We have seen the last club move up from the NL/ Championship to SL , enjoy yourselves people , there but for the grace of God go you

Why do you say that? Because Halifax didn't get in. The RFL made a special case for the Championship, by determining that one club would come regardless of whether it was one of the best 14 applications. Who's to say they won't do it again.



The mistake they won't repeat is to guarantee that the clubs will stay at 14.

14 is the optimum number slugger , in three years if yourselves and Cas have stadiums built or started , then the gap will be huge , and the fall from SL even bigger than now



Not going to happen

We dont operate a franchising process in Australia... here you are in and in forever or until you can't continue! There are no clubs looking over their shoulder every three years.

I just do not think tradition is enough to offer anymore.



I appreciate the move would not be universally accepted, and we may well lose some fans in the short term but rugby league is a professional sport and needs to be run like a business. We must cut the inefficiencies.



Let's not forget the last really radical move to SL upset many people, but I do not think you can question the long term success it has become. Likewise taking Australia as an example and the merger franchise clubs, short term there was a wave of anger, but not too long into the new clubs lives the fans came back.

my experience this that is not very true... some people did start to attend the merged teams games ... however I know many fans of the original unmerged teams and there is a deep simmering resentment that thier teams and culture was destroyed... particularly Balmain, Illawara and Norths fans. I know many people that have not returned to the game.



Personally before the merge I was a Wests fan... but will not support the TIgers... I became a Cronulla fan instead (by virtue of where I live)

the ones who stay away will always make the most noise, but West Tigers as a club have not suffered from low attendences/stay away fans.



You kind of prove the point I was making ie, you club was lost but you remain a league fan. Some will be lost if the smaller clubs vanish, but many will align themselves with a new club once the dust settles.

Well said Spook and the comment about the Aussies beating us is irrelevent. They've been beating us for years and although its early days, the gap is getting wider.

How many of the top clubs are sustainable without their sugar daddys, thats not buissnes its charity and it wont last.

More and more clubs are now being run by business men wanting to turn them in to profitable concerns. Hull being the most recent.

There is a world of difference between a professionally run club and a club with a "sugar daddy"

All clubs should be trying to maximise revenue and also strive to be profitable and IMHO there should always be a pathway between the divisions based on sporting performance and not just the size of someones wallet.

Hear hear!!!



I'm with you. Just cos they aren't listening doesn't mean we should speak. If enough pressure is exerted you never know. Even Communism fell in Russia

on another note if it wasnt for franchise you would not be in superleague next season!



Just a thought

Not sure who your comment is aimed at, because the last time I looked, we weren't in the relegation spot. Now, you would be correct if you were directing it at Widnes,