like I said I see both arguments but surely its up to the big wigs to promote or give out more help to close the gap between championship and superleague because all I can see is the gap getting bigger and eventually there is a danger of sl being a closed shop and rl below sl being a nonentity and when I say help I dont just mean throw money at them but employ couple of people who job is to just solely help the vlubs become bigger and better off the field aswell as on it! there might already be people doing this job but in my opinion its not workin,

But very few of the current Championship clubs have anything like the potential to become as big as Super League clubs. That's what I have been saying all along. Even with heavy investment, teams like Batley and Hunslet realistically wouldn't have any chance of improving to the stage where they could compete at Super League level. The only way clubs like this would ever be able to compete would be through levellng down and limiting the growth of the Super League clubs, which is one of the things that automatic promotion and relegation provided. Surely anyone can see that lowering the standard and limiting the growth of the game for the sake of certain teams that wouldn't otherwise be able to compete would be absolute stupidity. I'm sure certain posters are fairly resentful towards the new expansion teams entering the league next year, but they are the ones that will help to sustain the Championships. If we continue to rely on teams with extremely limited potential such as Batley then yes, the gap will get bigger, because these teams are not big enough to compete and will be left behind. And before anyone accuses me of being disrespectful to Batley, I'm not, the people running the club aren't idiots, they don't have any pretensions of being anything more than a good Championship side.

we are never going to agree on this, lilke i say you have your views i have mine. attendancies at super league level, as far as i can see, dont seem much different now to what they were years ago. each year now they " take the show on the road" and play to vast empty spaces, which frankly is embarrasing to see, so who is buying into your glorious vision of the future. Attendencies at championship and below level have declined rapidly however, because fans see no future so why bother. There may be just super league teams left in years to come, if that is expansion you can keep it. The Dons. board,with fans also dipping into their own pockets, are going out on a limb to try and gain promotion, and people like you are saying "why bother" . Rugby league is a minority game and the RFL has put all its eggs in one basket, dangerous practice.

Like i said earlier it's a waste of breath talking to these people.

No they weren't.



There was a rumour going round that the ever growing number of foreign owners wanted to protect their 'investments' in teams and make the Premier League a closed shop. The FA said that this could happen, but only if a majority of teams voted for a rule change to scrap the existing promotion/relegation method. It turned out to be a load of hot air, and no votes were ever asked for, as the owners of Premier League teams didn't want to scrap promotion and relegation.

If Harlequins can be a Superleague club so can Doncaster.

As for teams not applying for Superleague, they shouldn't have the choice, or even have to choose for that matter.

If they finish top of the Championship, they are in Superleague whether they like it or not.

How could such as Fev (or Batley for that matter, given some backing .... and they would get Sky money) do much worse than the Crusaders or Harlequins?

Superleague is just like a gentleman's club, if your face fits your in and if it doesn't your out and that is just not fair.

The fact that most clubs won't get there is immaterial, the fact that they realise they probably won't get there is immaterial.

Going back to football, Swansea and Norwich are doing well in the premiership.

It is never certain that they will go straight back down.

And even if they do, the following season could be exciting if they go back up again.

And so it should be in Superleague, not 3 year protectionism.

We could lose any one of Wakefield, Harlequins, Salford or Widnes to be replaced by such as Fev, Halifax, Sheffield or the like and where would be the damage in that?

None!

Someone has to finish bottom and be relegated, not feather-bedded.

could not agree more.

If the FA are looking to use the same system as the RFL do you think that all the other league clubs outside of the premiership would allow the FA to do what the RFL have done in the past ie to fast track new teams straight in to the SL or in footballs case straight in to the premiership?

It would NEVER happen---and it SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED in the RFL as far as i'm concerned.

I am very much in agreement with Geoff, Dragonfan, and Stand-Offish on this one. They make some very good and valid points.



Where are clubs without hope ... and I don't mean hope three years down the line?



It must be soul-destroying for the likes of Featherstone who must prove themselves over three years or more to justify getting promoted. In the mean time they run the risk of losing their better players to Super League which means, in effect, that they have to run like hell to stand still.



The structure of rugby is somewhat different to football in that the teams who are promoted from the Championship to the Premiership are full-time; whereas this doesn't apply in rugby. It wouldn't be good for the game, or the clubs, if the promoted team was almost certain to get relegated, which in most cases is probably what would happen.



Personally, with regards to rugby, I would exempt the promoted side from relegation for one season.



I know this flies in the face of competition but because of the gulf between Super League and Part-time rugby, it is the only realistic way to avoid the straight up, straight down problem.



The present regime of franchises is wrong. It smacks too much of a closed shop. Straight up and straight back down wouldn't be good either. A compromise somewhere in between is necessary.



If we continue to rip the heart out of rugby league amongst the part-time clubs, the game will enter a serious decline. The decline may have already set in but the worst effects won't be felt for some time to come. If the RFL don't recognise the problem very quickly, and do something soon, it could be too late to do anything about it!

I think the future of the game would be best served by all teams returning to a part time situation. SL clubs would benefit from vastly reducing their wage bills and it would not become such a massive gap to overcome for any promoted CC side. It would also make it easier for a promoted team to recruit players.

I have a lot of sympathy with most of your arguments RB but not this one.

IMO every club should be striving to be professional