But what odds.....

We never have had auto P&R ground caveats were always in place hence Fev could not get promoted back in the day and still don't have a facility that would meet that criteria
For those not in the know LSV was built at no cost to the council

I think it it worth acknowledging that at fev as many other clubs like batley/fax/leigh/dewsbury to name a few, there are an army of volunteers, selling match programs, promoting the club, working on the pitch and at fev, actually building the new stands for free. Are we saying that what they are doing is pointless as we cant keep up with the 'big boys'? Shall we just all pack up and not bother then? How long can we count on the generous support of such people if the door closes on 'unfashionable' clubs?

Look at Zac Hardaker, Richard whiting, Rooney who was at Wakey and to some extent Rob Burrow...All from the Fev set up or amateur. This is what the championship brings, fresh new players to the Superleague dot forget that.

Some people here sound like they have had it too good for too long and forget what it is like to have to work their way up. I think Chris Taylor has been incredibly patient with his debate on here but it sounds to me that some people are so far removed from the leagues below they dont know how frustrating and frankly unfair it feels to have a club that you love and support told 'no' to playing with the big clubs because we are in the wrong area, or the grounds not quite big enough! Look at Blackpool in football, it did them no harm going up to the premiership, controlling their spending then coming back down. They are now more secure financially because they have been well managed. This has not been the case at Celtic (dont get me started on them) Bradford, wakey and now london. Franchising has failed and done nothing but put people off. has anyone tried explaining franchising to a non-rugby league fan? They think it is insane and it is.

If the fans of the big clubs had to swap places with Championship clubs I bet there would be a swift turnaround to their priorities are what is good for rugby league.

Fev is a well run club. We have won the league shield 3 years on the bounce and might make it 4. We beat Cas with a part time team, and Gave Wigan a run for their money. We own our own ground. We are improving our facilities and our fan base. We have some full time players already. What else can we do?! It is absolute madness! Maybe we need to speak french or welsh, but frankly I think if your well run, it does not matter if your team yo-yo's, they will survive and the hope stays alive.

Can I also say thank you to the fan who started this thread, for the kind words, and convey my disbelief that a positive thread has turned into a negative mess.

That's very nice, if you think that the actions of volunteers are anything like enough to bring a club up to SL standard then you're absolutely kidding yourself. That's a total whimsical fantasy, it's like in the first wars when guns were available and opposing armies thought they could overcome them with 'courage'. No, clubs like Batley and Dewsbury will never be able to compete in Super League and if you ask people at those clubs they'll probably tell you the same. So yeah, if people are volunteering because they think it will help their clubs reach SL standard then what they are doing is pointless.

The truth is that Featherstone are not a big enough club to compete at SL level. They aren't big enough and don't have the potential for growth. The only way they would be able to compete would be if the current SL clubs were brought down to their standard. Which would of course be absolutely stupid but seems to be what most people want, so whatever, enjoy it, just don't blame me when the sport here doesn't progress and falls further and further behind the NRL and RU.

Who do you support head hunter? I would assume by your dismissive tone that it is one of the big guns, Wigan Leeds st helens or maybe even warrington and huddersfield at a push. dewsbury and batley are probably not ready, but what's to day they couldn't achieve it? I feel you have a very negative view on this, and I feel you have missed my point.

There is a wealth of work done throughout rugby league because fans HOPE that one day their team will be good enough to compete. What your saying is that they needn't bother, they will never be good enough. Imagine the collapse of the game if everyone thought like you. I notice you failed to pick up on any of my other points, just the volunteers part. In answer to that, I think that building a whole new stand to bring our club owned stadium more in line with sl standards using a recycled stadium and volunteers shows ingenuity and cost effective savvy. Something which many sl clubs have proven they lack. You need more clubs like featherstone in sl not less.

The way I feel is that sl is almost like a completely different sport. I don't bother watching any games or internationals, why? Because its a closed shop and none of the players mean anything to me. Open it up and you may start to fill the stadium more for the international and get a few more species watching on tv not a solution but a start to the lack of neutrals attending rl showcase events like the challenge cup final. It was on tv and I didn't bother watching, the only reason for me would be to see Richard whiting play, an ex rover.

