Mmmmm, I can't agree GF, Superleague and franchising was all very well, but littleraly stamping all over the grass roots of the game was a recipe for disaster from the get go, look at Keighley's average attendance when they last won the 2nd tier. Then take a good look at the 2nd tier champions average attendances thereafter. The RFL are clearly hoping that the attendances for clubs going for the middle eight will rise back up to a more acceptable level with the potential for promotion as the carrot.

I don't believe anyone getting 90-Nilled is good for the game, lets face it, we at London took some pastings and in front of less than 1500 and we were IN your SOOPERleague.

Cut Bradford looose you say, lol, but weren't they what SOOPERLeague and Franchising was all about??

As to other sports, well yes they do, WHEN they have a viable replacement, the NFL didn't get rid of the failing LA Rams, UNTIL they had a replacement, same with the Raiders. In English Football, the Premier League can afford for "big" clubs to go down and even out, because theres a plethora of big clubs waiting to replace them. WE DO NOT HAVE THAT! Until we do, we cannot allow the biggest clubs to just sink without trace!

Licencing/Franchising works....but it needs strong management and we are discussing the RFL here, so it was doomed from the start.
There is always an opportunity for clubs outside the franchised super league to join, but rather than do the hard yards, roll up their sleeves and get their houses in good financial order, these clubs would rather lobby the RFL for a change in the rules in the pursuit of 1.5 million a year from SKY. These clubs are under the misguided belief that this money will make them powerhouses....conveniently ignoring the fact that they will still have to find another 2.5 million a year just to break even. Can you name a Championship club that has a turn over of 2.5 million a year?

Take us.....if by a miracle we made it up. I'd hazard a guess at the total income from sponsorship at the Broncos this year is less than 50,000.....and than includes the corporate and private players sponsorship as well as the shirt "partnership" deals.......and IF when they deem to let you know Tickets are a score each, then even at last years totals you've only raised 325k....still 2 million short and apparently we moved because Hughes didn't want to make up the 2 million shortfall each year.....we'd be relying on him to survive and probably straight back down again the following year

The RFL have retreated to the safety of the heartlands and the game will get less media exposure this year than ever before. Fev v Salford in front of 1,500 will prove that "every moment" doesn't matter......but don't expect the RFL spin machine to keep on saying it will.
In 11 home games at the Hive before either 3 or 4 more 888 matches, I suspect we will see less than 10,000 people come through the turnstiles......then we might get a few more to the 888 games, but only if we stand a chance of going up. Given we shipped 50 points a game v SL opposition last year, I really don't have your blind faith in this new system attracting any lapsed fans back or news fans either.
As for the teams in the bottom 8.......I believe that this is where we will see the most competitive matches.

Any danger of keeping this thread on topic and not heading down the marketing and income line again?

Sorry

Difficult to compare last year with this years squad. Unfortunately means there is a very big question mark until the season gets into its stride. We should on balance be fine in the Championship, make the top 4 and we'll really see if an improvement in the playing squad. In the 8s think it'll be closer for all four Championship sides than people expect but there is bound to be one or two complete hidings for them probably away from home. New fans or returning fans for us, maybe the odd few particulalry if we look competitive but hardly statistically significant.

Lol, I don't have blind faith GF, merely deluded optimism, all fans have to be deluded or we'd all realise what a spectacular rip-off prodffessional sport is, lmao!

I'd respond by the drummer from Green Day wouldn't approve......

Anyone who thinks some of the top 8 games will be a walk in the park are deluded !

My Team (Leigh), walked the league last year and we are stronger this year and have gone fully FT. If Featherstone make the 4, they too will always be difficult to beat.

I feel all the Champioship clubs who make the 8 will struggle with the away games against SL clubs but I fancy us to upset the like of Widnes or Wakey shoulkd they be in the bottom 4.

Alot of it depends on momentum. If some of the SL clubs have had some hammerings and confidence is low anything can happen.

I must admit though, I do not see 1 champioship club qualifying for SL outright next season. I feel it will be the million pound match.

