So exactly like Super League and the two-division of the Co-op Championship then, or indeed, like the two-division Co-op Championship and the Rugby League Conference.

one professional competition

one semi pro competition

one amateur competition

No automatic p and r between the different comps, but clubs from the RLC can apply to join the championship (and once they're in, they're in for good) and teams from the semi-pro Conference can apply, alongside existing professional clubs, for a three-year stay in the professional competition, subject to meeting on (and off) field qualifying criteria.

That really is a case of them and us tb. The difference is there used to be P&R between the divisions containing all the member clubs, that never existed in the cricket case you have mentioned. The dilution of our once great game started when the greedy top clubs decided to keep all the money for themselves and not divvy it up on a sliding scale from top to bottom of the RFL member clubs based on finishing position....ie the start of the widening of the gap between the haves and stolen froms.

The gap has widened not because of mismanagement TWO THIRDS of the RFL members, but the removal of funding from those members. How many of the member clubs outside SL actually managed to qualify for the supposed £100k funding which the RFL proudly shouted from the rooftops, leading everyone to believe that every club outside SL actually got that amount. They lied if thats the impression they were trying to give.

You can't change the basis of your argument once it is flawed as you have done. You tried to compare a sport that in it's entire history has never had promotion from the (lesser) Minor Counties league to the County Championship and then compare it to Super League, Co-op Championship and Conference.

That's like the equivalent of Cas Panthers joining CH1 - it doesn't happen.

But there IS promotion and relegation between the 2 divisions of pro-cricket.

Very bad example. 0/10 must do better!

Durham.

Not bad on sport,pop music and geography generally, but my specialist subject is Chinese Takeaways

I disagree. The equivalent of Castleford Panthers joining championship 1 would be a team from the Yorkshire or Lancashire leagues joining the minor counties championship




Indeed. And I look forward to the day when professional rugby league (ie Super League) is big enough to split into divisions with p&r between them. It isn't. There are at most 2 teams outside SL atm capable of being professional full time outfits, imo. And at most 14 teams inside SL (though given recent events at a number of clubs, not least, but not exclusively, Wrexham and Wakefield, some might argue there's not as many as 14

) However, the fact that cricket's authorities split one of the professional comps into two divisions in 2000 doesn't really bear on the argument for promotion and relegation between professional and semiprofessional comps – the comparison would be promotion and relegation between the professional full time county championship and the semiprofessional part time minor counties championship



I disagree. Very good example, the division between full-time professional comp and part time semi pro comp compares will with Super League and the Championship (both divisions). 8/10 (I've deducted two points from myself for not giving due attention to DemonUK's 'virtually'

)





Nope, they applied for and were granted the equivalent of a franchise in 1991 (but without the RL time limit). Same as Glamorgan in 1921 and similar to Devon in 1948 (applied, but got rejected as not good enough).

do you actually get up each morning and think today im going to be slightly more boring than i was yesterday??
dont want to keep you though, trains to be spotted no doubt?

God it must be nice to be the all knowing

– I know, trying to bring facts into an RLfans discussion, what was I thinking of?

:OOPS:

you bring so much, but offer so little, your just very dull on a wide range of subjects.

You remind me of an accountant, who knows the cost of everything but the "VALUE of NOTHING."

Thats a great line

On the subject of Franchising many RL fans think its a new thing, but its been going on since RL was founded.
All thats changed is the words used. In the past teams were Elected into the professional ranks. Franchise is very much an Americanism. We in Britain would usually use words like Association or League to denote a collection of different companies working together under a common umbrella organisation. Hence Rugby League, or Football Asssociation.

In order to get elected to these associations or leagues you would need to satisfy certain criteria from the existing clubs.
This is essentially the same as the franchising process.

As a guide. These are the founder clubs of the RFL

: Batley FC, Bradford FC, Brighouse Rangers FC, Broughton Rangers FC, Halifax FC, Huddersfield FC, Hull F.C., Hunslet FC, Leeds FC , Leigh FC , Liversedge FC , Manningham F.C., Oldham FC , Rochdale Hornets FC , Runcorn , Stockport , St Helens FC , Tyldesley FC , Wakefield Trinity FC , Warrington FC , Widnes FC , Wigan FC .

you will note that there is no Dewsbury, Salford, Castleford, Whitehaven, Workington, Barrow, Hull KR, Featherstone, Swinton etc.
All these are actually franchise teams brought in to expand the League.
None of these Franchise teams were promoted into a Professional league at the expense of a team being relegated. No instead they were elected.

The current franchise process that is going on, has been going on since the birth of RL.

Bet they weren't worried about the number of seats in the ground, the state of the bogs, whether there was any baby changing facilities, if the club did any community work etc. They were 'elected' on the basis of their playing strength, ie. what happened on the pitch, a bit like promotion and relegation.

Post of the day; as my 11 year old son can often be heard to say - "owned!"

You might well be right, the difference being they all came into the "same" league.

were they?

Castleford RLFC were founded in 1926, we were elected to the RFL in 1926, taking over the ground of Castleford Town FC after their third (iirc) unsuccessful bid to be elected to the Football League. We didn't exist to prove our strength on the field before joining the league. It was nothing like promotion and relegation between the divisions of a league.

Maybe we were unique.

so you merged

no

very informative whos on your doorstep

So now we have people comparing the expansion of what was at the time a ' new ' sport ,

just for the record

Would Cas be allowed to enter the RFL now considering how close to Wakefield they were ? , would the RFL welcome them with open arms ?

Would they welcome a team in Golborne into the Championship right now ?

Both boring AND irritating.... a dreadful combination. Sorry did I mention condescending? make that a treble

Tb you are certainly and thankfully unique.
I have eaten more interesting milk puddings!!