The writing was on the wall when the RFL gave Catalans a relegation exemption when they came up to SL (as a Cas fan it still grates that we were relegated despite not finishing bottom) and when Celtic were picked for SL ahead of Widnes. It showed that in the eyes of the RFL expansion of the game trumps everything else and the criteria for a renewed franchise will be fiddled to ensure that Crusaders and Quins get enough points to survive whilst one of Cas or Wakey get the boot.
Frankly this is not the game I fell in love with 30-odd years ago and without P&R decided by what occurs on the pitch I'm not convinced its truly sport any more. I think I might start watching that wrestling from America- At least nobody makes any pretence that its not fixed.

The rfl have decided that at least one team will lose its franchise in the next round of licenses. It looks grim for us or cas but as has been stated earlier ther are other teams that are in a worse position than us both , but these clubs seem to have "other" reasons that are favourable to them.
The rfl have spoken and what they say must be right , like introducing paris to the competition that would benefit the rugby league in the northern hemisphere & the london broncos who would make the game a national sport, or even more recently setting up a superleague club in south wales that could tap in to union side of rugby to make wales a nation to challenge the southern hemisphere which then ended been within 15 miles of widnes.
If ever there is an organisation with pie in the sky ideas about how to make the game better, then the management at red hall take the biscuit, with some of there short sighted suggestions. The best thing they could do is to bring back promotion & relegation and reduce the number of overseas players to the clubs.
Slightly going off track but earlier tonight radio leeds interviewed Steve Ball from Hunslet Hawks and to hear someone talk about the game with his passion the rfl would be better employed giving him a job to promote the the sport, or better still get him down to belle vue now that he is leaving hunslet at the end of the season ( his job is done & not getting the push )

There's nowt left to say then. Abide by the franchise criteria (especially the stadium part) imposed by ....visionaries? When did the supporter get to vote on this then? It wil be a sad day for RL if one of the heartland teams drop out. From reading the views on other boards there are some cocky so and so's who are baying for blood. We're all becoming insular and selfish with feelings of paranoia. The old 'divide and conquer' tactics used by politicians. Collectively the supporters have the strength to tell em to p..s off, but we have been brainwashed into thinking this is the only way without looking at alternatives.

I think its a crying shame that clubs with 100 yrs plus of history are stuck in the championship because 14 teams have picked themselves as the elite.

I have to agree with what brian carney said on boots n all why have they stated that a super league team will lose its licience now, why not wit till all the aplications are in then pick the best 14 from that,They did not do this when they first di the liciences so why do it now.

Because in 2008 Widnes were perhaps denied entry in favour of an inferior bid from The Crusaders and this is their reward for not kicking up a stink about it.

and Quins and Crusaders 2412 gate v Salford and money problems same with HKR
I would replace Crusaders with Widnes i doubt the Muppet show will do it
ground or no ground if Wakey lose out i am finished with RL and Sky and I do mean it

Well, a cynic would certainly suggest the elevation criteria for C'ship clubs were designed to fit only Widnes..in fact I'm sure I read somewhere an average attendance of 2500 was required, not 2000 which Halifax would probably manage or 3000 which Widnes probably wouldn't. Apologies in advance for any misrepresentation.

Me too. No franchise then my 50 years of watching Wakefield and Rugby League will come to an end and so will my Sky Sports subscription.

I'm not against the principle of being replaced in Super League but being replaced when there are teams inferior to us on the Community front, Academy/Youth Development, Crowds etc. because the RL want to see plastic seats and "expansion" and they love Harlequins and Crusaders and more than likely Toulouse.

The same applies to Castleford and I can see us both being sacrificed if they want Toulouse in.

eI have supported Wakefield Trinity since 1975/76 season please tell me whos fault it is that we have done bugger all to develop Belle Vue in 35 years
Please dont tell me it could not have being done it bloody could Leeds,Warrington,Widnes have no parking etc
The fact is our club has being run by muppets since 1968 we go from one disaster to another and blame every bugger else its being cock up after cock up
we have one of the worst grounds in the RL but how Bradford get away with it ps me off both Cas and Salford have better stadiums they may not hold the same but Odsal is a hellhole

If Bradford continue in their vein then in 3 years time they could find themselves in the same position Trinity and Cas do now.