None of that is relevant though, you seem to be totally deluded about the nature of the sport and the nature of Super League. It's not a charity. If you think that clubs like Batley and Dewsbury are ever going to be in SL then you aren't living in the real world. Featherstone in Super League would go the exact same way that Leigh did. The likes of Featherstone and Leigh are good Championship clubs, they are valuable for the sport but they simply are not top-flight clubs, and don't have the potential to be. With the best will in the world, Featherstone are a similar but much smaller club than Castleford and Wakefield, two clubs who themselves struggle to compete in SL. The (flawed) rationale for changing the league structure is apparently to create more competitive games, even if Featherstone maxed out their potential and reached the level that the likes of Castleford are currently at then they still wouldn't be good enough for Super League. The fact that Featherstone were resourceful enough to get a new stand is great, but it isn't anything like enough for them to be able to compete. It's a drop in the ocean, honestly.

They seem to be pretty well run and they are doing a good job at the moment, but Featherstone in SL would be a disaster for everyone concerned. If you want to be a blinkered one-club fan then whatever, that's your loss. Nobody needs to contrive things to cater for a tiny minority of people with backwards mentalities.

Thankfully those people running SL have decided that arrogant viewpoints like the one above have no place in RL. Clubs outside SL will be afforded the opportunity to challenge for a place in SL by being the best on the pitch. That's why we're all here isn't it? To watch a game of Rugby League. Headhunter has never answered the question of which team he goes to watch week in week out because he doesn't go and watch the game week in week out. It's a competitive sport not a gentlemen's club. SL chairmen have tried the franchise route and it's failed. It's their money, it's their experiences and it's their pocket it's hurting so they're now trying a different route once more.

Deal with it.

Can somebody, anybody tell me what catastrophy was afflicted upon Leigh by being promoted to and relegated from SL?

Headhunter, you say Fev and others dont have the ' potential ' , if not, who does?

Simple question sunshine, away you go

Does anybody have a cow?

It's not a bet. I have not asked for any wager. You can feel free to add to the pot if you are feeling flush?

Now replace SL with internationals and featherstone with USA.

In fact lets go the whole hog no team has been champions outside of these 4 in the last 20 years or so.

Bradford
St Helens
Wigan
Leeds

The rest are also rans so chuck all but these 4 out and just have a lottery draw once a year

Quite simply a horrific response that shows a definite 'as long as I'm alright' mentality. I completely disagree with the whole response and I understand that due to our different experiences watching teams in different leagues we are probably never going to agree or even take on board each others points here. Hopefully the people in charge do no have this view, because fev have done everything they can and more to get into top flight. No it's not a charity and letting us in isn't like throwing us a proverbial bone only for us to choke on it. I feel it is the spirit of what makes sport great, that chance you can get up there and compete...and maybe even stay up.

What team do you support I ask again as you seem to be picking and choosing which parts you reply to?

Finally, it it's just a small minority with backwards mentalities can you explain why the attendances are so awful for internationals and the challenge cup, our so called showpiece final? And why are attendances dropping everywhere outside superleague except at fev where even though fans at other clubs have been in short supply our attendance has bucked the trend and risen? Because licensing removed the hope and soul of the game and made promotion into a men in grey suits box ticking except use instead of sporting achievement. Again I would love to see how you mystery club would get back in after so many years out.

Birchy - you are 100% correct. I wouldn't continue to debate with this Headhunter guy. To be honest, it sounds like he is on the wrong board and, suffering some form of dyslexia. It seems to me he really intends to be discussing rugby union in South Wales. So just leave him to it.

Personally, I'd have Super League as a 13 team league in 2014 if London drops out. Under the new structure from 2015 onwards, Featherstone will have the opportunity to win a place in the top 12 Super League; on merit, on the field of play. They (and other current Championship clubs) deserve that chance. The work done in recent years by the Featherstone club and the new financial backing they have will give you a pretty good chance of achieving the success you have earned. If it turns out that Featrherstone and others aren't in fact good enough to break into the 12 then so be it - but the new structure will be fantastic in that it opens up the possibility.

