Several new developments would seem to strengthen the application of Toulouse for Super League as compared with previous years:

1. Toulouse are likely to begin renovation of their stadium in 2013, to bring it up to Super League standard.

2. Castleford and Hull KR are in financial difficulty but Castleford also don't show any sign of progress in getting a new stadium that will be of SL standard. (When Widnes application for SL in 2011 could not be resisted, Castleford and Wakefield were only promoted to SL for 2012 on a kind of probation because Crusaders dropped out. Since then Wakefield has made progress on a new stadium while Castleford has not).

3. Many SL club bosses seem to think that we have too many English clubs in SL because of the lack of sufficient English playing talent. (The new rising NRL salary cap in and the stronger Aussie dollar will make this situation worse, because fewer good NRL players will want to play in England so SL clubs will need more English players). Dropping one English club -- say Castleford -- for Toulouse will mean that the limited English playing talent can be spread among 12 English clubs instead of 13.

4. Al Jazeera Sports (Bein TV) is now a factor. It can televise both Catalans and Toulouse if Toulouse is in Super League, and if RFL schedules smartly, it can have a home game every week in France. Then AJS/Bein may offer some more money to Catalans and Toulouse if Toulouse is in Super League. Its coverage will certainly help Toulouse and Catalans get sponsors.

These new developments seem to me to make the application of Toulouse much stronger for 2015.

And there will be other advantages of course. If Toulouse is admitted to Super League then the game can be boosted in France in terms of more players and spectators and money. This will also help the French national team because with Toulouse in SL (1) there will immediately be more SL experienced players available for selection in the French national team (2) over time more French juniors will flock to rugby league because there will be two professional clubs they will have a chance to play for.

What standard is the stadium at right now? Similar to how Brutus was when Dragons got to Super League?

reasons 1 and 4 are worthwhile and good, there is some logic in reason 3 but i wouldnt place a lot of importance on it. Reason 2 is irrelevant.

Toulouse ground is a joke,they have around 250 fans and as for young players there teams was full of third rate back packing aussies.......so yep they are nearly ready for super league

All for having another French team in, would help Catalans too.

Think "Dewsbury with sun".

Nice people though and their owner/chairman Carlos is a gentleman with rugby league through his veins.

Should have happened years ago.

The other factor though is the possibility of the Super XIII getting off the ground, which is a potential alternative to applying for SL. A fully pro French league, or even one where some clubs are full time and others are semi pro, has the potential to totally change the game in the northern hemisphere. It might even rival SL one day and attract English players in bigger numbers, like the French RU does.

I am sick of saying this. Expansion works when you pick an area with a RL appetite and put money into it. Toulouse is a RU town. Always has been always will be, therefore an absolute waste of money and time. They couldn't put out a competitive team in the Championship and qualify on the field so the RFL had them withdraw so they wouldn't have to.

Nowhere near the standard of Dewsbury's ground. It only has one stand. Imagine Wakefield's ground with only the sitting stand. Small grass banking on the other three sides.

I'd have them in tomorrow. The more the merrier. Get KPMG to run their experts over the numbers first though. That way we can be sure that no nasty surprises occur once they win the license.

Good get rid of some more dead wood that linger in the SL as well.

Just a question....why do we need any French clubs?

To play Rugby League against.

I guess that the master plan is to improve the international game and by helping the French become stronger, in the long term, the international game will improve.
There is no doubt that the profile of Rugby League has to improve, the question is, what is th best way of acheiving this objective and there is no doubt that this will likely be to the detriment of some of our domestic clubs and do we really want this ?

No, it's a RUGBY town. The French embrace both codes. Perpignan would have been classed as RU only as well, by your logic. League has a decent presence in Toulouse and with decent exposure could get much bigger.

Now that I really would love to see.



Like Chorley...

I'm all for another sustainable French club, Les Catalans have been great for SL imo. However it should not be at the expense of Cas or any other sustainable club and nor should it happen until the French production line is strong enough to support two clubs. The NRL pool is drying up and SL needs to come to terms with that fact.

No club needs to be promoted at the expense of any other club. Cas failing doesn’t make Toulouse a better bet, Cas succeeding doesn’t make them any worse.

If Toulouse are ready, they are ready, get them in. If they aren’t, they aren’t, and don’t. Cas have nothing to do with it.

What planet are some of you on? toulouse have no facilities no fan base no backers,there are amatuer teams in this country which have a bigger set up,lets get real.

Oh and if its to build up the french who is going to build us up when our teams are full of over the hill aussies and never been new zealanders?

Why on earth have you linked those two things?

What has Toulouse got to do with the amount of Aussies and Kiwis that are playing for English clubs?

We should be telling clubs that in 2015 we will have two tens, the top 10 in SL 2014 retain their place with London guaranteed a spot so should they finish 11-14 then 10 loses out.
SL 2 should have Toulouse, Cardiff/Swansea, 4 SL clubs and 4 current championship clubs. 1up/down.

I have heard bullSheeite about Sky not covering it, have you seen the Championship RU garbage they show now!!!

Get £700k to SL 2 clubs and enforce a minimum £1m cap with 50% of income for max, you then have a level to build from on the up or down, and something for PT clubs to realistically build for.

Expansion is good, exclusion and self preservation is not.

When their stadium is ' rebuilt ' and they are getting it half filled for Elite 13 games , and drawing in good sponsorship , and have a sugar daddy to guarantee full SC spend for several years bumping along the bottom of SL , then and only then will they be ready , until then everything is just ' speculative , and the RFL dont ' do ' speculative , unless you are already IN SL

Why? Thats not the process that the unmitigated success that is Les Catalans went through. Why would you not want them to copy a formula that proved to work?

So what was the process they went through ? , not forgetting they requested an extra year to prepare , I'd suggest it was quite close to my formula

Stadium , fans ,sponsorship and finance

They were given 2 (which turned to three) years to prepare, they went out and sourced what they needed, didnt set themselves to rely on a sugar daddy or bump along the bottom for a few years, and guess what they didnt bump along the bottom for a few years.
unparrelled insight there.