thats because this is a two year old system, it will take a little time to inform those who dont really know about the game the new process, but they will get it and see a game going from strength to strength.

And relative or not clubs still went bust, the banks still lent them money and they still went bust, often. And the financial controls we put in place must either
a)be applied as a flat rate across the board including to clubs which are much much bigger and not in danger of overspending to keep the game competitive as such damaging the ourselves where we are strong
or
B) applied relatively allowing the big to get bigger and leaving the smaller to get smaller.

thats because this is a two year old system, it will take a little time to inform those who dont really know about the game the new process, but they will get it and see a game going from strength to strength.

And relative or not clubs still went bust, the banks still lent them money and they still went bust, often. And the financial controls we put in place must either
a)be applied as a flat rate across the board including to clubs which are much much bigger and not in danger of overspending to keep the game competitive as such damaging the ourselves where we are strong
or
B) applied relatively allowing the big to get bigger and leaving the smaller to get smaller.

Were not gonna agree, even if you quote me and tell me twice


I have recently seen the saying 'I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right'

I shall not though.
Each story has two sides though, I would probably think like you in some circumstances, but unfortunately at the moment i cannot, and i find neutrals tend to be bemused by the present incumbents also.
I think we can safely say, 'Nobody knows when they are going to retire'
So until then we shall watch the game meander along its marketing yellow brick road, before we get back to normality with a united Rugby League family.
I would add one final note though, and not directly quote you, but, we are already damaging ourselves where we are strong, and just like the people may take a few years to see the benefits of Franchising, it may also take a few years to see the damage it is doing.

and that strength is relative, where you think we are strong, relatively we arent, we are just stronger than new areas.

It is likely that a fair few times this year, the entire aggregate attendances for the championships are less than the attendance at Headingley, the DW and the KC.

This is the huge gulf we are talking about, and even in SL fax were looking at attendances a 3rd of Leeds, Hull and Wigan with no prospect or even an expectation that that gap was going to be massively narrowed, SL left some clubs behind, clubs with 3-4k attendances could no longer compete as they had done when the players worked in the pits, that era is over, gone and it will never come back. However much money we pour into the heartland there is a finite amount of fans and a finite amount of players, we simply cannibalise them. We cant wring much more from the heartlands, we do fantastic to get what we do, really we do, if we could mirror that strength nationwide we would comfortably be the 2nd biggest sport in the country and the garden would be very rosy. But bunkering down in the north will simply lead to the game dying

The gulf isn't all that big , if Widnes can make a million pound profit on a 2.5 million turnover in the Championship theres hope for us all



They even announced their 2012 SL season ticket prices today

I agree.
it's not like wendyball would ever copy the play-off system that RL brought to the table...or that Union (and soon wendyball) will use another official in front of a TV to review decisions, or that Union would ever use a sin bin.......oh...hang on a mo!
RL is a small game in the scenario of the available disposable income on offer from the UK public. As a result, the game needed to ring fence it's top teams (with a liberal sprinling of expansion clubs) to ensure thw game survived. What happened to Widnes when they chased the dream was pretty much what would have happened as an on-going experiment...and clubs like Haven would have become the norm.
Lewis is good for the business...if not in the eyes of traditionalists...a fact borne out by the profits now being made. RL was never going to be big enough to support 30 clubs in the UK if it had been left to it's own devices......but I believe that in 20 yrs there willbe 20 teams able to stand on their own in the UK.....That's the benefit of having someone like lewis at the helm.
You try making an omlette without cracking a few eggs

Not much fun , if you re an egg

playoffs, video refs and sin-bins are all American innovations aren't they?

shush...its the rfl who are full of good ideas.

i wonder who wigan will choose to play in the playoffs..now thats a good idea isnt it

Stop urinating on chips, you have to play the SL tune now Steve