Hi all,

Please bear with me, this is my first post on here!

I’m just after some opinions on what people WANT to see in the future, not what they think will happen...

My background, I’m a widnes fan

for my sins.. we have been terrible this season, and thoroughly deserve to be in the situation we are in. We are now favourites to be relegated and need a minor miracle to keep our super league status.

The reason for my question is despite the obvious, I do believe there are certain aspects of our club that merit super league status (academy, stadium set up,history etc) and if we could raise some similar backing to, say, Warrington, could be a force in the future.

This, obviously is no guarantee, but feel like if we had similar player set up to 75% of super league we would be a better proposition...

Discuss!

14 team league without promotion and relegation. Championship and Overseas clubs can apply to be added to Super League, or replace any existing clubs not meeting certain criteria.

Welcome. Just gonna warn you of the imminent taunting and crap spewing from the likes of 'King' James for daring to mention that your club may merit staying in Super League. I'm not really an ideas man so have nothing really to add myself other than I hope you come back stronger. I would probably say you need to go down this year and regroup, come back better. I hope for it. It was a very pleasant surprise a few seaaons ago when you came out the gate and were top after a third of the season. Shame you guys didn't sustain it.

I’ve been a long time outsider looking in, so I’m more than aware of who too look out for on here! Appreciate the heads up though!

Yes I agree going down may be the best thing for us, I just fear falling into the same mess as Leigh, and never getting back!

I don't think going down will help in the same way HKR seemed to rally. Despite the title " Let's all laugh at Widnes" there's a fair and reasoned debate on the Warrington board worth a read.

I'm really worried for RL in Widnes hope you turn it around.......eventually (75 still hurts ha ha)

I've only ever been to Widnes for games V us, which is obviously their biggest fixture. The last couple of times I've found the crowd to look a bit lower than normal and atmosphere to be non existent. If that's how it is for their biggest local derby, what's it like for the other games? Sorry to say it because I like local fixtures and I don't hate them in the slightest despite their apparent pathological hatred of us, but I think Widnes are finished as a Super League club now. They aren't coming back.

SL will probably have to go its own way to attain the potential it thinks it has.As for Widnes,they're not a happy club are they and unlike Wakefield and Salford they dont have a multitude of lives they can lose before they crash and burn

I think the main issue is, people are turning up expecting to lose... up until 18 months ago, there was a certain feeling that we was capable of beating anyone, and at home we where pretty consistent.

People like success and at £24 a pop (on match days) it’s a pretty
Expensive hobby when your watching drivel. I’ve not missed a home game all year, and I can’t remember the last time I left feeling satisfied with what I watched. I do feel like the main issue is playing staff (due to lack of funds) and if we could somehow resolve that’s issue I do think we can be competitive again

As a fellow Viking I feel your pain. What happens to us is a matter for another time but, in terms of the future of RL I would say the sport must look after all of its family and, to do this, realise that;
1. Franchising works if you are the right side of the fence but is a slow death (if you're old enough you will remember the years) if you are not.
2. The current structure is tremendous for the game in terms of publicity and excitement (give me the middle eights every time over the tedium of the super eights) but it encourages the perpetual problem in the game, that is clubs running themselves into the ground in search of the holy grail.
3. The real cause of all of the worry for any team in the lower divisions, or heading there, is not the prospect of playing against the 'lesser' clubs (from our years there the trips are better, the banters better and you tend to win more) but the prospect of the RFL clowns pulling up the drawbridge while your down there and removing all hope of getting back up.

So my hope would be that we remove the need for Championship sides to be better than at least one SL side in order to get into the promised land and return it to how it should be. That is, the best team in the Championship deserves to go up and the bottom team in SL deserves to go down, but we need to avoid the yo-yo of an unprepared side coming up, buying all the failed players from the team coming down and repeating the cycle. I would throw in that the Championship needs to grow a pair and recognise that, while it's the club that practically no-one wants to be in, it does have some power and should use it or forever sit in the shade. So, if I had my way;

1. Keep the league structure the same, but return to one up one down promotion/relegation, with the team promoted from the Championship given £500,000 more than the other SL sides. This will provide them with funding for the upgrade in infrastructure they would need plus some real heft when it came to tempting quality players from other clubs rather than relying on the cast-offs as currently happens. They should also get a one year exemption from relegation to establish themselves. After that they're on their own. The RFL should guarantee that this structure will be in place for a minimum of ten years so that Chammpionship sides can get used to the fact they don't have to throw money they haven't got at poop or bust attempts to get promotion.

2. The Championship should form its own body (akin to SLE) to fight its corner. This body should insist on its TV rights being sold separately from those of SL, as currently happens, or even sell the rights themselves. For those who say "who would buy rights to second tier RL", I can tell you that when Championship RL was previously televised on SKY it was shown on one of the minor channels but regularly attracted up a quarter to a third of the viewers of SL on the main channel. If the RFL and SL refuse to go along with that they could take some peaceful but meaningful action. I would start with boycotting the Challenge Cup (its not like a Championship side likely to win it).

LOL isnt that every clubs problem

I’d agree which is where I believe a licensed league is the way forward to enable clubs like Widnes to plan long term instead of annual scrap for survival.

I’d go with an 18 team licensed SL. The current 12 plus Toronto, Toulouse, Newcastle, York, Bradford, London, and a rebranded Salford as Manchester.

Newcastle, York, Manchester and London to be given special status and either centrally run or given extra central support. These clubs would be the focus of the game to help grow and there would be direct plan to assist them. Any RFL events in these cities would be directly aimed to help boost those clubs support such as Magic Weekend in Newcastle, Cup Final in London, taking an England game to Manchester etc.

