Yeah but look where the vast majority of posters in this thread are from, and look at the posts they have made. Boycott the Co-Op, petition the government, sue the RFL etc. It brought back memories of all the hilarious dummy spits around the time of the license decision. And if you had read my post, you would see I was actually agreeing with their sentiment. I just thought it was funny that they were so outraged and reactionary over something that apparently didn't even turn out to be true.

The RFL has now apologised to me, as the editor of League Express, for having misinformed us on this issue.

We need our Elite level competition to have the biggest teams in it. Not necessarily the best on the field, but the biggest crowds and the biggest abillity to attract people to the sport, to help finance it and help support it. Sometimes when it is you team it is hard to accept that they are not meaningful enough to be included.

You have to make comparisons with the sport in Australia, where it is very strong. It gets press coverage, it gets its own sections on national websites etc. In this county we are totally tinpot, no one cares in the media and it's mocked as mickey mouse by the majority, despite the entertainment value it offers.

In Australia the NRL sides are more or less THE sides. Their second string accepts that and gets on with it, the smaller clubs acting as feeder clubs in terms of players and support bases for the big NRL fish. You go out and watch your local side because it's close to your house and cheap and has a lovely leagues club to soak tongue in. You also follow an NRL big fish, with the players for the local side desperate to one day represent that NRL side. You create proper channels for kids to flow through in order to reach the NRL. Here we have a totally different sporting culture fueled by a history of promotion and relegation. Everyone believes their side could one day make it and placing a unpenetrable glass roof over their heads in stopping promotion suddenly makes it feel soulless and they ask what the point is, despite the fact that their club would most likely never have 'made' it in the top division anyway.

The RFL should get tough. Merge, regionalise, dominate. Should be the buzz phrase. Bigger clubs, bigger crowds, bigger TV deals. Another taboo topic over here isn't it, but mergers should be used. Create big SL teams with two or three NL teams to support them, formally as feeder clubs.

If they carry on down the same Mickey Mouse path we are on league will never get any bigger and standards will continue to drop.

Do you happen to know if they've apologised to Toulouse for not explaining things correctly to them 18 months ago ?

Did the Toulouse official misinform the League Express too?

RFL press release in full:

It's easy not to be ed off when it doesn't actually affect you.

Like it or not the Rugby League team means a lot to the people of these towns and they don't enjoy being continually messed around by the governing body in a way that may mean one day they have no club to support or at the very least will be consigned to a league nobody cares about for the rest of eternity.

Quite ridiculous. So they've been lied to and have no chance of getting into Super League then?

Sue the RFL I say. Lets petition Engage and refuse to play whoever gets promoted from the Mickey Mouse Championship.

Its a slim chance but.... maybe the RFL saw the reaction and realised that this was going to be a PR disaster and maybe even worse.

It doesn't look like Mr Sadler wants to answer my question.

Sounds good to me , you lot merge with W1g4n , play at the DW stadium , call youselves the west lancs warriors , sorted

Not every club can be in Super League though, and nobody has the right to be there. FWIW, there was nothing in the original post that said Widnes would not come up as well or even that Toulouse were guaranteed to. It's just the same bunch of reactionary morons that give a bad name to Widnes and Leigh.

Home games won't be much fun with Crusaders, Quins, Catalan, Toulouse and Salford making up nearly half of them.

It's only one box less that doesn't have to be ticked. They will still have to tick the others, and by the sound of it, they will struggle.

Have you considered the notion that the RFL have done this to avoid being sued by Toulouse, as the RFL have set an unfair on-field criteria as Toulouse do not play in the Northern Rail Cup. By changing that rule, it stops Toulouse going to the courts, and the RFL might expect Toulouse to fail on the other criteria.

It's called taking a look at the bigger picture. If Toulouse cruise into the Super League, I shall hold my hand up, but I think it is a tactical and legal decision to stop the courts deciding the Super League make-up.

I'd do that.

Because North Sydney Bears, Illawarra Steelers, Sheffield Eagles and Gateshead Thunder are all evidence of the success of mergers!

You'd be one of 100.

Or mine

Maybe the RFL will

NIGEL , Here Nigel , over here , whats the deal with Carlos's statement

I have no doubt that there is somebody at the RFL NOW looking at this thread

So come on who is telling lies ?

I dont think so - i think it is an error - where one of the people at the RFL our governing body, didnt know what the RFL had previously stated. This is totaly unprofessional and i dont think anyone could defend that.

Games in safe hands eh?

Quite

Whatever. Once the bitterness had subsided everything would be tickaboo. There would be half a million people in most catchment areas, so the bitter few who protested would soon be swamped by the West Lancs Ultras, dressed in their famour red and white stripes with 'West Side' banners and flags, chanting death to the East Lancs Eagles.

You lot just lack vision.

Martyn Sadler

As a journalist, and while officials of TWO organisations ie The RFL and Toulouse seem to have got this wrong, you must be obliged to your readers to uncover the real truth and show us you are not in The RFLs pocket please

Martyn will reply to your kind request once I free him from his chains and allow him to get out from under my desk.

Regards,

Richard Lewis

Well, that was fun! And today started out so quietly. Ah well, all's well that ends well. Now let's all sit down and have a nice cup of tea...

What a fiasco. Mind you, the reaction on here just reminds us how devisive the licencing issue is. Long term Tolouse have to be in SL for it to start being a genuine european SL, but I don't think they are anywhere near ready yet. I think come licence time next year I'll book a long holiday somewhere where no one is interested in RL (What's that? Try London or South Wales? Hmmm... I might just do that!!)