Regarding all the outrage about Quins...Sky just aren't interested in a Superleague without them. The last time the northern clubs turned on London and tried to cannibalise them senior RFL figures threatened to resign and Sky were allegedly coming up with a rather derisory TV contract offer. Once the northern Chairmen realized they would actually make less money without London they did a rather sharp U turn and suddenly endorsed their Superleague place.

I fear that may be the perception even though it's light years from reality. In the modern era Wakey as a city has not shown itself to have any real appetite for RL and in that respect Trinity's "massive potential" appears no greater than Salford's or Quins.

To suggest Cas have little opportunity to further themselves ignores the fact that we have already done that twice by bouncing back from two relegations when one would probably have finished Wakey as a viable business. Despite the adverse impact of 2 seasons in NL1 we have recovered any ground lost to you very quickly.

You are right to refer to crowd trouble at the Jungle, not because it was serious, but because RFLs over-reaction to it is surely indicative of Cas being set-up for the fall.

So how can the RFL decide that 1 team is to go, I was under the impresion that places were decided upon application by any team that thought they worth a place and then judged by how they met certain criteria.

To say 1 has to go before the process has even started absolutley stinks, no matter who the club is.

You are right in some respects. The general public of Wakefield do not appear massively interested in Wakefield Trinity (aside from the hardcore few that will keep going no matter what). Whether a new stadium would change that I don't know, I hope that if we were to get a new stadium we would do some real work in the district trying to encourage back old fans and attract new ones with the proposition of a nice shiny seat for them.

I suspect that the only way things will really change is if we make some drastic changes at the helm of the club.

How all this is viewed at Red Hall though is another matter entirely and it could be that they may take the City view as being better than the Town.


I think both clubs face a very uncertain future and several months of nail-biting until the decisions are made. New stadiums for both would certainly give us both a much stronger case to fight with, especially against Salford. If all 3 have stadiums you would have to say that we both look stronger than Salford in most respects, not that that will necessarily save either of us but it would make the RFL's decision harder to make/easier to challenge.

Sums up my mood perfectly, and with regards to Toulouse they did not invite them into the championship for a laugh, and with them now supposedly being invited by the RFL to apply for SL I am getting more and more convinced that neither of us will get a franchise, unless the rumours over finance at Quins and Crusaders are true and things go wrong for either of them.

I know it is sad to lose a club from Superleague, but their are many teams in the Championship who would love a chance.Me personally would prefer relegation and promotion every year.If was the case London,Catalans, and Salford be under threat now.I support Widnes and it has been difficult to go games when their is no away support, and not so many good players.£300,000 cap does not help,and i am sure if Widnes get a chance, the attendances would over double with good away support from Wire,Wigan, and Saints.If we did not have a great youth set up,we would have spent our money just on the first team.RFL said they want so many players from youth playing in the first team, and that is why struggled in the league.Well 85% of the players wont get a Superleague contract if we got the nod and we would buy some top players with Ste o connors money.Anyway i have nothing against Wakey and be nice if we where both in Superleague.

I think if they want to drop two out, they could do just to let Toulouse in. After all there is a clause in the RFL operating procedures which says that an overseas club can apply by invitation from the RFL.

As a Halifax fan I know that we will not get a licence, nor do I think we are ready for one, Batley are not going to apply and Barrow.... Well..... least said soonest mended.

I am sorry to say its either you or cas

i enjoy both grounds at present in particular belle vue, I like the atmosphere and the closeness of the pitch

I would miss either team, but if you both dont sort out a new home quickly you will be both out

When the results of the applications are released and we learn which club is being booted out I hope (but won't hold my breath)that the penpushers from red hall make them public so that we can all see how they have done a stitch up to keep crusaders and quins in.

I think its pretty simple.

If the RFL want to let Widnes in either Wakefield or Castleford will go. If they want to let Toulouse in also we both will go.

you have it in a nut shell snadal cat!

Am I missing something here, someone help me out :-

How can the RFL say 1 as to go before they have seen any applications.

Indeed; seems rather unfair. Must be nice to able to write your own rules as you go along.