The sooner Toulouse come in to Super League, the sooner we can get shut of both them and Les Catalans to spearhead a new French league, that will benefit the international competition no end.

The Aussies need to do the same thing with NZ, and later, PNG.

Suits me.

Not seen this mentioned in any reputable press yet. When they say "according to newspaper reports", they mean speculation in 1 newspaper, not an official press release.

I'll wait to see the official story emerge.

No they dont

League in NZ isnt strong enough and never will be for a full domestic league. If you think the south of England is union heartland then try NZ.

Get Barrow in! Went to the Challenge Cup game there last season and there was a cracking atmosphere

Martin Saddler has posted the following on VT:

The RFL has now issued a press release stating that Toulouse do indeed have to reach the 2010 Grand Final to apply for a 2012 Super League licence.
An RFL official told our correspondent Mike Rylance that they didn't have to, but it seems that the RFL got it wrong.

Widnes fans are asking him if Toulouse have also apologised for saying they knew this to be the case 18 months ago - he hasnt yet responded (probably becuase he can't).

What an utter farce by the RFL.

If I was Widnes I would insist on a truly independant audit of any franchise decision.

Id take any cumbrian team, it would be great to have regular trips up there.

A mate of mine (Wakefield fan) went to the The Allotment (GPW Stadium) on a corpo Friday, he got into a conversation with Mr McManus, who hinted strongly that Toulouse will get a franchise, much to his dismay apparently. He reckons that the RFL are blinkered into thinking that they can push into new markets to the detriment of the loyal fans of teams like Leigh, Widnes and the Cumbrians.

The game needs to grow, simple as that. If short changing teams like Leigh and Widnes is the cost of it then sadly that's the case.

widnes stuffed toulouse 70 points plus . There is only one of them two teams deserve to be in SL

Leigh?

RLF have denied this. Official Statement www./news_3337-rfl ... mours.html Sorry if posted elsewere

RLF have denied this. Official Statement www./news_3337-rfl ... mours.html Sorry if posted elsewere

Hell may have just frozen over, but I agree with Deano G.

Another French side, whilst making league in France potentially stronger, will make it worse over here. Crowds will be down all over the place INCLUDING Catalans. We should be pushing to make Catalans widely followed in that region before we start with another French team.

Barrow and Widnes are my favourites to come up with Salford and one other going down. The fact that Cas and Wakey both made the playoffs last year will help them as I fear one of them may have been the other to go. Crusaders would go for me at the moment, but if Wrexham proves to be a success it would have to be Quins.

I agree with Conroy, I'm not sure how much longer the game can support a Quins side failing on and off the field. The crowds are pathetic, Widnes have to be in Super League next time.

I think we need Toulouse in the Super League to improve the French game overall but this bending of the rules is just laughable and typical RFL. I seriously don't understand why they cannot follow their own rules and watch the game thrive on it's own merits.

For me the franchise system is working. We are seeing more youngsters coming through the system, some from teams who previously never bothered, and with nearly every SL side beginning to build/improve their stadia hopefully the crowds will increase also.

For me we should be looking towards a 'Big League' of twenty teams which, over the next decade or so could be entirely possible. The likes of Barrow, Widnes, Leigh, Toulouse, Featherstone & Halifax could all be promoted legitimately and hopefully grow and add something new to the SL but to fast track Toulouse into SL will disillusion heart landers and be detrimental to the game as a whole.

Harlequins have made inroads within their catchment area and are producing local players for the first team. Although I agree the fan base is minimal for the growth of the game and the competitiveness of international rugby league the Quins are a in a key position to move us forward and increase the talent pool.

The whole concept of Harlequins RL has failed though.

I would be happy to put up with them if I saw evidence of improvement, but there isn't any.

Right now I simply want to keep them because they are down south. That is it.

Super league could be a whole lot stronger and I hope we see more and more teams making the cut each time. Widnes simply have to be in though. They would get the crowds and have a great stadium!

Toulouse IMO will be ready next time around, but I don't think they would fail coming in this time.

