I quite like the idea of bringing London back into SL - after all it worked so well last time.

They are well placed to get back on merit.
They only need to beat Leeds in the M8's and they will be on their way



Seriously though, the only way for the sport to expand, without it taking most of this century, is to go with some sort of franchise system but, we scrapped that model 2 years ago.
Another piece of brilliant forward thinking by all involved.

Clearly, there needs to be some serious thought on the best way forward for the game and this needs to be have input from clubs and fans alike.

The inclusion of Toulouse, who look pretty strong and 2? Canadian clubs, is exciting but, do we expect them to make the grade for SL or, are we just "waiting to see" what happens.

IF the sport is going to develop and IF we are to have additional clubs in SL from other countries, then there will be casualties from the heartland clubs (or we run with an expanded SL) but, yet again, there is just no dialogue from the games administrators.

Expect the usual "mushroom" style, kept in the dark and regularly fed with s4it"

P+r does not work in RL.

We just seem to love the romance of some of the village clubs being able to make it into SL.

Thank God we don't have one up one down like so many want. We could lose 200k a year spectators that frequent the Rhinos to be replaced by Broncos who play on a park field or a suburb of Wigan.

ANYTHING but bring back franchising, it made following the game a chore rather than a pleasure, after a quarter of a season teams had nothing to play for. I blame franchising for nearly killing my club as fans just weren't bothered..... Literally some of my mates had season tickets and wouldn't go for free to the games at the end of the season. How can you expect people to pay for something people won't have for free ?? If it was upto me I'd have 1 up 1 down with a top 5 play off system.

Catalans are a decent side but surely by now the French should have a whole RL league of their own and field a decent international side.

The problem, unfortunately, is that people aren't that interested in RL and not matter how much money you throw at teams in expansion areas, unless they expand domestically as well, the expansion is a falsehood.

Toulouse has been around a while as has the french Elite league but I don't hear of a fully pro RL league in France similar to SL being considered, simply because of the deafening lack of domestic french investment. A big shame, but there it is.

Ditching the heartland clubs in favour of expansion is actually more suicidal and false than keeping the status quo in the long term.

More should be done to create domestic professional leagues in all countries first. This in turn would produce an authentic international game. SL could then become like a Champions League in football. However, doing this first is not the right answer.

Wasn't it partly because of franchising that Cas were able to build year on year to become a top 6 club that you are now?

One up one down is ridiculous for a comp the size of SL. How many clubs did it almost kill trying to chase the dream.

We have no clubs other than Bradford that I would say bring anything to
SL.

Maybe have P&R with the team coming up getting one years grace if they finish bottom

What like repeated insolvency.

What does a small club like Leicester bring to soccer, sod all get rid of them?

Franchising should have been the way to go. Unfortunately like a lot of things in RL we did it half heartedly (stadiums letting clubs go bankrupt etc)and quickly gave up on it.

Despite this we saw some decent progress and foundations put in place for a lot of clubs.

It's an interesting debate, I don't want to lose some of the history of our great sport, but I can't see what adding another club in the same fan and player catchment area will do for our game.

In terms of a model to follow, the Super 14's (or whatever it's called). Is the one I'd look at. They have a big Base in Aus, a second in SA and teams reaching out to emerging markets in Japan and Argentina. It works, people don't worry about the time it takes, or away travel cost.

SL could look to follow that with teams in England (Aus) France (SA) plus Canada (Japan).

I don't think P and R will help teams grow and build in the long term, and as a result any excitement it provides will always be short term. And that's before I start thinking about the benefits in terms of player development.

Franchising was indeed the sensible option but, the failure of clubs within that framework, which should have meant their removal, didn't happen.
Also, the inclusion of a new club, that was deemed strong enough, didn't happen (although the criteria for being strong enough will be both contentious and interesting).

You have to say that the handling of the old system was down right appalling.

Until the super 14s or whatever it is called came along RU crowds in Aus were dreadfully small. This new format lifted the sport there for certain.

I remember a team winning the Championship from 2010 > 2014, a remarkable feat - how are they to progress in licensing?

I'd half agree that franchising helped us blood younger players however we did that in NL1 when we had cleared the dead wood and were forced to play youth because of the lower SC (players such as Shenny)Compare our attendances now to when we were in a franchise. The town couldn't be bothered with RL when this was in place and many other towns across the heartlands were the same. P & R gives fans hope which translates to money for the game. If it were upto me the promoted team would have a years exemption from relegation the first year to be able to recruit the following year knowing they were in SL (which helped Catalans no end at the expense of my own club). Under this system Leigh for example could be a viable SL club.... Look at HKR.

That said we have given the current system 18 months so far and we are talking about changing again ??? Why not give the current system a chance for a few seasons, Bradford were not far off of winning promotion last year through this system.... In the cup you do see the odd Championship win over SL opposition.

Yes, remember 2012

The thing is the success or failure of they system isn't based on whether or not a club gets promoted. It's about whether it creates the environment for the game to fulfil it's potential. Right now we are going backwards at a rate of knots.

I guess you're a Feath fan? I can understand where you are coming from. In a lot of ways they deserved a licence more than Wakey who were a mess at the time, that was part of the problem and why it failed because we didn't follow through on promises/threats.

At the same time, as a genuine question, how much did Rovers progress off the field, did you run at a profit, were there 5 thousand plus in your ground every week, we're you producing your own players.

I'm not saying Franchise and close the gates, but let clubs prove they belong here, that should take more than a winning record imo.

If your going down the true franchise route ( Super Rugby in the southern hemisphere ) then its

London south
London north
Birmingham
East midlands
South west
Yorkshire
Lancashire
North east
Edinburgh
Glasgow

All playing at various stadiums ( but not just 1 ) in their area

All current clubs play in lower tiers

Otherwise , forget it

Koukash questioned the RFL's decision to allow Toulouse and Toronto into the British competition and rounded on Catalans Dragons, which he dubbed "the RFL's baby".

He claimed the Perpignan club have been permitted to exceed the overseas quota, are regularly treated more leniently by the judiciary and are costing each Super League club around £100,000 a year through subsidised travel costs.

"I am all for growing the sport but we contribute at least £10million to their local economy and they don't bring any fans with them when they come here," Koukash said.

Make Super League Great Again

And what's happened after ??? We have made a CC final finished 4th and 5th and you've beaten Hunslet a few times.... Well in

A junior competition? Most clubs in the Utopia of SL don't run a reserves side!!! Give your head a shake pal

Catalan Dragons have so many overseas players it's ridiculous, how is that good for the game in France ? Basically it's not, unless you support them...
Over to you Jean, hater of M62 RL clubs !

Catalan Dragons should play in the French league....end of discussion. They are depriving a an English club of a Super League place. They are based in France, so they should play in that league.