Being pedantic, the reason its the 'Minor Premiership' in Australia is because the winners of the GF win the 'Premiership'

Over here it is the 'Minor Championship' as our GF winners gain the 'Championship'

Is it worth a tacky marketing campaign to get a few folk who only want to see a trophy being lifted tagged onto the gate? Present it as soon as it's won then move on in preparation for the paly offs.

Correct

Isnt the Hub Cap half a trophy in everyones opinion?

It's a trophy that should mean quite a bit but actually means fook all because the RFL are thick as sh*t and bow down to everything Sky TV say.

Over in Oz, the minor prem trophy is HUGE and actually bigger than the trophy you get for winning the GF.

Over here you get a dinner plate/hub cap and that's it.

I think the whole system over here is skewed, to be honest.

The play-offs are actually a ridiculous idea. How can it be fair when those who finish top are rewarded by having those who finished below them effectively handicapped?

Okay, if you're a very fit side, you suffer less of a disadvantage, but we've seen in the last few years how it was a bridge too far for us having to compete from fifth or sixth.

It's almost like saying, the top two can play normally but the next two down have to play with one hand tied behind their backs, and the next two after that have to play with bare feet as well.

Getting home advantage for finishing near the top is fine, but having to play fewer games seems like a very unsophisticated way of sorting it.

Making the Hubcap worth winning should be something to consider for the future, though I know that Sky will be terrified this means the Grand Final will just become another Permiership (in the old-fashioned sense of the word), so it's probably never going to happen.

Not even that in mine.

It's a waste of time and only got introduced to shut Caisley and the Bulls up.

The champions are the team that win the Grand Final.

How are ticket sales going for sunday ?

Please dont balls it up this weekend, as I dont want a sky change again for Rovers the week after.

You're quite safe.
Next weeks games sky games have already been allocated.

Wire v Hull on Friday.
Crusaders v Saints on Saturday.

Aye, and if you dont win watch this space!

6334 left not including the North Stand.

North is closed isn't it?

so 13,000 ish at the moment.

Yes I think it is closed.

Tonight's Observer says Wigan had the option to have the trophy presented on Sunday but have opted for the presentation after the Bradford game.

£

Stupid decision. We need to get this 'hubcap' thing out of the way well before the playoffs, so we can just concentrate on that.

They are crowned champions but it's still a triumph of marketing over common sense. You may as well say the CC winners are champions. It amounts to the same thing. God knows why people are so keen on the play offs as the way to determine who gets the champions label. To be seen as some sort of reactionary, trendy part of the brave new world?

Dave

It's not a millions miles from the old championship final RL used well before marketing spin was king. The concept is not something particularly new to RL.

how many competitions around the world use this format anyway? i think there are some american "sports" that do this, but honestly who cares about the americans?

rugby league fixed something that wasn't broken in the first place for me.

Soccer, all international comps use a play off format with a 'final showdown', the Champions League, UEFA cup, and others. All the American sports (i.e. the biggest sports in the world), all Australian sports, snooker, rugby union, darts, various formats of cricket around the world...and many more no doubt.

Its only really domestic club soccer around the world that uses a first past the post system to decide its champions, (and some of the different forms of cricket).



as already alluded to, the play off style format was used in RL long before the first past the post system. At a guess, I would say that in the history of RL more teams have been crowned champions through a play off system than through a first past the post system.

Most of those you just alluded to are the equivalent of the World Club Challenge though, where the winners of competitions face each other.

Cricket uses a league system domestically, for everything but 20/20.

Snooker and darts have recently started leagues, so they are moving away from the knockout type competitions.

Personally i'd rather have the top 4 from SL in a playoff competition with the top 4 from Aus. That would provide a lot more entertainment and purpose imo. That would be the equivalent of a champions league or Europa league.

I know. I still think (always have) it's a daft way to decide who are champions. I like the idea in the post above of the top 4 in the UK v the top 4 in Aus (with whoever finished top here in the league being league champions). I think this would be a far better competition than letting the 8th placed team here have a tilt at getting the champions accolade. They don't even have to beat all the teams above them to do it title (as the old top 5 play off system made any team do).

Dave

Champions League, yes - although that is the 'one' that all the big clubs want to win.



and 20/20 is by far the most popular, commercially succesful and generates the most publicity across the world. the rest of the cricket season is played out in front of 3 men and a dog.



...a league followed by a play off and Final - so not sure what your point is?