Hi pyeman,

It is what has been tried in France for a long time. Remember France is a very old country of RL who went twice in final of the world cup (54 and 68 ). It is not a new country which has not yet tried a self ed development.
The fact is that RL has been on the decline in France since the 70'. It is on the contrary on a steady growth since 2006 and the entry of the Dragons in SL. A European competition will raise the interest of the public and the media and bring money in the competition, any national only competition would gather a much more limited interest. It is in a certain measure the same thing here.

The SL is largely an M62 competition. We complain about the lack of media coverage but in the South nobody cares about RL because it is seen as a regional game. My London colleagues looked at me like I was out of my mind when I said I was going to see the Quins. The fact is RL in England needs Europe to break this image and become really a sport of national interest. The idea that it would weaken national competitions is not right I think. In France the national competition was on the verge of bankruptcy and the licenses are now increasing. For the CC, it becomes a kind of European second tier of the SL with Toulouse which most CC English fans loves as a new destination.

The europeanisation of the competition will bring money, raise the stakes of national competitions and increase the interest of the public. In France there is no ambiguity. This old traditional sport was slowly dying. The "national" strategy (and as a consequence the lack of support for the PSG club by the federation) has been followed for a long time and it failed. The French federation has clearly opted for a European strategy of development and it pays off.

It is clearly the best strategy for the development of RL in France and the fact that 2/3 of people vote for such an option on Total RL (where there are lots of CC supporters) shows that even English fans may think it would be good for the English RL.

Whilst i do find the idea of a pro French league and a European Cup exciting, i dont find it realistic. Afetr reading the Catalans forum (with google translator mind) their onyl real gripe with games in Barcelona is that it takes money away from Perpignans economy. It really is generating consistent year round English tourism to the city.

A European competition generates more interest in the press. And i do agree that its slightly unfair to some of the smaller traditional teams, hence why i eventually want a fully professional Superleague 2 with promotion and relegation between the two. Initially i dont think theres room for more than say 3 French clubs in SL but two more could thrive in a pro-second tier.

Having said that after Toulouse i think the next expansion side should be British. A lot of Union clubs in England are in some serious debt with questions over the viability of top flight Newcastle, Bristol and Leeds sides. There has even been talk of reducing the Premiership to a 10 team league.
If Union in England briefly flounders then we need to be in a position to step in and show the media that we are the top Rugby competition in Europe of either code.

The problem with that is that a lot of union 'fans' won't even consider league.
A lot of people who go to union games go for the day out or event rather than the actual game itself (see England internationals at Twickers).

In theory, though, we should be able to win those punters over, since our game is better. We just need to build on the sence of occaision.

But as I said, events on the pitch are the least of their worries.