Debating this on twitter. Basically the Championship 1 attendances are dire and the Under 20s comp is pretty poor standard I think so I was suggesting this as an idea to improve both standards....

Championship

Barrow
Batley
Dewsbury
Featherstone
Halifax
Hunslet
Leigh
Sheffield
Toulouse
Widnes
Widnes
York

=#FF0000Team Finishing Bottom is Relegated.

League 1 (Based on 2010 Table Finishes)

Hunslet
York
Whitehaven
Keighley
Oldham
Rochdale
Warrington U20s
St Helens U20s
Wigan U20s
Hull FC U20s
Huddersfield U20s
Bradford U20s

They would compete against each other but technically be competing on two different levels.

They would compete but technically competing on two different levels. The Under 20s sides CANNOT be promoted but the highest played side would be declared Under 20s champions.
=#FF0000The best Semi-Pro side gets promoted regardless of their position, being replaced the year after by the relegated championship side.
=#0000FFAlso the worst semi-pro side and the two worst Under 20s sides get relegated to the New League 2 at the end of the season (regardless of end finish position).

New League 2 (Based on 2010 Table Finishes)

Swinton
Doncaster
London Skolars
Gateshead Thunder
South Wales
Salford U20s
Leeds U20s
Castleford U20s
Hull KR U20s
Harlequins U20s

=#0000FFThe Best Semi Pro side and the two best Under 20s sides would go up at the end of the season replaced by the worst equivalents from League 1.

I think that would work well. Leeds, Cas, Hull KR all have great youth systems and would be desperate for promotion whilst even Wigan, Warrington and Saints in League 1 would have to considering possible relegation. I think all the sides would have to battle every single week for something.

Similar the semi pro sides I reckon would all get attendance boosts from even playing Super League Under 20s sides. I reckon Wigan would have a 2,000 at least (good crowds for that standard of rugby) playing Oldham or Rochdale on a Sunday afternoon at Orrell. And to make it fair I'd make it that ALL gate reciepts home or away were shared. Even Leeds in New League 2 would take a few fans on a Sunday to places like Gateshead or South Wales, probably better than what they get now.

Any thoughts?

Seems to work for football on the continent, don't see why it wouldn't work here.

This is largely along the lines of what they do in French football (soccer) and it seems to be a good way of letting second teams find their true level, rather than playing other reserve teams of waywardly varying quality from one week to the next. It means that players coming into the first team are well used to playing competitive fixtures that matter, usually against more partizan crowds than they otherwise would have faced in a true reserve league.

If U20 games were still thrown in free part of a first team season ticket, I'd love to go and see how our U20s (Wigan) get on against teams like Keighley, Oldham, etc, and would probably go to the majority of home games against those sides and maybe even venture to a few aways.

I'd like to see a few more expansion teams in the new League 2 if there's scope for it to grow; maybe the likes of Hemel and Coventry, plus maybe successful heartlands clubs in the tier below like Bramley, Warrington Wizards, as is being discussed in this month's Rugby League World.

Cracking idea. Throw Salford, Crusaders and Wakefield in there with them.

Where's the "like" button?

I've argued for years about the poor overall standard of the U20's comp. You are correct, Wigan would get 2,000 at Orrell for those bigger games, however there would need to be some investment at the ground.

I'm also sure that some Wigan fans would travel away to the likes of Oldham, Swinton, Rochdale etc for a Sunday afternoon game.

Anywhere is better than Wigan I suppose. No wonder why you want to get out of they as much as possible!

No , stupid idea , I expect it to be announced next week

It would have to be reasonably priced following two sides but I'd pay tenner on for a Sunday afternoon match. I mean just looking at the Champ 1 attendances and most of them are about 300odd ish. We'd take at least away on a Sunday to some of these places IF the thing was reasonably priced! A 1,000 attendance paying £10 each must be worth more than 300ish paying whatever they charge and you'd do it so the Semi-Pro side got most of the money because the Super League sides wouldn't really need that cash would they?