I don't seen any SL quality squads in the Champs, and what's more the Champs team are playing weaker teams all year prior to the split so won't be used to the intensity or skill level. I just can't see any club getting promoted.

I don't mind not getting promoted but would very much like to see us smash Leigh and Featherstone a couple of times.

This thread has made me chuckle. In one off games against SL teams the top end Championship teams have more than held their own. Like last season Fax played Widnes and the difference between the teams was really only Kevin Brown. Well this year if Fax did make the 8 they would have spent nearly 500K more than last season and would enter that league in good form where as the teams in the bottom 4 in SL will be on a bit of a downer. I don not think for 1 second that a team from the Championship will get promoted to SL but I also dont expect to see the scorelines mentioned in this thread either.

Good for you. The do say laughter is the best medicine, so it's important we all find a reason to smile every day.
How many championship sides beat SL sides last year in competitive games? I ask, because holding your own in a one off is hardly the same as facing 4 SL sides all fighting for survival and all aware that +/- will be key, but if there was an upset last year, it might point to a part time outfit being able to stand toe to toe with a SL side who just missed the top 8.
As far as I can see, 4 Ties in last years 4th round featured a SL side v an opponent from a lower division.....the points scored by the SL side was 200-32 (50-icon_cool.gif.....the 5th round saw 3 ties with the result 170-24 (57-icon_cool.gif....then 2 games 81-18 (40-9). Please feel free to define "holding your own"




No...the difference was 24 points in a loss 10-34 at home. Everything else is simply opinion......you didn't need to be there to know that one side scored 24 more points than the other.


No matter how much the club spend, there is a finite number of talented players available and a dose of realism would point towards the 14 teams in the UK that are full time professional will have snapped up the best players.....I fully expect London Bradford and Leigh to win 18 games each next year with the 6 games featuring those three sides dictating the placings 1-3.......and I expect some real shallockings to be dished out in the first 23 rounds.....

The teams who finish 9-12th in SL will not be on anything other than the war-path, defending their SL livelihoods. This is not a Challenge Cup scenario where the plucky underdog will throw everything at the SL side in the hope their better financed opponents have a bad day, but a match against a team who are aware that every point for and against will count.....they will face 3 full time sides and a part time outfit and the part time outfit will be the easybeats of that comp.


I believe the teams who finish 9th & 10th in SL will score over 350 points in their 7 games.....I believe 11th placed SL side will score in excess of 300. Happy to be proven wrong, but statistically I would seem to be on the money....The 4th round in 2013 average scores were 54-10......then 64-4 and then 29-10.......so 700-116 over 13 ties.

To recap... over 2013 and 2014 Lower league sides holding their own in 22 CC ties v SL sides resulted in an overall score-line of 1151-190...or 52-9 if you prefer averages......keep chuckling.

Other than your outstanding contribution to these boards, how do you envisage supporting 'your' London Broncos this season ?

Hopefully at least, listening on the radio. If not watching BBC or Sky Sports live updates. Which does raise a question as to whether there will be any radio/internet commentarys to enjoy. Anybody know what level of service Radio London will be providing this year?

When available, I will be sorting out a shirt and am currently planning a trip home which if I get it right, I will catch a game again, as I did for the Bradford match last year. I will also tune in, dial up and scour the web for links to any commentary I can listen to.
Alas, because I am not "there", I will not be able to contribute to AK's Hive development fund much more than maybe 3 match tickets if I make it and the replica shirt.......but I suspect this will be more than many of our ex-fans who still live in London.

I suspect that the RFL want to swap Bradford for Wakey and then find a way of rigging the system so that SL then effectively become a closed shop. Although this looks the most likely scenario at the moment, Wakey seem to get written off every year only to finish up blowing a monumental raspberry at the pundits!

Once Wakey' Council get their act together, won't Wakey have a nicely updated modern venue? Why would the RFL prefer Bradford, especially given that the average attendances at both clubs have been going in opposite directions for the last 3 seasons at least. I think everyone thought Halifax would be saved by the RFL once upon a time, but they've been hung out to dry, as were Oldham and Worky'. I'm never sure what it is that tickles the fancy of those who run this sport, it seems to change more often than the rules (and that's saying summat!).

