Because each could grow at its own pace for a while. The expansion league could market itself without the limitation associated with the inclusion of half a dozen or more towns of moderate size in northern England, which would satisfy one side of the argument. The other side would also presumably agree on the basis that they were no longer subsidising expansion clubs incapable of growth due to the notional handicap referred to above.

Very similar to what he's said to be fair, but I get why you've gone with a subtle difference.

I think we could build towards a 15 team, 3 conference league similar to Super Rugby.

5 team West conference (effectively North West/old Lancashire).
5 team East conference (effectively Yorkshire conference).
5 team Europa conference (effectively expansion conference).

3 French teams, London and a Welsh team is a target, but would be at least 10 years to work towards. Toulouse could step up shortly, a third French team isn't beyond the realms of possibility and Wales could have a good form footing in a decade's time.

edgy stuff JB....still bitter the NRL didn't want the Pirates?



London will work, but not with a hobbyist bankrolling them whilst having a spat with the RFL and a witted failed cricketing admin as CEO......I believe that the top try scorer in the SL is a guy from the SE playing in a team.....you'd bin all the other potential wouldyou?

and there was you calling the NRL short sighted a while back.......go the central bears and NZ 2 is what I say...

French play in your own league I am not interested in more French Clubs.The game will never be bigger than football or Rugby Union.

Who does Wellsy support?Obviously a big club like Leeds,Wigan or Warrington.Soon the heartland clubs will disappear and a lot will lose interest.If my club went extinct I just watch Union and football,as clubs dieing already.

Who would you watch in union?

ditto

London has not and will not work. There simply is not enough fan base or corporate support to make it viable. You can waffle about marketing all you like but the simple fact is that there are not ten thousand people interested enough in RL in London to pay to watch a game on a regular basis.

As for Perth, we draw crowds London could only ever dream about and already have a seven figure sponsorship lined up for our introduction. There will be a RL team in Perth long after people finally realise that London is never going to be sustainable.

I have no reason to be interested in the "development" of the game in France and international RL has been on its knees for years. Additional French clubs will not help this. taking into account that the game is struggling financially I have no wish to increase the amount of games that no away support comes through the turnstiles. Thus, no French teams, get Halifax, Leigh or Featherstone back in SL and bye bye London once and for all.

How will 100 away fans from these clubs to Hull benefit us in any way more than increased TV money from having London or the potential increase from France?

How would additional French clubs not help the development of RL in France internationally and financially?!

If the concept of a european SL is ever to actually happen, then Toulouse have to enter in 2015 , how you do this and not put the final nail into the coffin of 4/5 aspiring Championship clubs is the problem

Only of course if you actually give a toss about anything below SL

No French team at all thank you... I'd get rid of Catalans in a heartbeat... so no no no no no for another one.

It doesn't improve the International game, and it doesn't improve our game.

Should Catalans get to Old Trafford it will do more harm than good as it's hard enough these days trying to tell people how good our sport is... and them mocking attendances without seeing a poor show at our showpiece event that just about saves the reputation of the sport in this country.

I haven't been to a game in Catalan and never will... no matter how big the game is... because I will not support the inclusion of a French team in the competition.

Get rid of the Super League 'Europe' tag... and concentrate on our own clubs.... I don't even know why people have this obsession of making France work... it smacks of desperation to have just one more country competitive at International level. It's flogging a dead horse.

Wouldn't you say we should be concentrating on developing our own players first..... GB is hardly the pinnacle of RL

Wouldn't you say we should be concentrating on developing our own players first..... GB is hardly the pinnacle of RL

well said but thats britain allover worry about every other nation, til they excel us at everything then stick 2 fingers up to us m62 corridor for me. affordable to get to and some giant clubs ready to be woke up in the championship leagues.

, Who exactly ?

Two, three at a stretch, French clubs is enough IMO without diluting the player pool over there too much. If Toulouse is ready for 2015 then I would add them to make a 15 team SL.

Whats Jean's angle on all this Toulouse obsession with them joining in 2015?. To me he either works or is eyeing for a job with the club or is a player's agent...ready to flog the new S.L club with low grade or past it N.R.L players.

How much more will it cost S.L/clubs in travel with more French clubs?. We can't even find a main sponsor for the competition!

I said who exactly?

A bit if justification is needed here!
To say it doesn't improve the international game is a bit of a lie. France's attendances have improved. They have more full time players playing, which will improve performances. They need more full time players to be able to keep up with the big nations though, as evident by the fact they always fall off at the end of a game.

To say Catalans inclusion in SL doesn't improve our game is also completely unjustified. They have attendances bigger than about half the SL clubs. A passionate fan base. A ground that they have continued to improve into a great facility. A competitive team bringing through loads of quality French players that would never have had a shot in SL without Catalans. How has that NOT benefitted our game?


Catalans get bigger home crowds than Huddersfield, Widnes, Castleford, London and Salford this year, and have beaten the crowds at Rovers and Wakefield in other years. If you're going to have a whinge at attendances, you need to look closer to home.
When Catalans got to Wembley, how was the crowd?


Good for you. Don't support the inclusion of a European team in a European competition if it makes you feel better.


Why get rid of the Europe tag? Just to suit your agenda? What tag would you like instead? "Northern"? "Lancashire"?
Why does it smack of desperation? It shows a competition that wants to grow its support base. That's not desperation. Desperation is panicking and backtracking from your expansion plans back to small northern towns on the M62 so the away crowds are a little bigger for some clubs that are in their doorstep. I don't think us guys in Hull have seen the benefits of these huge away followings from these well supported clubs like Widnes and Salford and Huddersfield, so forgive me if I'm not buying the hype that these people are suggesting.

It's funny that I've been accused of supporting a big club and that's where my agenda lie. It's easy enough for me to argue the opposite, such as fans if the smaller clubs are much more reliant on away fans to swell their coffers (I've been to Cas, Hudds, Fax and Wakey in the past and seen their home support outnumbered many times by away support, so I can see why they'd want more local clubs to swell their crowd figures for them instead if bringing in their own home fans).

It's not the fault of the French that their are so many SL clubs failing to pull in support.

I don't see why it has to be one or the other?

halifax,fev,leigh,oldham all been big clubs and deserve to be at the top again, especialy if SL had more clubs, put it this way if there was 3 or more foreign teams in the league thats no away fans at any of our home games. no wonder theres no money in the game ive said it before the RFL are worrying about our game in the wrong areas. my opinion not trying to offend anyone.

Fax averaging 16/17 hundred, Fev around 2,000 ,Leigh 1,400 and have you seen Whitebank stadium?

Why do they ' deserve ' ?

There isnt any Championship clubs anywhere near being in a position to move up to SL

yeah they are at the minute all clubs gates boost up when theyve got in SL im 36 and when i first started going to boulevard them clubs played fc and the ground was packed im not been disrespectful to kr but take them for an example they was not even gettin 2000 before SL but look at them now 7000-9000 there proof of a giant club back in the big time make of it what you want like i said my opinion.

Rovers have always had a dormant support waiting for top flight, Leigh averaged 3,500 in 2005 , the fan bases in these towns has now gone , it would need to be at least double what they currently get as a starter, no chance