Gloucester are the 3rd new team.

The 4th one is looking like being either Coventry or Oxford as these are currently the only remaining bids.

A few people upset in bristol then?

There was noone wanting to set up a Championship club in Bristol.

Is that Gloucestershire Warriors or a new club as with Northampton?

A new club. Lionel Hurst and the University of Gloucestershire are backing them.

Thanks for that. Do you know if they'll play out of the UoG facilities? Have RFL made an official announcement?

The way to expand the championship is to make super league a 10-12 team league and dropping our lesser clubs down to the championship untill they can spend to the cap and play in decent facilities.

Don't want to go too far off topic... but as you brought it up



Bring back promotion and relegation and have four divisions of ten. One up, one down and top five into playoffs. That would mean a minimum 19 games a season (18 in the league and a cup game).
Top 8 Super League sides come into the Challenge Cup when the rest of participating clubs have been whittled down to eight.

[iSuper League[/i:
Huddersfield, Wigan, Warrington, Catalans, Hull FC, Leeds, St Helens, Bradford, Hull KR, Salford
[iChampionship[/i:
Wakefield, Castleford, London, Widnes, Halifax, Featherstone, Keighley, Dewbsury, Batley, Leigh
[iChampionship 1[/i:
Sheffield, Swinton, Hunslet, York, Doncaster, Workington, Barrow, Oldham, Whitehaven, Rochdale
[iChampionship 2[/i:
Skolars, South Wales, North Wales, Gateshead, Gloucester, Hemel, Northampton, Coventry, Oxford +1

This would allow for an expanded WCC and maybe another competition of an extender international period.

The rumour was they might actually base themselves out of Cheltenham RFC, even though it was a bud for Gloucester, which presumably means they'll need a county name. Though originally it was a Bristol bid.

How about move Gateshead to championship 1 and instead of 1 & 2 call them north and south. Gateshead would spend a fortune on travel in that division making them less competitive

I hope the Cov bears get the other spot could walk to games as opposed to driving hours.

Clear as mud


A county name would mean two clubs with the name Gloucestershire, which doesn't make sense to me. I'd love to read more about this as the area is a hotbed of union and it could be a goldmine for rugby league in the future.

Population of Gloucester 118,400.
Population of Cheltenham 115,300.
Cheltenham to Gloucester 6 miles.
Gloucester to Bristol 34 miles.
Bristol to Cheltenham 35 miles.

Although traditionally part of the county, I don't see the point including Bristol in the project due to the distance and the fact that the Sonics are managing fine as they are.

I really would try and avoid regionalising the competition. How would you decide which clubs were promoted to the Championship? One idea is a kind of grand final match between the winners of the two divisions (north and south as you put it). However, the majority of clubs are, at present, northern so how would you work it if northern teams were relegated from the Championship and southern sides promoted for two or three consecutive years? You'd end up with a northern division with more sides than its southern equivalent. I much prefer the idea of the RFL helping out clubs, like Gateshead with travelling costs.

from say Cov/ oxford to m62 where most teams are is a few hours. your talking about Gateshead having to travel for twice as long every other week. This would be great if they were flying but Its a massive ask for fans and players.

Perhaps not have north and south but have teams on the edges of the competition geographically anchored to a division. so the southern teams (may include some m62 sides etc) all play together. This is grassroots RL keeping it as geographic as possible will encourage fans to travel. As someone who follows RL from what most flatcappers would consider off the edge of the world Its really disheartening to get mates etc along to games and there being 20 away fans. Not to mention it stops gate money going to the home side.

Unless the Leagues do a sort of joint income scheme whereby all gate receipts and merchandise sales are put into a pot and divided by the number of teams in the leagues less bonuses for cup appearances etc having teams that are so far apart is never going to benefit those in the outer regions. which lets face it are the frontlines of expansion. Nobody wants to sit in an empty stadium (like my trip to see the crusaders at quins 2 years ago)

It certainly would be a tricky one. Do you change Doncaster with Gateshead to reduce travelling? Do you tell Gateshead to get on with it with the fact that the geographical layout within each division will change with each season? I understand what you're saying about away fans but rugby league isn't a sport that attracts large numbers of away fans these days. I'd go as far as to say that apart from soccer there aren't any sports in the UK that attract significant numbers of away fans on a regular basis. The idea of gate money going into a pot and then being shared equally among the competiting clubs would be a highly divisive one. I can see where you're coming from but I just don't think enough chairmen would agree to it.

The fact that we're having a serious 'conversation' about this is fantastic and shows the potential that rugby league has.

There is massive potential, The first game i took my Mrs to see was Crusaders 0-4 loss against Saints in the monsoon at the brewery field. Massive crowd as far as Crusaders were concerned great atmosphere despite being cold and wet she loved the noise the singing etc and to this day still doesn't understand a single thing about RL but was happy when i purchased her 2 tickets the 2010 grand final for her birthday present. (shes a keeper!)

Inside the M62 catchment area I think there is very little understanding about how little RL is covered. Back in Plymouth to get RL coverage in the local paper was like pulling teeth from a phoenix even the local bowls league got better coverage.

They do it in rugby union and football. What system do they have in place there?

That's easily solved. For easy thinking, imagine a line running East to West across the country. Every year, move it up or down until both halves contain the same amount of sides.
Simple.

Both which have more money and semi-pro clubs.


One way around it I suppose.

Leave our division as it is! I'm loving it this year...

Pedantic I know but Bristol is traditionally half in Gloucestershire and half in Somerset.

You learn something new every day. I wouldn't involve Bristol in it anyway, as I said. I'm still waiting for some official confirmation of this latest Championship 1 admission.

However is actually a County of its own.

Should happen say in the next week. They've already been told they're in.