The RFL own the lease on Odsal (not the freehold, as some people think).

When I said top end Championship teams I did not mean any Championship team. Both Leigh and Halifax held their own against teams that finished in the top 8 of SL, both Widnes and Leeds only sealing victory in the last quarters of both games yet both those teams at times last season had games sewn up by half time against teams in the bottom 4 of SL. Its all hypothetical but I would have fancied the top 3 in the Championship last season to finish above the bottom 2 or 3 in SL last season they were that poor. Poor full time SL players vs the best part time Championship players is an interesting debate. So while there wasnt an actual shock, probably more to do with the draw, we did see for 3 seasons before that where a team from the Championship has either drawn or beat a team from SL that did not end up finishing bottom of the league.



I agree to some extent about number of players available but as I mention above I fully expect the best players in the Championship to be better than the worst full time players. You really think that there is not a player from out side the suspected top 3 next season that could not do a better job than some of the players that will turn out on a weekly basis for them? That maybe suggests that those full time teams havnt actually snapped up the best players rather that the best part time players can earn more money than playing for a very poor full time team. Take Halifax, 2 of our players turned down deals from lower end full time clubs and imo would be playing on a regular basis for those teams if they had chosen to leave.

I will bet you £50 to charity that those 3 teams you mention will not win every game against part time opposition next season. As for the hammerings you get that in every league every season so I wouldnt expect next to be any different. Have a look at Leighs results last season, they walked the league but even though they were by far the best team over the season some of their results were quite a bit closer than you would expect so in that regard there will be hammerings but you will also see the part time teams pull off one or two surprises, of that i am quite certain.

As for the middle 8, I agree the part time team will not stand a chance in there.



To use all the ties as an example is a bit pointless because some of them teams are never going to be anywhere near making that top 8. Its like trying to compare the top of SL to the bottom of SL and seeing how that works out, I bet if you did that you could probably come up with some similar figures.

Do you work for ladbrokes? If not you should do........I have to back 54 winners and you only 1?





Halifax and Leigh lost.
No matter how plucky they were or how close they got, they lost.....Leigh were by far the #1 team in that division last year and London were the #1 worst team in SL....one of these sides lost to Leeds, the other recorded a victory.

As for last years SL sides,
London were an utter basket case and we were the surest bet since....well, see your odds above....to go down....and WE BEAT LEEDS.
Bradford were a financial mess......and after they were docked the points, were assured of championship footy as London.

Both London and Bradford will be as strong, if not stronger than Leigh this year......Leigh lost once all year last year. The comp is a 3 horse race......it will be enjoyable none the less, but it is really a race for 4th in terms of the other teams.

I guess you arnt as confident as you made out about Leigh, Bradford, and London winning all their games against part time opposition. The way you explained it you would expect it to be a no brainer right? Tenner to charity then?

Give me 54/1?

its for charity, you have made your prediction!!!! or you saying that it might not turn out that way?

Michael, are you offering me 54/1?

Gotnofax Not sure if you actually said that the full time teams would win all their games against the part timers, but you have suggested that the full timers will win 18 out of 23.
But in answer no not gonna offer you any odds bloke who suggested a bet was merely asking if you will stand by your predictions at the end of the season, obviously you are not that confident.
Back on thread tho, I still reckon 1 champ team will finish 3rd in super 8 s with another in 5th. The issue will be the next season and building a squad to sustain.
interesting yesterday someone suggested we will see the same effect that the harlequins rah rah boys saw with an increase in support in the lower league.

Why would anyone offer you 54-1?

You fully expect Leigh, Bradford and London to win all 54 games. You should take evens.

If you now want 54-1 against, you're saying that the odds of it happening are tiny and you'll only gamble on that basis.

So which is it: do you "fully expect" 54 wins or do you think 54-1 against that happening is reasonable? There's a monstrous gap in between!