going to be ones where a backer turns up as there's no RLCN teams likely to step up until there's a significant restructure of the way the game is run and C1 stops trying to run at a higher level than it is capable of (some teams like York are capable of more, but an expanded franchise Championship would give them somewhere leaving the remnant of C1 with some top amateur sides in a much lower criteria, lower salary cap leagues; realistically teams like Oldham, Doncaster, Gateshead, Rochdale, Workington, London Skolars etc shouldn't be in a league with a £200,000 salary cap). Under the current format there is absolutely no prospect of a RLCN club ever stepping up to C1 without a backer coming along and Hemel prove it. The transition needs smoothing

The number of games issue could easily be solved without having to increase the number of clubs. I mean come on, when was the last time everyone played everyone twice in SL? Just need to play some teams three times. Problem solved. Not desirable, and not as good as an even round-robin of fixtures, but better than being skint.

As for who I'd like to see, I echo Mr Lewis' sentiments in wanting a Championship club from every region of the country. There are only 4 out of 9 regions of England represented in the Championship, and no Scottish, Welsh or Irish. Ireland may be a bit of a hard step, but the rest shouldn't be.

Personally, I think the standards need lowering to encourage more teams to enter. Or you could even split it up into Championship North and South and have a play-off between the two to see who gets promoted. The North will pretty much always beat the South until standards improve, but at least there will be clubs that can say they're at that level and will only be challenged by the other conference during the play-offs.

It's about time we tried to make an easier pyramid system to climb up for new teams. Something like:

1. Super League
2. Championship
3a. Championship 1 North (Yorkshire, North West, North East, Scotland)
3b. Championship 1 South (Midlands, London, South West, South East, East, Wales, Ireland)
4a. RLC Premier North (Yorkshire, North West, North East, Scotland)
4b. RLC Premier Midlands (West Midlands, East Midlands, East)
4c. RLC Premier South (South West, South East, London)
4d. RLC Premier Wales (Wales)
4e. RLI (Ireland)
5a. RLC Regional...

Keep going along them lines until the very lowest point of grass roots rugby. Some areas (i.e. the heartlands) will possibly go down to a 10th tier. BARLA would not be included in any of this. If they wanted anything to do with it then they'd have to jump ship.

It's the only way you're gonna see clubs develop into semi-pro level clubs WITHOUT the need for a rich backer to start them off.

I always thought Nottingham would lay roots in the semi-pro leagues but unfortunately they couldn't stay the distance.

Great shout!

We need every league to have criteria to encourage every club to better themselves!

You speak more sense than most people on here when talking about the big subjects like expansion and the problems with our game.

If thats is the case, would you stop relegation from the Championship?

100% yes.

The reason football is so strong is because any team who goes up to the top league is just as big/ as good as the one going down.

The whole nation needs to improve at RL before the crowds can go up and the national side can improve.

I would stop "automatic" relegation/promotion between them two leagues.

There will obviously be club that have a good team but would never be able to afford to compete at a higher level due to finances, ground facilities, etc. If they pass criteria needed to get into the Championship (which most of the top Championship 1 sides would) then it wouldn't be an issue.

I see it much in the same way as SL was when it still had promotion and relegation. If a team that clearly wasn't up to standard won the league (like Hunslet and Dewsbury) then they wouldn't go up. In this example, if a team like Hemel won and they only had a ground that held 500 people (I don't know this, I'm just being hypothetical) then they clearly wouldn't be able to make the step up.

I can see the sense in that. But will it do away with teams in that league chasing being in the CC, and over spending? Its a dificult one to judge.

What is the difference between the two respective league's salary caps? The problem clubs have with overspending is the step up needed for the salaries between the two leagues in order to stay competitive (HUGE jump in SL as it is part time to full time).

If you want to lower the standards in CC1 you would have to drop the Salary cap for that division. So the differnce could end up quite significant.

In summary therefore the actual playing of the game and the results are of secondary importance.

Glad that's clarified.

Do the lower leagues still employ the 50% ruling? Could be a factor.

There are two parts to professional sport. You have to compete off the field as well.

What professional sports league do you know that doesn't have standards for promotion?

Tennis. (Davis Cup).

Soccer (World Cup qualifying - eg, San Marino)

You don't get promoted in the World Cup qualifiers. You "qualify" for a tournament held in a nation (a nation which has to have standards in order to be the host).

And I don't know anything about Tennis. Do they have to play home games, etc.? (geniune question).

I don't know to be honest. I'm wrong on both counts i think

I dont think it is anymore. Could be wrong though.

Well, that makes life difficult doesn't it!


We shall have to wait for someone to tell us more about the Davis Cup!


I shall check as I am bored...

Why would any big backer ( apart from an RL Fan ) put money into a new RL Team joining the Championship? Leeds Rhinos can't even make much of a profit! Widnes Doncaster Gateshead oldham Whitehaven Rochdale, the list of clubs who have been in administration or very very near is just getting longer and longer. Apart from a French club maybe I can't see ANY new semi pro teams joining the league.

Why would any big backer ( apart from an RL Fan ) put money into a new RL Team joining the Championship? Leeds Rhinos can't even make much of a profit! Widnes Doncaster Gateshead oldham Whitehaven Rochdale, the list of clubs who have been in administration or very very near is just getting longer and longer. Apart from a French club maybe I can't see ANY new semi pro teams joining the league.

Huddersfield?

Are they joining the Championship ?

if your not going to listen properly go back to discussing the X factor and Celebrity GMOOH

Ring ' Tricky '