Good riddance to the system of the men in suits in smoked filled rooms deciding who's in and out. It's not British.

In response to your reply Churchill 'ooooh yes'! I agree. It just needs to be fair to all and not a flight of fancy sorting rl out in France and god knows where else.

I think there is a fundamental question about what role we think the governing body should play.

Do we want something that limits itself to competent bureaucracy, organisation, facilitating and oversight allowing the sport to evolve naturally? If you wanted to put a negative connotation on it, you might call it 'drift'.

Or do we want it to offer leadership, direction and vision. Or maybe 'manipulation', if you prefer the first option.

The problem for me is that we never choose - when it looks like we're going one way, it is always tempered by a little of the other, creating confusion and distrust.
SL without Cheshire, Calder and Humberside. The non-fed rule in constant retreat, the loopholes in the salary cap, licensing as softcore franchising, then abandoning it to save Bradford. Fudging everything with constant dispensations and exemptions.
Or now we're supposedly going a bit more laissez-faire, there's a rumour on the London board that if they're in SL next year they'll be allowed extra non-fed players. As a Hull KR fan, I'm not going to be holier than thou about that one, and it might not be true - but who'd bet against it?
There's never the political will (across the sport) to implement radical reform properly, but we can never fully stop ourselves interfering either, it seems.

Well said. Some of the arrogant posts in this thread are cringe-worthy.

Wire have never been relegated in their history, so we have 7 clubs. 10 years ago Huddersfield could show you their stadium and their investment. if Hudds were back at far town without 2 pennies to rub together, nobody would be arguing for their inclusion in SL, not even themselves.

As for who is to say fev won't be where Leeds are, me. I'm saying it because the don't have the facilities, they have shown they have the money, a plan, or the ability to get there. If they show those things then I'm more than in favour of giving them a chance. In fact I'd give them a better chance with more time and stability to do so. Leaving it in the lap of the gods, with no strategy or long term plan is an idiotic way of running the game.

If you want to ask who is to say Fev won't thrive in SL, I can ask who is to say their presence doesn't damage SL who is to say their promotion won't stop some other club thriving in SL?

The romanticism of the underdog is not a replacement for long term strategy and planning.

whats funny is they won't be offered a place in SL. The morons have been tricked by a Trojan offering. This isn't an expansion of SL, it isn't bringing the lower leagues in. It's a contraction and some idiots blinded by the hope the would be challenging leeds and Wigan for trophies haven't yet noticed they have been sold 4 home games against the worst teams in SL.

In 3 years time when they realise what has happened, I wonder what will be to blame?

they aren't

Is it though? I'm not somebody who believes in taking the ideas of Adam Smith or Charles Darwin to illogical extremes. But there is surely something to be said for just letting the clubs get on with it, adapting as they see fit within a simple and basic framework, rather than top-down slightly Maoist 5-year plans.

The World changes and rigid long-term plans are likely to create unintended and undesirable consequences.

We had 10 years of quality leadership. The game at all levels grew hugely. We have seemed to have spent the last couple of years undoing all the good we had done.

Within 5 years we will have completely new leadership at the rfl and this dumbass idea which has proven a complete failure everywhere it has been tried will be dumped. Hopefully the 2nd tier and lower SL clubs won't have lost so much ground they are cast adrift.

Super League is a fully pro sport. As much as some don't like it, it is a business.

Would you invest your money in a business which said 'we have no idea what were going to in the future, we have no plan or strategy, couldn't tell you where we want to be or how we are going to get there, but f@ck it, anything could happen so let's just wing it'?

Also we aren't just letting clubs get on with it are we, we still have salary caps, we still have quotas, and we need them because time after time after time after time clubs prove they will do what's best for them even if it is to the detriment of the game or even their own long term future.

It's why we have clubs arguing for a place in a league before they have a team, the facilities and the money to compete in that league

Isn't the bit I've highlighted one of the great joys of sport? If we know what's going to happen, what's the point?

Perhaps the RFL isn't like a business - maybe it should actually be more like a regulatory body. Like Ofcom rather than BT. I want my club to have goals and plans, there's a case (at very least) for the RFL to be offering a blank canvas rather than a paint by numbers picture.