Having just read the RFL statement about how administration of the licensing process basically made them useless at the commercial stuff I think I may change my mind and agree with you. FFS.



If we have a chance at putting together a competently run franchise/license scheme that remains by far the best option. Of course that would seem to be predicated on replacing the entire RFL now...

BTW, I'm really not interested in selling anything to the Championship clubs. Way too much 'tail wagging the dog' goes on in this sport as it is.

Exactly right. So called professional clubs are often just an amateur organisation that are trying to buy status usually by paying players more than they are worth or can afford. Too many of these teams are trying to emulate their neighbours and compete with them for talent and spectators thus simply diluting the pool of talent and money available. If we keep going down that route we'll end up with a bigger game at a more and more amateur level. The best talent will always look to exploit it and will go to other sports , Union especially , if there is no prospect of making money and hitting the "big time" in League in the UK. There just has to be an elite group of clubs for the best talent to aspire to and it has to be of a size that allows that talent to be spread so that the competition is more intense. 12 teams max and a top 5 or 6 playoff and carry on with the , admittedly flawed , licence system with some tougher rules in the hope that the young talent that is around the academies of Wigan , Saints , Leeds and hopefully Hull and Rovers are given a truly professional game to aspire to.

The dead rubbers are a result of the vastly differing quality of clubs in SL. No system is going to eliminate them without first addressing that underlying issue. Stretching the playoffs to include clubs with no realistic chance of competing in them fixes nothing.

The same with P&R - it would be the same few clubs involved every year, changing only when one or more of them went out of business.

Possibly, but we can't then be surprised if they decide to go off and pursue their own agendas and interests. Or FOaD.

A tail-less dog, with a multiple personality disorder and no master, is my fear for a SL club coup.

My bet is on some sort of half-d compromise that manages to combine the worst of all possible options. But then I'm both a cynic and a pessimist.

At least you won't be disappointed!

I would imagine you would struggle to get anyone to take up that bet.

I'm all for promotion & relegation if we had enough competitive and self-sufficient clubs to see a bit of variety, and if the chances of survival for promoted sides were better. Unfortunately, the reality is that we probably have about 16 clubs who might be able to make a go of a top flight club even given more time than one season, and the gap between the 2 divisions is just too hard to bridge more than once every 5 years or so unless another club goes into meltdown. It'll just revert again to 11 or 13 constants and a guest star for that season.

To compare to football, it's not really like looking at a promoted Championship team's chances of survival in the premier league (which are not great), it's closer to sticking a League 2 side straight up there with their part-time squad and 2 months to cobble together the best of everyone else's cast-offs (with no transfer kitty) and seeing how they get on.

i saw it written that Wire, Hull, Hull KR, Huddersfield, Saints & London along with wigan have been highly critical of the rfl plans, so looks like we backed lenegan

[url=http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/rugby-league/gary-hetherington-unhappy-at-super-league-reverse-8867477.htmlGary 'No interest in Briscoe' Hetherington not best pleased[/url

[url=http://www.sportinglife.com/rugby-league/news/article/480/8987352/super-league-dispute-rumbles-onAnd so it continues....[/url

Wonder if he'd have the same clout and coverage if he was still running the powerhouse that is Laaandon

That's an opinion, and arguably a guess. The very fact that some clubs don't want to vote on the proposals shows that they DON'T believe that they will have a positive impact on the WHOLE sport.



From what I can see, it's equally the case that he and the RFL's behaviour is very unsatisfactory, as it seems they just wanted to force through an 8 to 6 vote and avoid the fact that 43% of SL clubs appear to have no confidence in them. To me, for such an important issue as the structure of the competition a majority of more than 2 should be required. If you can't get that you need to keep talking and considering other options until you can get more backing.

For some time (possibly still) any changes to SL required two thirds to vote in favour of a change. When the league was 12 clubs strong, it was a simple cut off: 8-4. two thirds of 14 is 9.3, so you have to round up to 10 (actually 71%), and there were a couple of complaints that it was too hard to make progress and too easy to block change.
The bigger the majority required, the more elusive action becomes. And we need action because the current system broke down. They should keep talking, but can't afford to do so indefinately - we can't (please, surely) start next season not knowing how many, if any, teams will be relegated. A decision on 2015 can possibly be pushed back a little further, but not much.

The RFL have created the monster that is Super League . The game needs SKY`s money to survive and they want Super League .
I can see the SL breaking away and being administered by the Clubs . If you are a SL Chairman why should you worry about the lower league Clubs? Most SL Clubs are struggling to survive without the threat of relegation and financial ruin .
The RFL are to blame for this mess. Promotion and relegation should have stayed from the start of Super League .
Why suddenly decide that for the good of the game re-introduce it ? Will there be a parachute payment for the relegated Club?

Getting rid of P&L was the right idea, not enforcing the licensing conditions and rescuing Salford,Bradford, London and Wakey wasn't

London and Catalan should be binned . London are a waste of time . Catalan should be in the French Leagues.

Catalan are a great club and doing a lot for RL, London should be kept but move to part of London where RU isn't as strong.

Wakey, Cas, Widnes and Bradford should go.

Completely agree, I honestly don't understand why people still want to stubbornly reject them based on nothing rational.

Indeed but as MR mentions higher up Pandora's box is open on that score.
I will say however that I can't see it being over the 12 team reduction otherwise I fail to understand why the clubs are the one's likely NOT to be involved.
If it's over a reduction in funds I cannot see Salford, Cas, London, Bradford or Widnes going for that.
So either we have turkey's actually voting for Christmas or it's over something else. My guess would be the governance of the RFL.

Like I have said on the VT I get the feeling GH want's the top job at the RFL so won't want to rock boats. If that is the case you can count out Leeds and Wakey straight away.
Do Cas, Bradford, Salford, London or Widnes want to make foes at the RFL? I doubt it.

That leaves Saints as the only team I can't figure out but let us not forget they were against it so I await their responce with interest.

Some pretty strong clubs in opposition there and rovers

I'm sure Adam Pearson at one of the fans forums on the subject of SL sponsorship the RFL etc said if the RFL did not get their act together re the commercial side of things he could see SL going the way of the Premiership in football. He mentioned Wigan and said other chairman where not averse to this course. I just wonder if this is now coming to fruition.

Clubs don't play enough games. 13 home games a year and one cup competition is mega-challenging from a financial perspective.

Well 2 big clubs wire and Wigan.

There may be more clubs apposed to the RFL ideas than the 6 that walked out. They just chose not to throw a tantrum and strop out favoring staying and trying to sort the issues out?

uote="Ferdy"Well 2 big clubs wire and Wigan.

There may be more clubs apposed to the RFL ideas than the 6 that walked out. They just chose not to throw a tantrum and strop out favoring staying and trying to sort the issues out?'"