id say most of Salford is Class A territory

Sorry that was badly worded, I was meaning Saints should be A grade. Separate point - Salford will have a new stadium. Realistically at the minute you would say only Saints and Hudds (Catalans maybe?) could join the 4 current A teams.

[url=http://www.code13rugbyleague.com/2011/07/26/super-league-licensing-richard-lewis-explains-all/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitterSuper League Licensing: Richard Lewis explains all[/url

Explains all my ! Didn't tell us anything we didn't already know! In what way was Wakefield's application stronger than Halifax's? That's what everyone wants to know right now. He also says that Crusaders took the decision to withdraw in consultation with the RFL. Sounds a bit fishy to me. Didn't anyone think that the Crusaders players should have known that this might have happened before today? Shambolic stuff

It's a very, very strange situation, but Crusaders did become irrelevant once they moved from South Wales. Did they jump, or were they pushed? That's the question. I wouldn't be surprised if they fold and the RFL tried again to establish a welsh team.

As for the rest: Quins should never go - if anything we should have another London club to jump on the bandwagon. How far away are the Skolars from the Quins?

Also, all this talk of Halifax/Wakefield etc, what's the point? They're all the same - small northern towns that won't improve SL. How about taking another chance and promoting Toulouse? Huge city, helps the game expand further in France, and gives Catalan a rival.

It meets the criteria for a Grade A stadium.

And how can another London improve SL when the present one can't.

Ryan O'Hara not happy on Twitter as well:

Players at Crusaders seem pretty ed off...



Ryan O'Hara:

"First they steal £100,000 off me, now they withdraw from SL to sleaze out of paying me. Fuck you crusaders owners you will get yours."


On another note... £100k!?

I thought RL players were earning peanuts.

Or another one in France. If today has taught us anything its that letting in "new" clubs before they are ready doesnt work. Crusaders shouldnt have been put in SL last time around. If things had been done properly they could have had three years down in Bridgend competing in the Championship and then had the possibility of being considered this time around. They were rushed in, had to move to north wales, bought loads of aussies and journeymen, offered very little to the comp., brought in hardly any speccies, werent making any money and ultimately wont be a SL team after this year.

Apparently some of the back payments date back to 2008.

Have you read the rest of O'Haras tweets?

"England supporters booing Sam Tomkins pretty much sums up what a Derek he is."

Dont feel as sorry for him anymore peeeeeeeerick.

He is owed £100k's worth of peanuts

That's part of the problem - they've got no identity and no close rival to help generate interest. We need two in London and two in France.

Surely in the the future, the French sides should return to a French league and help the domestic and national side in France, gained with their SL experience.

Super League licences have been the main sport story on Sky, BBC local radio and Radio 5. Never had as many people asking me about rugby league.

Wouldn't say that's necessarily a good thing considering what the story is. Our sport is not being shown in a good light today

If i was a Crusaders player, i wouldn't even play the remaining games.

Not one bit of negativity on any of those media outlets. Seems to me it's just the rugby league press that's gone deeper than the outcome.

Against the spirit of the cap??

A sad day for Rugby League imo. It isnt good that the only Welsh club is now out of Super League, and possibly out of RL completely. Crusaders did so much good work in North Wales and I hope they can continue in the Championship to consolidate and build again. The RFL simply cannot allow RL is fade and drift away in Wales after all of the good work of the last few years.

As for Wakefield they are very, very lucky and I can totally see why Halifax are so irate about the decision. Wakefield have had their chance and blew it. They have gone into administration, still have a poor stadium, not progressed in the slightest in the last few years, still have low crowds etc. Halifax now have a good stadium and have built the club up again after dropping out of Super League and deserve their chance again if it is between them and Wakefied. If Wakefield didnt get kicked out this season then it doesnt really bode well for any heartland club to get a place in Super League at the expense of another heartland club.

Agreed - funnily enough in 2 years time unless massive restructuring of Headingley and Odsal is carried out two of Yorkshires biggest clubs will be playing in the worst Stadiums in rugby league. Lets just say both are probably no better than Knowsley Road or Central Park which despite their problems ( Central Park being way better than all 3 ) had a roof on 4 sides of their grounds.

On the Celtic front I wasn't bothered either way. Despite the obvious talent that comes out of Wales it clearly isn't a rugby league hotbed. As for Wakefield time will only tell and they have a chance to get their club in order and a new ground sorted. Maybe a 16 team tournament in 2014 should both Fax and Leigh be in a healthy position to progress.

This

The RFL really need to be brought to task about this. I'm all for expanding the game but it has to be done on solid foundations. Crusaders never had that. They were rushed into SL at the whim of the RFL. At the time everyone said it was too soon but did the RFL listen??

Also how can Wakefields application not be up to scratch at the weekend but ok today?? Absolute disgrace. They've had 3 years to sort it but gone into administration, nowhere near having a new ground and have lost their best players. I take no pleasure in seeing that and feel sorry for Wakey fans. However Fax should have been given the opportunity. RFL -cudntrunaupinabrewery!!!

As for standards of grounds - this day and age there should be no excuse for fans getting soaked to skin because there isn't a roof over them. With the exception of KR, every Yorkshire club fails in this area. Are they that tight over there??

Rant over

Even by the standards of the RFL this is a complete farce.

Crusaders should never have been in SL in the first place. The business plan must have been written by Hans Christian Andersen.

And as for the decision to keep Fax out but keep Wakey in... this is the same set of total muppets at the RFL who kept Widnes out because they'd been in admin, even though the club had since been bought by a very successful businessmen. Honestly, you couldn't make this up.

The biggest thing holding back RL is the RFL. Total and complete muppets, the lot of them.

The RFL need to set out in detail how they viewed the relative merits of the two clubs' applications. It's no good just asserting that Wakey's was better than Fax's, without explaining why.

Looking at the factors they're supposed to take into account:

Stadium - clearly Fax
Finances - again, clearly Fax
Youth set up - dunno, but pretty equal, I'd think.
Crowds - of course a SL team will always win that one (if only because of away supporters),
but as I've mentioned earlier, Fax drew bigger crowds when both teams were last in SL.
On field performances - again, can't really compare, but Fax fulfilled that criterion, and Wakey have hardly
been setting SL alight.
Paint Drying - the only one that Wakey win, IMO.