I didnt dodge SB's question at all.
Anything done before the loophole was closed was within the law and within the rules of the game was it not? If it wasnt why has no club been brought up under a breach of the salary cap? Why are the RFL backing Leeds' court case?
Punishing for years before a loophole was closed is downright 'I can do it because im bigger than you'. Its like those salt shakers in Wolverhampton last week, you couldnt make it up. Government workers have nothing better to do than be a pest.

My dad used to work for a council; when he wasnt playing golf or table tennis on works time he still had little to do. These guys are just bored and need a hobby instead of picking on the little man that is RL. They should have just gone for Premiership Soccer outright and left us alone

you are obviously a government worker then

Nice response to the points raised..
But yes, I may as well be.

We dont know yet do we , if they have broken the law , then they also have broken the salary cap rules as well , but are you suggesting that if it is all the clubs then that is ok ? , or if it is just a few of the bigger clubs then fine , that is ok as well

No it is not

Well.. no.
How can you break a law that doesnt even exist?
Unless the rules are written down and clear how is anyone supposed to follow them?!

If it is deemed as a breach of the salary cap I think the RFL will brush it under the table as I bet there's about 7 clubs that have been doing it.

I still maintain you cant break a law that doesn't exist.

Surely as far as the RFL are concerned they would class as illegal payments under the Salary Cap guidelines.....brush it under the carpet? What? and destroy possibly the final piece of credibility. They've already made licensing rules worthless by showing they can change them just BEFORE someone breaks them, now if they were to ignore the 'illegal' payments I don't think I could come up with a descriptive enough word for them. One club, seven clubs who cares. Actually caring less and less about SL.

Dico, I see Hicks has come out of retirement after one week. He was paid off and Wire felt they needed to say he had retired, whats up with just releasing him and paying up his contract (salary cap?)

trouble being as the secret society that is SLE do not publish their 'laws' so they can change them to suit

How can it be an illegal payment with no ruling???
Ah well im off to Australia for a month now so have fun without me kids

Enjoy your trip Mr D and if you really like it there why not move to Australia permanently?

Oh and do try to find somewhere to live where there is no internet connections please

Illegal as far as the RFL are concerned i meant. Ok we'll go with payments that should really be counted on the Salary Cap, a bit like Hicks' payoff from Warrington. I assume because he was retiring and the new season hadn't started it doesn't count

That's the biggest load of nonsense on this thread (and there's plenty of competition on that front too?!

The lack of P&R doesn't mean that games don't matter. Sport is about beating what's in front of you.

If that was the case no SL clubs would care about winning the SL title as they wouldn't get promoted because of it.

What matters is sporting your team, enjoy our sport and challenging for trophies - all of which can be done in the Championship and SL without P&R.

The way that RL is run is embarrassing and frustrating at times but it should never detract from the enjoyment of watching 16 blokes slugging it out on the pitch.

And, just in case you wondered, I am in favour of P&R - I just don't cry about the lack of it as much as some.

Damn - we HAVE been breaking the rules. We consistently use 17 - in fact Whitehaven even reckon we used 18!!

You'ld better go and tell the Wakey fans, as some of them would seem to be ready to top themselves rather than watch Championship rugby, and that is the problem the Championship clubs have, and thats the way the Championship is viewed by others

D'oh!

Was actually meant to say 26 rather than 16 (must've hit '1' instead of '2') as there are generally 26 players slugging it out on the pitch.

If you have 17 of your own players slugging it out on the pitch then you're definintely going wrong somewhere?!

Sorry matey you seem to be totally out of touch.

I love the game of rugby league and have been an advocate for the sport for many years. Recent developments and the direction of the game, including the P&R issue, are ruining the game below SL.

Many people who have been watching the game for 10s of years say the same. There are little incentives to win games. Lack of incentives leads to lack of interest. Look at the dwindling attendances.

Winning SL is an incentive - in that it means you are the best in the country.

A number of years ago both RU and Cricket did not have P&R and their sports were dead on their feet. Many changes later, including P&R, and these sports have been completely transformed.

Try explaining to most sportsmen, that a team competing in the champonship will get promoted, before the season is over, and the team who finish the top will not - unless it is the same team. Unbelievable! Incredible! So it doesn't matter - unless you believe its a tick in the box

Don't want to argue with you because I'm actually in favour of P&R too.

However I can't agree that the lack of P&R is killing the game outside of SL. The Championship is an excellent competition and, if marketed properly, could easily survive and even prosper.

The problem is the number of Ch/C1 clubs who are obsessed with getting into SL. Look at college football in the US, or even RL in Australia - there are plenty of well supported, successful teams who will never get anywhere near the 'elite league'. The difference is that they know that, don't whine about it, and make the best of the what they have.

Like who ?

certainly make salfords life a lot easier if we all thought like batley wouldn't it ?.you'd be able to be a load of crap every season and just keep pocketing that cheque.

As I've pointed out on here several times, I watched just as much Ch/C1 RL last year as SL (possibly more).

However, part of the problem in RL at present is the difference in funding between SL and Ch/C1 - that's how/where cricket and RU have made the two-tier system work and we've not.

Even the gap between Prem and Championship in football isn't as big as the gap in RL at present.

Which is these aussie RL clubs ?

Alice Springs Water Bottles' Darwin Desert Tropical Wanderers and Woomera Skies.

Please keep up Starbug. Every sensible person knows professional sport in this country flourishes on promotion and relegation. Franchising works on Continents but not in small countries and wether folk like it or not we live in a relatively small country who can't function when it snows.

Look what happened in Springfield when they lost their baseball franchise. I can see Fred for example chaining himself to a pole outside the LSV and not eating his celery and peanut butter strips till we got our franchise back.

Bring it on.

Nah I'll just retire to Bolton-Le-Sands Frank

That's just selfish that Fred.