I’m very pro France being involved in the British game, but we’re not a charity. If they want anymore clubs involved, they need to bring a TV deal to the table.

Tbh I don't know the ins and outs of the financial aspect of French teams on Super League. There's a pretty good book on the history of French RL called The Forbidden Game, talks about how it was banned post war France.

Anyway, i digress. I'm not a big French RL fan, i was merely pointing out that there were other themes addressed in the article.

Mentioned in the Sky Sports report (but not in the BBC one):
Further to the proposals set out, IMG have also recommended the removal of loop fixtures, including the Magic Weekend, bringing the Challenge Cup final back to May and having increased focus on international breaks.

I spotted this too.
IMG would be mad to remove Magic Weekend. It's one of the best thing that UK Rugby League has...not often you see the NRL copy something from Super League.

Finally.

So after reading that post on the BBC all I am seeing is blah blah blah

I'm looking forward to watching some RLWC games at the HJS and being entertained, and I just cannot be bothered reading these articles in the media. The RFL, the clubs and IMG will not be on the same page.

The BBC should be defunded because we are paying our License fee for their constant blah blah blah!

Rugby League fans seem to be obsessed with "loop fixtures". Celtic and Rangers play each other four teams a season, and it can be (and often is) six if they play each other in both cups too. 50,000 (at Ibrox or Hampden) or 60,000 (at Parkhead) are there every single time, and they could fill every ground twice with ease every time if they had the capacity.

It's just another thing for RL fans to moan about, and nothing more.

That's a great comparison here's another compare the interest and money in the English PL and the Scottish Version.

If there was a pathway for the Glasgow giants without bankrupting the rest of the game north of the border where do think the club and their fans would prefer to play?

That just highlights how impressive the attendances are given the circumstances doesn't it?

Participation of clubs outside of the UK to be capped and with additional standards to support domestic growth.

That’s Huddersfield’s input I’m guessing.

They say that, the issue for the sport has been too much focus on the format and structure itself rather than the product and are promoting a renewed focus on fan engagement and matchday experiences.

And that one as got KF all over it

These are some of the worst proposals to bring this great game back into relevance.
Bare with me as I explain and my personal proposal.
For me. Its simple.
3 or 4 leagues of 10 teams. 1 up 1 down.
No licencing.
1 home. 1 away fixture against each team and a magic weekend fixture determined by league position the week before magic. 1st vs 2nd. 3rd vs 4th etc.
No playoffs.
Every team enters into the challenge Cup in round 1. Yes. There is some blowout fixtures. But instead of 4 games to get to wembley. Make it 8 games to get to wembley. Make it relevant again.
Lanks and Yorkshire cup again. Knock out format with the final being Yorkshire vs Lancashire. Again. What. A maximum of 7 games. And in a way. It brings back the Yorkshire vs Lancashire cup. (Final. 2 games. Played at both teams stadium. aggregate score wins)
That in itself is a maximum of 34 games.
Give some midweek fixtures. For example. Play Thursday, Tuesday and Sunday. 3 games in 10 days. And then Play Friday or Saturday the following week. Add some variation into the mix. Challenge the players as well as well as give fans more of what we want. More rugby.
Bring in a 2nd cup for the 2nd tier and 3rd tier like the 1895 Cup to allow them the same amount of games as the superleague teams to allow there leagues to grow as a result.
It's unique. It goes back to the history of rugby league in Britain and will promote the game alot more than they are planning on for 2024 at the moment. Plus the unique aspect of the Lancashire vs Yorkshire cup being 2 legged aggregate score. That's unique in itself.

Allow for some grass routes rugby to actually happen and prosper. Which may see some actual intrest away from the m62 corridor, so we could maybe get a Leicester team. A Birmingham team. A Blackpool team. Preston team etc. Something that promotes the game. We've lost 2 Welsh teams because of lack of promotion. We lost our chance at a Scottish team when we did bugger all when we went up to murryfield. Newcastle like the game enough for us to go to St James Park each year. Let's promote the game enough to get a Newcastle team in the structure.

Increase the salary cap in line with Australia. Or reduce Australia a bit to bring into a reasonable figure with superleague. So for example. superleague and the nrl has a cap of £3.5 million. (And the equivalent in Australian money)
The 2nd tier has 2.5 million and the 3rd tier has 2 million. (Or 50% of the attendance gate is. The old rule they had in place when we couldn't spend the full salary cap in the 90s because of attendance and finances)

1 last thing. GET RID OF THE FRENCH TEAMS.
Help the French league build a league structure that benefits the whole game and do the same in canada/America. Then maybe we can have a proper world club champions league or something.

Maybe it's time the whole of rugby league. Not just superleague can actually get together. Allow the IRF to unify every league for the nrl and rfl and French rugby federation to go run the leagues in a way which promotes the game properly. And gives the best competition for the world cup to thrive and allow other nations to get involved and grow there national teams as well. (Because. Let's be honnest. Its a Australia vs New Zealand final.)

The game is dying as it is and we need a major change from everyone. Not just superleague. But the IRF. NRL. RFL FRF and others to bring te game back into the spotlight it deserves.

Now. How much of this we can actually genuinely achieve is horse poo. But if people are actually serious about the game and bringing things back into relevance. Things need to change. From the grass routes all the way up to international level. The NRL could survive without the rest of the world. Superleague needs a kick to just make the sport relevant again. Because we are being left behind by football. Cricket. Rugby Union. All the women's games of the same sports mentioned above.
Rugby league at this moment is the 7th sport in England at his moment.

It's either that. Or I fear we will be amateur again within 25 years and dead as a sport within 50.

I didn't deny their attendances weren't impressive they are but this is despite the model rather than because of it, they have no where else to go.

Yes RL fans do like a moan but there's also some interesting views on how the game can generate more interest and revenue and a fairer system for sharing those resources.

Following the Scottish Football model by choice wouldn't be mine. The dominace of our top teams is short lived by comparison. Imagine living in a world where we are in the mix for a bit like Aberdeen Hibs and Hearts hoping for a Cup run or qualification for Europe at best whilst waiting for Celtic and Rangers to come to town and the only media attention is whether one will stop the other from getting 10 in a row?

oof, i might need to come back to this at lunchtime, lots to pick apart in here

Yes but luckily/unluckily we don't have the religious bipartisanism and sectarianism in a densely populated city of 1M people to drive attendances in the same way. It's way more than a football match.

When i started watching the Wire in the mid sixties , there were the Lancashire & Yorkshire Leagues where games counted towards winning a trophy in your own county & all teams played so many teams from over the hills which formed the main competition. Even the bottom team had the chance of playing the top team with giant killing opportunities bringing the fans into the grounds. To help the game to survive a single division once more would be more inclusive to teams who have been marginalised by "the sky concept ".

I think that gave 34 league games over the season ,plus cup competitions ,all played by lads who had full time jobs.