This sport is dying and i'm not sure the powers that be even care.

Interesting what Jamie Peacock said about salary caps too, in one sense maintaining the salary cap as it is would maintain the gulf between Superleague and Championship, but as he said the Australian cap is increasing and as such we are going to lose the likes of Burgess, Ellis etc with the draw of playing down under.

If we follow Oz, then we may hold on to our stars, but there's little or no chance of the likes of Sheffield being able to keep up with the Superleague clubs.

Someone needs to take it by the balls I think, but I'm not sure the RFL know what these are...

Nothing to do with salary caps or Oz or even stadia. We don't have enough people watching us. If we had 10000 every match - or even half that - we'd be in Superleague.

I'd love to know more about this "Golden Age" of rugby league. As long as I can remember some clubs have struggled for crowds and also financially, and that includes some who have now got their act together off the field. The only way some would ever get in the top flight is if it was one giant division.

Compared to the state it was in in the 70s, the game is positively thriving. There are more full time pros than there's ever been, more money in the game, the amateur game is spread far and wide, we have more kids playing the game than we have ever had.

What is true is that some clubs, who have had decades to build a solid foundation, have not done so and have taken their status, and their supporters, for granted.

Bring back promotion and relegation and let results speak for themselves and let them decide who is deserving of their place in super league.If you finish top of the championship you DESERVE to be promoted if you finish bottom You should be RELEGATED.The loss of this has made the sport stale and boring.IMO

The last two lines by Tim sum it up perfectly and now there is no relegation they are resting on there laurels even more,Have the RFL got the balls to demote from the super league,time will tell,but i think they'll expand rather than demote and leave the poor just to plod along,while certain teams deserving of a spot languishing with the deadmen.

One will go I'm sure, and I think they'll lose a 2nd one just to prove a point. Widnes at least should be given a shot.

Unfortunately the gap between SL and CC is too big to allow automatic P+R with no safety net. Football may have P+R but the relegated clubs get a huge parachute payment which IMO is grossly unfair on the other teams in the Championship. However without it they couldn't sustain P+R to the Premier League.

What if the bottom club in Superleague is better than the top club in the Championship? How can you say they deserve to be relegated and promoted respectively ?

Promotion surely is about reward for being the best in your division and opportunity to see if you can go a bit further and improve even more.

Even at amateur level P+R isn't all determined on the field. Leagues are often adjusted, teams can be promoted/relegated multiple divisions or not promoted at all if new teams are accepted at higher levels.

For example, Stanley Rangers await the NCL AGM next week to see if they are going up or staying down.

In an ideal world, annual P+R (rather than tri-annual which is the current situation) would exist and there would be a smooth continuum betwen divisions. This isn't the case in rugby league and the only way to make it happen would be to drag all teams to a lowest common denominator by giving some clubs extra money and other, better run clubs, less money.

Some SL clubs already don't like the Salary Cap because up to a point it does just that.

Franchising is unfair bull***t. Easy as that. It's ruined the game at National League level and it's only getting worse.

Surely not. It should be about improving the quality of the higher division.

It's coming to the Championship very soon.

So success shouldn't be rewarded?

It worked in most sports for the last 100 years.

If it does I will stop watching the sport at this level no matter what division the Eagles are in.

Are crowds really a lot lower than when the relegatd club used to go straight back up?

If the Eagles won CC and got promoted right now, would we really be able to assemble a brand new squad between October and January that would be able to compete in SL?

How is "success" not being as good as the team you're replacing?

Franchising has raised standards in the game.

Stadia are better, development is better, admin is better.

I dont think the stadiums have improved since the franchise,Nothing has changed,St Helens,Wakefield,Castleford and Salford all sub standard stadium and all the rest of the teams have the same ground.

Well you'll never know unless there is a play off but the success part is being better than your peers and being given the chance to prove yourself at a higher level. The team finishing top ought be invited to step up but to have the opportunity to decline.

Stadia are better because of what happened at Hillsborough but as EB says still a lot do do at some grounds.

Agree with Tim that if the Eagles were to be given a franchise i.e now we could not put a team together to compete in SL.

All four on with developing new grounds.

And LSV is just as crap as Hilton Park, is it ?

We used to have one - and not so long ago. The team from the higher division always won.

But still an opportunity

Comon theres only so much time for developing were nearly upto the 3 years and no brick has been laid,
Actions speak louder than words!!!

Saints will be out of Knowsley Rd at the end of the season and in the new one next year. As for the other 3, that's why they are all on the hit list to be replaced by Widnes.. oops I mean the team selected from those who have met the franchise criteria.

For me Widnes and Halifax should get a crack at SL next time. they may not be the best teams on the field, but we all know that whoever goes up, by watever means, has to completely rebuild their team anyway. That's why it's more about the club and its structure than just the team on the field.

Widnes and Fax in, Salford and either Cas or Wakefield out.

Fax are completely potless.

Widnes were financially a shambles at the last franchise and involved in a half million pound VAT fraud. They had a brand new management team - true - but with no track record. They have a better chance in 2011.