Of course, forgot the M62 Corridor included London and the South of France.

Alright, smart Alec.



I made a simple mistake.

Cas were 7th last year and at the moment 8th this year. Compare that to Bradford, Salford, Catalan, Crusaders, Quins. If Hull drop a place and are overtaken by Leeds, then on average we will be the same as them!

I know we've got to advance our sport in regards to area and stadiums, but it still baffles me how that can override the actual performance on the pitch and youth development. You kick Cas out and you kill the local clubs. If you look at youth cups and tournaments, Castleford High School is up there consistently.

I keep seeing this argument about the effect that not being in SL can have on the local amateur scene and interest in the game, as if somehow not having a SL club on your doorstep means all your amateur clubs will suddenly wither and die.

It's an amazing argument to put forward really, considering the amateur game doesn't seem to be dying in places like Leigh and Cumbria...

Widnes for Saints.

I'm not talking about them dying out, because there will obviously always be amateur clubs, but teens would rather have an opportunity of playing at a SL club that a club in the Championship. Interest would go down and instead of playing for their local club Cas they'd play for Leeds or Bradford. Are you telling me that if there was a top flight club in Cumbria the interest wouldn't go up from what it is now? And that amateur clubs in Leigh don't have players choosing to go to Wigan or Warrington instead of Leigh?

So what you actually meant is that it would make it harder for a non-SL team to recruit promising young players who would probably go to their nearest SL club instead?

Isn't that the same for somebody irrespective of who you have in SL?

Cas and Wakey to drop out and bring leigh and widnes in to address the yorkshire bias in SL at the moment and crowds will improve.

Leigh are not ready for it in my opinion.

What a breath of fresh air and a major sign we have progressed in the fact we are hardly mentioned in this thread. We are coming on in leaps and bounds on and off the pitch.

And crowds certainly won't improve.

If you win the GF im sure you will put ur franchise bid in, we would get at least 16000 at DW and over 10k at your place which is more that can be said from the away support we get from cas/wakey.

Well, of course you would - it's a derby. That's like saying stick Fev in Super League rather than Salford and we'd get a better crowd.

Deary me tomorrow.

He didn't state he was talking about the M62 Corridor?

Of course they would improve if we got in what a ridiculous comment



Any sort of promotion would increase crowds even if slightly, people alway come out of the woodwork when big teams come to town no matter who you support and Leigh would be no different.

I'm not saying they would be great but they would increase!

I would expect on to go in but I just don't think we are ready for it, the 3 years would hopefully give us some time to build a team and not have to go all out but I can't see us if we got in moving from anywhere but the foot of the table in those 3 years!

=#8040FFThere's a Yorkshire "bias" because the Yorkshire clubs are, y'know better on the whole



Cas: Decent crowds, one of the best youth developments around, playoff SL team, new stadium on the way

And you want them to be replaced by:

Leigh: No fans, worst team I've ever seen in SL, a chairman who wouldn't be out of place in football with how often he sulks over things, under 40% capacity for games

Good idea



One in, one out Widnes for Wakey.

I think you knew what he meant?

There are far more yorkshire teams than lancashire ones, Wakey and cas are probably most at risk due to location (which seems to be important in the RFL's eyes), crowds arn't great and stadia. Cas would just shade it for me as their youth development seems a little better.

If it was up to me, Barrow in simply to bring Cumbria back into the equation with either cas or wakey out.

Having ours ready went against us last time round as 'we had not yet played in the stadium'



Alan rowley who I assume you are referring to is Cheif Exec and he has kept his head down since the last franchise.

It isn't possible to build a Super League team in the Championship. All you can do is build the framework (stadium, youth set-up, finances) then when the franchises are awarded start to shop round for SL-standard players to bolster what you've got. This is why Widnes have not gone hell for leather chasing the Championship title but have invested in their Academy - once the qualifying box has been ticked (which Widnes did last year by winning the NR cup) the playing strength is only a minor factor in the bid.

Be honest, you're worried about Huddersfields guaranteed 4 points a season aren't you?!

[url=http://www.castigers.com/report.php?id=3217357Ooops![/url

What I meant was if we got in the 3 years grace from relegation would give us time to build steadily rather than going all out