Compared to the Championship-different planet as the vast majority of results in the CC show.

Investing in mediocrity is not the. Best way to spend the cash in the sport

How would you know ?

Full of Bull mate

The Oracle speaks....

They can work if mamaged correctly. Catalans, St Merge-Illawarra and Wests Tigers (although now Balmain have gone belly up)

Indeed they can, but not if forced on the clubs, at least not in the UK. Putting aside the "fake" mergers we've seen in the UK, the only way they could work is if the merged clubs played out of a brand new stadium nicely located between their original grounds.

Let's assume, for example, that Fax, Bradford and Huddersfield merged but chose the John Smith's Stadium where they'd play their games (or Odsal or the Shay, it doesn't matter). Within a single season Bradford and Fax would have disappeared, and we'd just have the same old Giants club (with a slightly different name) with maybe a hundred or so extra supporters.

The game doesn't have the cash to build new stadiums and (true) mergers won't work and won't happen.

There were two levels in the Championship this season, but the entertainment value of clashes between the top 6 clubs surpassed a lot of SL encounters. Sky would do well to consider showing some Championship games next year.

I don't know what team you support, but you're totally deluded if you think that any current Championship club would agree to be a "feeder" club. All the clubs in the Championship and L1 have a heritage that they'll not let go. DR is an awful idea that benefits SL clubs far, far more than their Championship "partners". Fax have tried it three times now with different SL clubs, and although this season faired slightly better earlier in the year than previous incarnations, we've had no DR players towards the end of the campaign. It's a concept that needs scrapping.

I'm looking forward to some entertainment on Sunday, unfortunately probably in the main from Hastings and Lui from Salford, but if Fax can click then you never know what might happen.

Not unless the original heritage clubs existed in a league below and run by supporters or a board?

Indeed..... And Wakefield are about as much of an attractive drawcard as a re-run of crossroads.
A Calder club, ayimg in a new shiny stadium and fed by multiple Clubs inclining Cas, Fev and wakey would be a great superleage club, whilst those feeder clubs would continue to play in a secondary comp that runs after the SL season..... 22 games a season for the SL sides and say 11 for the feeder clubs..... With all the income filtering down to the feeder clubs.... The grass roots of the game would continue with kids progress g to. Academy level..... Then maybe to the 2nd tier...... Then maybe to The SL level...... SL Licences would enable the cash to be spent on development and not survival...........lets face it, wakey are never going to win SL on their current fiscal model, so why should we keep giving them 1.8 million?..... If you're not able to compete you shouldn't be in the game...

Again, more utter rubbish.

If you venture up to this part of the world, you will find that there is no appetite whatsoever for the "Calder" merger that you keep banging on about and the secondary competition that you suggest is a total non starter as it would have about as much interest from fans as going to an "A" team game.
Also, if we shrink the semi professional model and the number of SL sides, the chances of progress for youngsters necessarily reduces and more critically, there would be no more interest from media and sponsors in a reduced top flight.
We already have too many repeat fixtures. Trinity themselves will Huddersfield 5 times this season and although you will probably point to the 3 losses (probably 4 after Friday night), I'd rather watch them play Toulouse or Batley for 2 of them.

There was an argument for reducing SL to 10 clubs to "improve quality" but, the fixtures, especially when factoring in cup games and play offs would, even for the most passionate fans, just become boring repeats

So...
1) Why do you think Cas, Fev and Wakefield fans will all turn up to watch a combined team? There is no evidence that this mythical team will be any more supported than any of the current ones.
2) If you only want teams in Super League who can win the Grand Final, the evidence would suggest you have a league of two...............of the four teams that have won, Bradford are in League one so it's going to be quite hard for them and Leeds are struggling in the Middle 8. You could include Hull, Warrington and Cas as they have made the final before but each were beaten pretty well so I'm not sure that fits your point.

Right now Wakefield don't look like winning the Grand Final but I think most people would agree we are competitive.

A Calder merger is a non starter.
Firstly there is no area or region called Calder, nobody identifies with an area called calder. (there is Calderdale, Halifax) the Calder runs through Wakefield but it runs into the Aire just before Castleford. People in Castleford Knottingley etr refer to the river Aire, Featherstone as no river whatsoever and is no where near either river. any merged team would have to use the district name i.e. Wakefield, and that will not go down well. It's not like hull and hull kr merging into one "Hull" Club, or one Manchester club.

Secondly people will simply not support it on any level.

A shared stadium is viable and us an ideal solution for Wakefield and castleford, but a stadium in either town is a no go'er as Wakefield fans would boycott playing in Castleford and vice versa, Featherstone stadium is pretty small but superior to both BV and Weldon road, so they do not need to be involved unless by pure choice, POR is partially redeveloped a new main stand if around 4K will take the capacity over 10k and all 3 could use that as its central. Or Castleford Wakefield should look at a new site smack in the middle at say Normanton, altofts. Normanton as a Fev wakefield Castleford split fan base so like cal support guaranteed for all clubs, and is closer for some fans fans than the current grounds.