I'd love to know what Quins are doing to attract fans, are they targeting the RU fans, are they targeting the aussie community (remember Aus v NZ sold out there last season), are they in the schools, do they market the club.

Yes, they are now developing players, which is outstanding work, but are they putting the same effort into putting bums on seats.

I fully expect the only change to SL to be Salford out & Widnes in.

Wakefield & Cas will manage to get a stadium between them, when the reality of being booted out finally hits home.

Crusaders will be establised in 12 months.

Saints will be in a new stadium, which will start to put pressure on KR & Bulls to improve theirs.

Salford despite the delays are apparently very close to finalising their stadium plans and still intend to be in by 2012. If they make an announcement confirming the start of construction before the end of this year, they'll probably be kept in.

Toulouse won't get in as they have to get to a final as confirmed above - can't see that happening. Be interesting how they make room for Widnes who are clearly the strongest of the eligible Championship clubs.

But I'm sure they still would have been bigger than Toulouse - when we went to our game in Toulouse last year, I lost count of the number of French who asked why we were there and didn't actually know what rugby league was (rugby á treize, of course), never mind hear that they had a local club who were going to be in the European League sooner or later.

As mentioned on this thread, there's only so long that clubs will put up with so many home games having minimal away support - to me there's no doubt at all that the lack of atmosphere at games against Catalans, Quins, Crusaders and potentially Toulouse (by this point nearly a quarter of your home games) is affecting crowds.

the game does need to expand into diffrent areas but we need to make sure its right for example catalans they have been a great sucess apart from this year but competitive on the field getting to the challenge cup final in there 2 year finishing 3rd in there 3rd year, crowds of 8-9k crowds, plenty of good french players in there squad, QUALITY overseas players.
the celtic crusaders were an absoulote joke but i blaim the rfl rather then celtic becasue obviously they thought they could handdle super league but the rfl dint even think about wether things were in place for them to compete in super league. thankfully the new crusaders seem to be going really well which has taken a whole lot of pressure of the rfl but you cant forgive the rfl for what they did. toulose i think would be a sucess but it wont do them any harm in waiting another 3 years playing in the championship. i know the crowds would be good same as catalans even more, stadium is decent and would be improved if given a licence, young french players would improve alot, toulose is a massive and a attractive city, bigger player pool for france, obviously they aint going to bring fans but clubs know this and this is were cheap tickets offers or even give away free tickets to up the crowd abit. im an hull fc fans and when we played hudds they brought about 300 fans which is shocking and there are only 1hour or so away so do heartlands teams bring alot of away fans anyway?

I am biased because i am a widnes fan.So swap us for salford.

Serious now we have a good owner in ste oconnor and we are the only team in the championship with a academy set up.We have had Yates,flynn,Thompson,Grady,Crompton,Houghton,Strong and Hulme who have played for the first team this year already from the academy.No other championship side have done this so i think we have a strong application.We are financially stable with stobarts,landrover sponsoring and our superleague fans will come back once in the elite league.
If we need to compete against the aussies, we need to develop alot of british players, and i think widnes will bring something to the table.I am confident we will bring near to 2000 away supporters if get in.If we are successful maybe abit more.

At the moment i know people who do not go due to the quality and poor atmosphere in the championship.No offence to teams such as keighley,batley,dewsbury and toulouse but they bring no away support.These clubs survive with a smaller cap and to teams such as widnes,fax and leigh bringing away support.
How many years have london been in superleague and still low crowds.They are not interested as union is popular and football.Yes i like expansion but needs to be not at the expense of heartland clubs.I am missing playing Wigan,saints and warrington.

We miss the 4 points every season.

You dont need our 4 points mate, you will win the league without us.

Even when we was in the top league i hated you winning everything, but thought your fans where ok.Warrington and saints i disliked the most, but since we have been in the lower league, you have given us some good players.Anyway wish you all the best this year, and may come a wigan game this year, with my widnes top on.

you have a jack smith playing for you at accademy level who came through st judes . do you by chance know how he is progressing ????