Except the fans of the Championship 1 clubs would probably not bother going any more , and neither would your fans after visiting clubs with no home fans , totally stupid idea

It's a good idea on the surface, but the problem is that many Under 20's aspire to be full time SL players whereas many NL1 players don't.

I think it would cause problems.

As for your attendance figures - I don't have the stats to hand but I can't remember the last time I was at a NL1 game and only 300 turned up? Usually for a team like Batley its about 800 - 1200. For teams like Fev/Fax and Widnes it's a lot more.

Time to shut semi pro RL up and walk away!!!

Why would they stop going to watch what in my opinion would be a superior product? And looking at the attendances from last week's league express you could argue they don't really go anyway in Championship 1. The average last weekend was about 400.

Surely Swinton v South Wales can't be more appealing that Swinton v Wigan Under 20s? Likewise for South Wales, playing Leeds Under 20s would inspire me more than playing Swinton!

Look at his leagues.
He is not on about Wigan U20's playing against Fev, Widnes, Batley etc. He mentions them playing the likes of Rochdale, Oldham Keighley etc.

Its predictable that the league one teams' fans would hate this, but when they actually started playing against teams with guenuine stars in them, returning from injury or young future stars, they would see how it could improve both comps and all the players. The U20's lads would gain alot from this, which could only help their progression and therefore eventually the england rl team

This is possibly the worst idea I have read on these boards since I joined just over a year ago and thats no mean feat when you consider Damo-Leeds posts stuff on here too.

I'm sorry but I think that this is a bad idea too. The reason why the under 20s competition is bad is because of the lack of quality coaching at that level. If it was good then this thread wouldn’t have even been created.

This thread is just another example of how to benefit certain super league clubs even further. The problem really lays in the fact that in the scheme of all this expansionist stuff, local teams that used to flourish years ago have become either defunct or neglected. Now I’m not criticising that all the expansion that has come our way during the super league era has been for the worse. We wouldn’t even have a super league if it wasn’t for the likes of Crusaders and Harlequins aka non heartland clubs. But this has been at the expense of the heartlands and this thread is the result.

Back in the day rugby league ruled Leeds. We had two other teams that we’re well attended back then and could compete like Hunslet and Leeds Parish. We need to make the heartlands stronger before we make the wider game stronger. With good investment in clubs that have fallen wayside, we should and could see them return to their former glory. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have two St Helens teams in super league? I hear that the derby between their top two teams back in the day were fantastic.

Hopefully what the OP has mentioned on this thread won’t happen. It’ll just make super league clubs stronger and national league clubs weaker.

Do you go to all your teams academy games ? , all of them , home and away ?

Exactly. In 2008ish we could have had Sam Tomkins and Kyle Eastmond playing at the likes of Swinton, Oldham and Rochdale on Sunday afternoons. Got to be better than what they watch currently?

And the question would have been , ' Who ? ' , if fans want to watch kids play RL they have plenty of options , but not playing against ' their ' club

SL fans cannot even be arced watching their teams play Championship clubs in the CC unless they get in for free , so what makes you think they'd watch their own reserves play Championship clubs ?

It certainly will be better than what they watch currently. But let’s say the NRL sent 5 under 21s teams over here to replace the worse five teams currently in super league. Who is really benefitting?

Promotion and relegation thats a radical idea think super league should try it

Championship 1 attendances today were 493, 744, 434, 302 and 754!

I can't recall any Super League side being involved in a cup attendance that low. But I reckon at Orrell on a Sunday Wigan fans would turn up at about 1,500 to watch our Under 20s take on a Swinton, Rochdale or Oldham - which is a vast, vast improvement on those figures above. Especially because we play on Fridays nearly most weeks.

As a York fan and an RL fan, I like the idea.

Clearly the aussie clubs would be, those players would be, and so would the Aussie test team because those Under 21 players would be playing a higher standard of opposition every week than they would be in their own Under 21 competition. Thats my whole point entirely.

It would raise the standard of opposition for the likes of Swinton, Rochdale and Oldham as well. I mean, I watched our Under 20s hammer Barrow in the pre season and almost draw with Leigh's first team last pre season.

What attendance figures do the pie u 20 s get ? And how much is it to get in ?