Play each team in the league once and every team from your half of the table the previous season a second time, plus Magic Weekend gives 26 games a season. Top 8 playoff.

Put clubs into the Challenge Cup earlier and move it to earlier in the season. Move Magic Weekend to a bank holiday weekend.

Have a few themed rounds such as heritage, armed forces, women’s, family, mental health etc but do it properly instead of just paying lip service to it.

All clubs to be given on and off-field targets that they are judged against every 5 years. One of those targets/measures of performance would be the assistance they give to their partnered lower-league club. If it’s not deemed good enough then another SL can become that clubs partner.

Significantly more stringent rules/targets on player production and local area participation in the sport.
Lower overseas quota and higher homegrown player rules. A low homegrown quota to begin with for clubs like Toronto, Toulouse etc but they must set in place clear structures for the future and agree to a steadily increasing homegrown player quota over time.

Salary cap increased slightly to £2m but a 25% of income rule established. So clubs have to be making £8m a year minimum to be able to spend the full cap, excluding loans. If a club owner wants to spend money on players they can do, but they can’t hamstring the club with directors loans in that fashion. A minimum spend on club infrastructure/marketing etc to be part of a clubs agreed targets/KPI’s.
Salary cap dispensations for marquee players and players from other sports.

A mid-season international home nations plus France comp to be played every season at the same time of year without fail.

All club season tickets to become “RL Season Tickets”. Slightly increased price but gives you access to all your chosen clubs home games plus Magic Weekend, Cup Semi Finals and Final and any home internationals. Those last few would be first come first served.

Time we all started pulling in the same direction in my opinion.

An 18 team league with the current 12 plus 7 others. Great.

A rebranded Salford are part of the existing 12!

Any future plan for Super League must find a mechanism to admit New York and other north American and French teams if their bids (business plans) are deemed credible.

An M62 first policy, with no room for more north American and French clubs, guarantees the demise of rugby league in the northern hemisphere.

A 14 team SL.

Bottom relegated, top of the championship promoted.
2nd bottom, enters into a play off with 2,3,4,5,6 of the championship. 3 v 6, 4v5. Then 2 and sl 2 v the winners.

Magic weekend got rid of, as now just a money making tool instead of what it was it's original purpose.

Challenge cup moved to either end of may or June.
The season to start at the end of Feb. And for friendlies all SL side to play a lower league side away with a semi strong side.
Any side in SL or wishing to join it MUST HAVE a reserve side.
Thursday night games got rid of. TV games Fri night and Sunday night.
A return to most games played either on a sat or Sun.

Any Franchise must start at the bottom and work there way up.

Why don't the French and American teams form their own league? Saves the British teams from dicking about flying all over the place.

Super League

Wigan
Saints
Warrington
Cumbria
Leeds
Hudds
Cas
Wakefield
Nottingham/Manchester
Liverpool
York
Newcastle
Hull Fc
Hull KR

The expansionists league

Catalans
Toulouse
Avingon
Limoux
Toronto
Montreal
London
New York

No Hull teams then ?

Forgot them, in now.

Why do you want to give the top 6 in the Championship a shot at promotion ?
I'm ok with the top 2 having a play off but, lets just go back to 1 up 1 down or 2 up 2 down.

Rather than scrap "Magic", why not get back to it's original purpose of taking RL to new areas.
I know this isn't as convenient for some that go to the Etihad but, it may just spread the gospel, even if it's just a small amount and moving it around should help the RL "publicity machine"



Reserves and academies have to be a must.

Finally whichever structure is put in place must be future proof and allow for new/improved clubs to have a hot at promotion.

Why don’t Leigh form their own league

They already have, in Canada, trouble is there is only one team in it.

The original purpose of Magic Weekend was to make money. It only came about because the RFL received an incentive from the Welsh Tourism Board to hold it. "Expanding the game" was never a primary purpose of Magic.

And at a time when the game sorely needs more money, scrapping a profitable event that offers some profile seems utterly ridiculous.

Given the current state of the sport, we really need to put more emphasis on the commercial side of the sport and focus clubs on commercial growth, not short-term survival.

Personally, I would go with 12 teams in a franchise model, with a much more robust set of criteria than the previous model. The old franchising model encourgaed the wrong behaviour, and didn't force clubs to focus on the long-term.

Once we have enough clubs that are financially stable, then talk about opening up the trap door once again.

Why 12 teams? Well, two reasons. I think people need to remember why we dropped from 14 to 12 teams in 2015. We reduced the number of teams because we didn't have the talent to create 14 competitive clubs, and the quality of the league fell as a result. Since that time, player participation has fallen and it has become harder for clubs to attract overseas talent. So why would we suddenly decide to spread an even thinner talent pool further? It makes no sense.

Secondly, this is supposed to be Super League, emphasis on the "Super". This isn't and shouldn't be an "everybody gets to have a turn" school fete. It really wouldn't harm this sport to insist that the top league needs to be made up of "the best of the best", not "the best of the best, plus anyone else who think they deserve a go". If we want to drive up standards, it's in our interests to set the bar high.

Because in the era of low-cost airlines, one thing that is really arduous these days is catching a plane.

We seem to be the only professional sport in the world where the supporters think that the players all suffer from aviophobia.

It curiously only seems to affect UK based teams though. Coaches are always moaning on about what a tough week playing annually away at Catalans or Toulouse is, yet somehow noone ever bangs on about how doing it every fortnight in the other direction could be a disadvantage. Obviously acclimatisation must be a factor.