I would disagree with that. I think what you can pay players will reflect in the quality of players you can attract. Not just from this country either. It would also help more ambitious clubs stay largely professional, like Salford did when they had their brief sojourn in the Championships last time.

I am a great believer in P&R, always have been and always will be, but that is not the criteria that the decision is based. Using the criteria set by the RFL, I believe Widnes will bring the most to the SL, which includes ground and ability to attract good crowds.

We had some great battles with them in the 80's and I have always enjoyed the games against them, home and away, so based on that I reckon Widnes are the best choice.

It's irrelivant because nobody else is going up



So unless you want totally ruin the Championships and help send more clubs to the wall , there isn't much point doing it is there

So Pepe.

Are we going to be having the pleasure of your clubs company in Superleague?

I think it's a nailed on cert Widnes will get the nod.


Part of me wants one of the other 2 to get it though just so I can laugh at all the Widnes fans abusing the fans of either Halifax or Barrow in the same way many of you did towards Celtic Crusaders when they got in last time.

Sorry, no offence.

Yes they are , but it doesn't mean I have agree with it though , does it , the

was there for a reason r 49

Widnes qualified in 2009 when they won the NRC , hardly the oracle of all things RL

And there was me thinking you fancied me

You may wish to consider the possibility of how much easier it will be for any new expansion clubs to compete with more established clubs, with bigger crowds and better stadiums. It may even see some of the stronger heartland clubs struggle to even to stay in the Championship.

It wasn’t so long ago that Leigh were demoted with Toulouse below you and Gateshead just above you….oh…wait a minute….

Reports of our bitterness are much exaggerated.

I think this post says more about you than it does about us.

Sorry you've lost me will a bigger SC make it easier , or a smaller SC make it easier

Leigh were not demoted , we were relegated for finishing in a relegation place , what happened after that is none of our doing , in fact you only have to see the current Championship 1 league table to see a possible reason why things did happen

A smaller cap would make it cheaper to include expansion clubs like Gateshead, Toulouse, Edinburgh eagles or the Dublin Raiders etc…

The question is, Who for?




I know what happened with Leigh. I was just joking...well, half joking.

A smaller cap in Championship 1 you mean , like 50 K , not for Toulouse of course the money being spent to fly them and us over the channel could support a new club in the midlands , in fact I wonder how much longer they can continue with their attendances going down compared to the other Elite 1 clubs , it would seem we ( Championship clubs ) are not the draw they thought we would be , they certainly aren't the draw the RFL hoped they would be for our fans

I think that Championship fans have seen the writing on the wall, and what the future now holds foe them.

Feeder clubs and a stepping-stone-league for new expansion clubs. As well as somewhere to stick current SL heartland clubs when they need somewhere they can rot away outside the only league which matters to the RFL.

The writing has been on the wall since 2007

Earlier than that.

Back in the 80's certain clubs were complaining that they brought more to the game and wanted more votes on the council.

As usual the RFL showed it's total lack of gonads!!!

i fear the writing is indeed on the wall. nothing for it, petition NATO to enforce a no franchise zone, allowing us to safely march upon red hall and liberate our superleague brothers from the regimes lies!

But the salary cap dosnt hamper any Champ teams because it has no relation whatsoever in how to get in to SL. The gap may be widening, although a couple of teams from the Championship have suggested otherwise in the last couple of seasons, but when a team gains a license for SL they can basically start from scratch because once you are in i have a feeling it will be very hard to be thrown out. Talk of the championship suffering is quite ridiculous as the competition was fantastic last season culminating in two great finals that wernt decided until the very end(well after in our case). Now promotion is no longer decided on the field we may as well have a competitive league and that is what we have.

Im not sure that will happen in the same way Widnes fans wont get abused when they get the nod, infact i will miss their underachieving every season.

There's one inaccuracy already!

Go on ?

I'd measure succes out of trophies, Fax have 1 as do Widnes, Fev & Batley. Barrow have 2!

Would you say Saint most successful side last 5 years because only they reached 5 finals?

Tbf it's another thread that turns into Leythers blaming the world for the state of RL and acting sooo hard done by even though they lag behind other clubs anyway and have contested 1 final since relegation.

If they had a shot at SL they'd all change their tune on 'success'!

No the measure of playing success is how many ticks you have in the RFL s boxes

Fax have 2

Not me I don't want a licence

The Championship is more competitive. But it will never have, the quality it had before the salary cap was lowered.

This quality was, admittedly, at the bigger, wealthier Championship clubs; the clubs which have a genuine and decent prospect of making a go of it in Super League. Most of the Championship clubs are quite happy to be in the Championships and see Super League as a likely financial graveyard for their clubs. They really have no ambition at all to go any further. There is nothing wrong with that option. The fact that we now have £100k less to spend means that all clubs are fairly equal and the clubs who feel they can afford better players can no longer do so. It makes it more difficult for them to bring in more fans, if they are struggling against much smaller opposition. This loss of attendance has several knock-on effects for any club placing a future licence bid.

It makes it harder for them to be successful on the field and hit the minimum attendance and turnover figures. If we still had a £400k salary cap, an ambitious club could stay largely pro and be in a better position to gain the success they need to grow and meet the necessary metrics for application. It is only going to get worse in the Championship without P&R, so I really can’t see crowds improving. If the Championships are to become nothing more than feeder clubs, then this could get drastically worse. Make no mistake; lowering the salary cap is a downgrading of the Championship, imo. It will probably mean that no heartland Championship club will be in a position to out bid a SL club again, or be regarded as a worthy replacement for even a poor, struggling SL club.

If what Starbug is saying is true, and there will never be another heartland club admitted to SL again, then it really doesn’t matter I suppose. Certainly, lowering the cap will help make this a [ifait accompli[/i.