www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ml&BID=480 Hard to believe the RFL are going with the idea of a 9 team Champ 1. Also appears Toulouse will be able to apply for a franchise in 2014.

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ml&BID=480 Hard to believe the RFL are going with the idea of a 9 team Champ 1. Also appears Toulouse will be able to apply for a franchise in 2014.

They see their move out of the Championship as making SL more achievable, in that they will no longer have to qualify, on the pitch.

Its not rocket science is it.

RFL have announced today, that there will be ten teams in next year's Championship.

RFL question to the clubs: - What would you like next season?
Clubs' answer: - We want more home games, as we need more income.

RFL decision: - reduce number of teams from eleven to ten - i.e. LESS home games.

QED

perhaps we should just off load the bottom three clubs in champ 1 and just have one division.

And see us lose all our TV income ? , you're just a flat earth cap wearer you are

No doubt we'll play each other more than twice to make those extra games up.

Very wary of owt like that though John - who's to say those bottom three clubs are any less important than the rest of us?

then what do we do matt?.
there arn't enough clubs for two leagues,yet there are to many clubs for one league, consequently a number of clubs are suffering because of it and probably being held back.

what this statement glosses over is that there are no new entrants to Champ 1 despite a number of clubs expressing an interest. Not saying its the wrong decision in view of the Crusaders debacle....

there must be a formula somewhere which could be put into being so that each club could get an even number of home gates, this would make the play offs and grand final worth playing for as a competition, we cant survive on less home games than we have now.

And then what happens to the clubs that are excluded? We're supposed to be setting an example to Super League as to how EVERY club matters rather than the elite, but chopping three clubs in to extinction certainly wouldn't go along with that!

I think merging in to one league would be a huge mistake when you cast your mind back to some of the ridiculous scorelines in 2001 and it just wouldn't give anything for the lower clubs to play for, certainly something to think about when you consider Swinton's crowds increasing during their promotion push etc.

I think the only way to solve it would be to provide some assistance to the likes of Coventry, Bramley, Nottingham, Warrington Wizards etc so that they can be in a position to move up to C1 in the next couple of years, thus improving the base of the competition and that would then feed up to an increase in Championship clubs. I went to a Coventry Bears game earlier in the season and there were 400ish on at a fiver a head at a ground better than plenty I've been to, so it's fair to say there's certainly something to work with.

As it stands though, I don't see what would be wrong in playing each club three times, with the 'extra' home and away fixtures alternating each year.

That's the problem , expressing an interest is one thing , expressing an interest backed with serious money is another thing altogether

I'd suggest the RFL were hoping for a few of the second , but only got the first

The answer is simple , the RFL commit to finance a new Championship 1 club every three years

I'd agree with all that Matt , 1 comp would just kill interest full stop , more clubs has to be the answer

SPL had 10 teams and play each other four times, plus the cup comps.

You could even play half the teams twice at home and once away, then the other half once at home and twice away, making 15 home games?

Clearly won't happen though!

I agree, no offence to them but having the likes of Gateshead and Skolars in the same league as Fev and Leigh would be a huuuuge soul destroying mistake. It would take the game back, not forward!

Agree. Well said and backed up with course work as well (the visit to Coventry)

can the sport sustain more clubs? ,we're all struggling as it is

But where would we be financially competing with any new clubs ?

Only through central funds , but that is another issue entirely

Apparently Coventry were sold a line & had started to geared up to join Champ 1 next year only to be told no in recent weeks. If Crusaders could be allowed into the Semi Pro game from basically nothing, surely Coventry should have been!

Lack of home games is killing Semi Pro assume clubs need around twenty in this recession. Is playing each other four times the only option left.

unless the season is drastically lengthened then 20 home games would be a non starter unless the trains cup went

and are you saying the RFL have been leading Coventry on? shock horror well that's you off the 'let's all hug an RFL director' christmas card list then

I support J Kears idea of 3 divisions of 10 teams. 1st div full time. 2nd div full time with a slightly lower slary cap and 3rd div part time. 2 up and 2 down subject to minimum standards. All games would be competetive to the end of the season. How you make the extra fixtures clubs need is the only problem and i'd let the clubs decide.

county cups? or another knock out trophy for each division? but even that - unless the Trains cup is still on - wouldn't give all the clubs the extra home games, difficult one is that/this.

For me each league under Sooper Dooper League should mirror it.
If SDL has 14 in it, then the leagues below it should.

Rename Champ1 the Championship and rename The Championship the Premier League, each league then sounds just as important to each other from an outsiders point of view.

The Championship would be strictly Part time.
The Premiers would then be a mixture of part and full time with every club having aspirations to play on SDL.
No change in the top league apart from a play off with the Premier winners v bottom finishing SDL team.
If the bottom SDL win the game they deserve to retain thier place. If the Premier league team win they have proved they deserve a place.

Well, the RFL stated an intention to re-vamp the NRC. But that was in the same missive, as the one that committed to a Championship increase to 12, or 14 teams, and an increase in TV money for Championship clubs........................