Sorry – what changes were made when Crusaders were admitted to SL?

how then my friend do you explain the quote from the charirman of toulouse?????

hey the same people saying the RFL are clueless now and making the game a laughing stock are the same people who said wrexham wouldnt work out either

the mantra is bag the RFL till they let your little club into SL, at which point one set of fans goes quiet and whichever club gets excluded adds their voices of complaint

ill bet if anybody catches a cold in widnes or halifax next week it will all be richard lewis fault

Did you read what you quoted?

No you are quite right.. it was a piece of strategic brilliance by the RFL.. promote Celtic knowing they would not even see out a full year in SL and that ultimately the demise of top flight rugby in the south of Wales would lead to a new possibly stronger club being introduced in Wrexham. Fantastic..




Don't get me wrong.. things look very postive over there and well done to the guys taking over the reigns..but it was a jammy fluke that very nearly blew up in the RFL faces..

As for this altruistic approach we are supposed to have for our clubs... go flip yourselves!!!
It's the same as saying that "I know you have dog and you love them.. but you need to put your dog down in order for me to show my dog at crufts".... {feel free to use whatever animal / relative} you want to use within the metaphor..

As for us getting carried away on this piece of news yesterday... the article was worded strongly enough to suggest that this was not a rumour and the late response by the RFL considering the importance of the piece was surprising...
As I said yesterday... one of the most alarming things seems to be the number of people that are simply waiting for this to happen and expected this to take place. I am willing to accept that this was a mistake but yesterday this seemed genuine enough, seemed something likely to take place and I think the reaction by most people on here would have been reasonable if this had come to pass.
It is also amazing that there are still a few people that are willing to let the RFL do 'whatever' they want without blame and question.

well the RFL were smart enough to choose wrexham.

the crowds the club has gotten are amongst the higher club crowds the game has ever gotten in its history in wales.

yet people on this thread mock the RFL, and say the game is a laughing stock.

What if the RFL decide to expand Super League to 16 teams? Are they still only obliged to invite applications from teams that made the Championship or NRC Grand Final? IIRC under the present 14 teams, they stated one team would go up and one would go down.

Any decision to expand won't be until 2015 – the clubs and RFL decided just the other week to keep the number at 14 for 2012-15

if they follow the RLIF model they could change their mind and add another 2 teams a year after announcing their decision

Completely wrong as usual



The RFL chose nothing, the only buyer happened to be in Wrexham, without him, there would be no more SL Welsh team.

...and as for TB, it was not an unfounded rumour, it was a clearly well thought out explanation to give reasons why they did not have to apply given by the RFL (employee??). On the statement from the French, was that made up, I doubt it. I can't imagine what Dickys backside tastes like, maybe you could let us know. The RFL have fecked up big style and it wouldn't surprise me if a sponsor or two have had a word with them too.

you my friend are a lupo loco



, i for one applauded the move to wrexham for crusaders and it has been well documented on this and other forums that i said that wrexham was a great move for them, but whatever does crusaders move to wrexham have to do with toulouse?? only you and juan peron will know!

but to use the quote in a news report does leave one thinking that there is something rather shifty about the whole situation!

You have far greater faith in journalists than I do … and I are one


Far greater faith in club officials who have a record of not knowing the first thing about the competition they want to join, as well …

=#0000FFThat's a pretty accurate assessment. You are beginning to understand a little what it means to be a fan of a club.


=#0000FFI bet it won't. Unless the catcher of that said cold came into close proximity to Mr Lewis who would also have to have the cold, ergo passing it on to the said person from Widnes/Halifax. Then it would be his fault. Quite what that has to do with this thread is a mystery but then you posted it, so it isn't.

Shouldn't that be "am one" or have you just "whoooooooshed" me?

i have faith in the lord that is enough for me (i think)

I'm not sure where David Howes comes into this, or "Mark" Rylance, but below I have set out the correct version of the events that led to this story being published.

Mike Rylance, who specialises in French Rugby League for League Express, read an online report in the Midi-Olympique newspaper that had quotes from Gilles Dumas, the Toulouse coach, that appeared to suggest that his club didn't have to reach the Grand Final to qualify to make an application to Super League.
He telephoned the Toulouse Chairman, Carlos Zalduendo, who confirmed that he understood that Toulouse didn't have to reach the Grand Final to qualify to make an application for Super League.
Mike then telephoned the RFL Media Manager John Ledger, who promised to get back to him to confirm or otherwise the veracity of this particular interpretation.
John then got back in touch with Mike, and confirmed that Carlos' view was the correct interpretation. That was after John spoke to a senior official at the RFL who confirmed that version of the truth.
John and Mike have both confirmed this version of events with me, but John is not prepared to name the RFL official who confirmed that Toulouse would not have to reach the Grand Final.
Subsequently, on Monday, John issued a press release on behalf of the RFL saying quite bluntly that Toulouse do have to reach the Grand Final "contrary to some reports".
The press release did not make it clear that those "reports" had actually originated from the RFL itself, and it made it look as though League Express had simply printed a story that wasn't true.
Clearly I was less than happy with the RFL not acknowledging that it had given our reporter the wrong information, although John subsequently apologised to me, as I said earlier in this thread.

well said martyn, straight from the horses mouth.

In view of Martyn's reply:


..............or they are just ordinary people who happen to have first hand experience of their incompetence.

jeez, with John Ledger and Craig Spence in charge of media and communications - its no surprise that the RFL is being run the way it is.

my favourite John Ledger moment was on the Super League show a few years when he said "it wasnt fair" that one team had scored too many tries against Wakefield.

I hear they're lining up Liam Gallagher to replace the pair of them.

Worra kn*bhead

I can see the scene now... John Ledger putting the phone down and asking Richard Lewis if Toulouse need to reach a GF to apply for a licence..
Lewis puts his arm around John and says 'you and I both know that isn't the case.. hush hush'..
Off John pops misunderstanding the situation and makes the phone call to the League Express..
Later on Richard remembers the conversation and asks why John wanted to know about Toulouse and John tells him...
Richard breaks into a cold sweat... rings Nigel who tells him.. 'just ring back and tell them we've made a mistake... they expect it of us now and it's not like we need to explain how the mistake was made or be in any way culpable for it..'

[scene ends

It's like an episode of Yes Minister, although i'm unsure as to who could match Sir Humphrey's guile.

all thats missing is alan b'stard and piers fletcher-dervish.

:2vi4eqw8

merci – and apologies to Mike for getting getting his name wrong (in true journalistic fashion, I was writing from memory [not having seen the LE report and was under the impression Howes [who I think I was confusing with Wood