I followed the Twitter feed of the RFL meeting with fans about the restructure. I was very pleased about what the rfl had to say, they want the Top Championship teams to be more competitive with the rest of the super league and they are looking to increase the amount Championship sides get from the RFL from 100K to around 500K a year (although this will be dependant on where you finish) they also hope that there will be 16 Full Time teams and hope that Championship attendances will increase from average 1,200 to 1,800 (we can dream !!)

I was also pleased to hear that my preferred option of the split and super 7 matches at the end of the season to determine who will be in the Super League is the most popular option.

With regards to TV Rights these are still to be discussed but I would imagine that there will be Super League (2 matches a week) and Super League 2 (1 Match a week) with Sky being the likely winners (although it would be interesting if BT sport took an interest it could result in a bidding war) Toulouse was mentioned but from what i can remember they will have to pay the RFL so i cant see them joining especially as it would cost a lot of money for championship sides to travel to france

Duggs

30 games is too many, imho.

As I said on twitter last night, it seems unlikely to me that an average gate for the Championship is 1200. There's only 3 clubs get 1200+ regularly with a couple of clubs regularly getting <500.

16 fulltime teams basically means 2 championship clubs going fulltime if one of them clubs have a poor season and don't make the middle 8 financially what would happen to them? what is the "pyramid" financial reward for finishing 5th or 6th is it enough to sustain a fulltime club?

2 up 2 down for me, overspend and go bust... well tough

The 2x12 3x8 thing is destined to fail IMO.

We've had a hard time explaining to people that we're the Champions of the second tier yet haven't gone anywhere. Imagine explaining that you're the Champions of the bottom eight...

One thing I will say is it will bring a bit of excitement and interest which has been sadly lacking over the last few years. Just hope that isn't at the expense of a couple of clubs.

Are you even "champions" of the bottom eight ? Ralph said that the bottom eight would be playing to avoid relegation, not actually win anything. If you take this year's Championship bottom eight, take out the bonus points (if we're not having them), we've got Workington on 9 wins and Barrow and Hunslet on 5 and 4. It's going to take some sort of collapse over seven more games for Workington to go down, so imagine the excitement there.

The more games you play, the more likely that there'll be meaningless games. Quite how that encourages big crowds is beyond me.

Playing each other once (5 home, 5 away, 1 Magic) , then home and away in the eights made more sense.

I agree Griff.

Wait that doesn't sound right.

No - even though we're saying the same thing, you must be wrong.

Taken from the virtual terrace


"From a 'Fans Forum' hosted by Ralph Rimmer last night:

KPMG were consulted and, in a nutshell, they said that we need promotion & relegation, and a structured format from SL right across to local community clubs. KPMG's brief was also to design a system to get more bums on seats.

All clubs were invited to discuss KPMG's proposals. The league structure was narrowed down to 2 choices:
3 divisions of 12 with straight relegation at the end;
3 division of 12 with a play-off system at the end [the much vaunted 12/12 -> 8/8/8 format.

The currently favoured solution is the 2nd and would work as follows:

SL1 - 12 teams; £1300K funding each [currently £1225K, or something near.
SL2 - 12 teams; sliding funding from £650K [top club in previous season down to £150 ottom club previous season: the idea being that clubs can plan to 'better themselves' over a number of years, eventually gaining SL1 status.
(3rd Division); 12ish clubs; £75K funding each.

For SL1 & SL2 [or whatever brand name it is given, at the end of the 23 game season [play each other home and away plus Magic Weekend for both divisions, the end-of-season play-offs would be as follows

Hope this sheds some light on the way the RFL is thinking."

Well, the obvious change from the plan as first proposed is that the finances have ameliorated.

I still have issues with it .....

1. 30 games is too many - even if we lose the NRC (which it looks like we will be doing).

2. The third eight looks like it's just there to stop the season finishing too early. Do these clubs keep their points ? Is there a play-off for the top four ? Or the bottom four (once you win, you're out) ? There's been very little information on how this will work.

3. Games arranged at short notice are notoriously difficult to sell sponsorship for.

4. I still think the likelihood is that no-one will be promoted from SL2 to SL1 without some backer chipping in a huge wedge. Up to the backer how he spends his money, obviously, but I don't think it helps a club's stability.

Well it looks like they're going to roll with it anyway, based upon KPMG's advice. This would be the same KPMG that thought Bradford's finances were fine and that Ken Bates' rebirth of Leeds United was perfectly normal.

Anyway, I need a drink, so i'm going to ask an electrician what will quench my thirst the most.

Middle eight won't take their points forward Griff.

Which means they'll effectively be deciding which division they're playing in from a seven game season.

Its a rubbish idea, give it a season and all those who wanted it will want to change it again, that and clubs will go bust chasing an improbable dream

I agree. The lords and masters at the RFL need to take a degree in common sense - even then they would still make a mess of it.

True - bottom four and top four taking their points forward may lead to an imbalance.

Another reason why 11/14 made more sense .....

10/10 made most sense imo Griff
4 down, Toulouse +5 in SL2
10 x £1.3m in SL1 plus 10 x £600k for SL2, SL2 goes FT with 1 up/down and a 3 year franchise subject to solvency. 27 fixtures incl Magic and a top 5 play off

Dont mention the F word !! If it was based on the last franchise system we would not be allowed in due to low attendances and lack of a stadium. I still think there should be promotion relegation between SL2 and the lower league possibly a 2 legged final and how would the 3rd set of 9 fixtures be worked out if it is random and you are drawn away to all the top sides people will start complaining that it is unfair

I've been banging drum for this for ages!

Wouldn't argue with that, Maurice, but apparently there's too many repeat fixtures.

Like 9 as opposed to 8.

(No - I don't get it either.)

Are you suggesting that the teams play each other 3 times because 10 team league would only produce 18 matches otherwise. If they are to play 3 times then you have an imbalance with home and away fixtures and the Magic Weekend would only get rid of one of those.

Club by club, yes. But at least you get 13 home, 13 away.

In 1991 there was an 8 team Second Division and the 8 clubs involved were sick of the sight of each other long before they got to the final round of matches. Some were meeting each other upwards of 6 times with cup matches, so I think 12 has to be minimum number with teams just playing home and away.

Personally, I thought it was a good season but that's just my personal perception ?

Upwards of six times ? Was there such a pairing ?

I remember the 8 side division being really intense and very competitive with some cracking games, alot were dissapointed when it went/changed if I remember right

Much better crowds too. We averaged just under 2500.