And which new Castleford Stadium would that be then??? It doesn't exist at present, any more than Wakefield's new one does, and until I see bricks being laid for either of them I won't believe either will happen anytime soon.

This is the same old drivel that’s brought up every couple of years there’s a daft merger thread that appears. “On our own we can never hope to win anything or be a top 4 club”. I’m so glad Darryl Powell and all
Concerned with the club has proven that to be to total BS. As much as the thought horrified me, if we can Reach a GF and win the league by a record amount of points, be a regular in the top 4 and reach a CC final all in 4 years then so can Wakey.

I think I can manage to agree with all that. Makes perfect sense. Now to sell it to Yorkshire....

Can we put this merger rubbish to bed nobody wants them they won’t work say for instance you merged Hull 10-11,000 average with Hull KR 7-8,000 average they wouldn’t become a super club all of a sudden I wouldn’t watch a merged team simply because it’s not my team what would happen is one if not both would start up again as separate entities so in the end you’d have three average supported clubs going nowhere instead of two decent ones

Gateshead Thunder and Sheffield Eagles proving your point.

The game needs a massive shake up if it’s not going to die. A competition that embraces the sport’s past and the brave new world.

Superleague needs the teams below - properly funded and supported by feeder teams in the lower divisions or it will wither and die. Time that selfish people stopped thinking about themselves.

Toronto
Toulouse
Catalans
New York
London
Coventry
Newcastle
Bradford
Leeds
St Helens
Wigan


Plus merged teams:

Merseyside (incorporating Warrington and Widnes)

West Yorkshire (incorporating Castleford, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Batley, Keighley, Hunslet and Featherstone).

Greater Manchester (incorporating Salford, Swinton, Leigh, Rochdale, Oldham and Halifax)

Humberside (incorporating Hull and Hull KR)

This will appeal to fans outside of the current base plus sponsors and tv.

This brave vision will save the sport from oblivion.

Heed my words.

Halifax playing in a Greater Manchester team


And why should Bradford survive as a separate entity but Warrington don’t? The same for Saints.

I just don’t see an arbitrary mix of town clubs and regional clubs working at all. It would kill the game stone dead to remove all those rivalries. Who in the works is going to want to watch Toronto vs Greater Manchester?

You're mixing a location based argument with one that includes 4 existing teams in a competing area with the the merged teams. I don't agree with mergers, and in my opinion would kill the game off (none of us actually know what would happen, but we can all have an opinion), but to go with this logic, then there'd be no place for Leeds, Bradford, Saints and Wigan in this new structure. You could possibly have a Liverpool-centric club and a Manchester one, with West Yorkshire and Hull on the other side of the Pennines.

I assume it's just a wind-up from a Bulls fan to suggest that Fax should be a part of a Greater Manchester merged team.

I thought it was really well thought out







Coventry and Newcastle are barely fledgling clubs, New York are just someones wet dream and Toulouse make Fev look like a big club but, yeah, lets destroy 4/5 current heartland clubs to accommodate them, it makes great sense



Look, IF we are serious about getting say, Newcastle up to speed and somewhere near SL ready, the very least that should be happening is having Magic up there for the next 4/5 years and some proper marketing on the back of it.

In the same way that The Skolars take advantage of The Challenge cup, there could be a ticket for a Newcastle fixture either discounted or includes in the Magic Ticket (based on postcode or something) to try and encourage the locals or something that allowed fans to attend the game on the following weekend and try to find whether there is genuine appetite for RL in the North East BUT, this has to happen before any talk of just elevating them to the top tier.

Look fax have done very well this season but are a long way off competing at the top of superleague. As part of an amalgamated area side for greater Manchester they might be able too


Don’t you want to see your team up there? Show some ambition!

Surely Halifax should be in with Huddersfield and Bradford, my gran could throw a tablecloth over all three with them being so close together yet, you decide that, not only do they need to merge but, they need to move counties.

So currently you’d join 6 clubs to make one have 3 current league 1 clubs as SL clubs I know your a Bradford fan but come on your not certain to go up you’ve got no money few fans and you play out of a dump you should merge with Leeds and hunslet and finally there’s no such place as humberside

Why do people think mergers would be successful in any way and actually result in two (or more) sets of fans - probably rivals for the last century - uniting behind one team? As I said in 1995, if Warrington merge with Widnes they won't be my team anymore and I won't support them. If we take them over like Huddersfield and Hull did then that's different, but that's not really merging, it's just killing one club. Creating a new Cheshire franchise or whatever you want to call it would kill two clubs. Call it backward thinking all you like, but sporting passions are partisan, tribal, and deep rooted.

No merges. Ever. The end.