not too sure we arnt jumping the gun and expecting wakey to be the club tossed out.
i would toss out Crusaders after the debacle their.

in?........a lancashire club.......and as far as im aware theres only 1 geographically in lancashire............BLACKPOOL

One problem...Blackpool don't have a (pro) club!

neither did wrexham .

all it takes is a rich backer............is Owen Oyston out of jail yet?

I'd like to think that the RFL have learned their lesson, but there again....


(And yes Owen is out of jail but broke I believe - his son Karl is chairman at Blackpool FC).

Could we not expand the league to 15 teams? 28 games a season and scrap Millennium Magic?

As mentioned on another thread, i feel Wakefield will not go down, nobody to be relegated, one to come up making a 15 team league.
Teams get bye weeks and the Millenium Magic weekend will be Round 1 of 29 being 7 regular round matches plus the World Club Challenge.
Just a thought!

As I explained on another thread (on the VT I think but could be elsewhere due to there being many versions of this thread on the different boards) that simply wouldn't work. You can't have an extra round of fixtures with an odd number of teams. Using your idea the reigning champions would either be disadvantaged by not being able to gain points from that round or would have to be given points to compensate and so would effectively start ahead of everyone else. In a league with an odd number of teams the Magic Weekend would have to be ditched (along with the money the RFL will get from the Welsh Tourist Board for staging it) and I cannot see that being done just so that the RFL could avoid relegating a club. If the SL was to be extended (at any time) it would need to be kept at an even number of teams.

I think everyone agrees that if it's one down, one up, then the glaringly obvious choice to come up would be Widnes, which is why it probably won't be



Personally I 'd lose one of the invented clubs and be damned to the false expansion the RL is so fond of. Grass roots development please.

On that note, does anyone know if any pro clubs are affiliated or have close ties with amateur clubs outside the homelands? I'm thinking of things like helping out with equipment, training methods, conditioning and so on. The return is first pick on any promising youngster coming through. I haven't given this any deep thought particularly but it seems like a realistic idea on the surface at least. Thoughts?

15 teams?....ok...let 3 teams a week have a bye week mid season, on consecutive weekends.......like the NFL

and scrap magic weekend

Grass roots development is going on very nicely in the expansion areas, unlike a lot of the heartland clubs, who are still stuck in the 19th century. Quins U20s have already beaten Huddersfield & Leeds, and came close against Hull. They also now have a largely home grown side, despite losing LMS & Sharp.
The same will happen in Wales, given a litttle more time.

i would so love it if barrow where in super league that would make my day

I hope they get the ground situation sorted one day Mozz.

Anyone seriously suggesting Barrow has not grasped the reality of the situation. They're in reality about fifth down the pecking order. They're not big enough to represent Cumbria, being 50 miles away from their fellow clubs, their crowds are diminuative and not up to the standards set by the RFL, their ground is significantly worse than all the super league alternatives and I include Belle Vue in that and they are solely reliant on a chairman who is a well known control freak who can't let his coaches do their jobs and dont have the youth set up. You might as well promote Polperro just because you fancy a holiday in cornwall, but you'd be ignoring all the hard work other clubs have been doing just because you prefer it there.

Seriously, at this stage it should be between Widnes and Fax, we're the only two with the chance to succeed. Barrow are also behind Featherstone and Leigh IMHO and thats before we throw in Toulouse.

Spot on. Barrow are only in because of their recent on-field success, the rest of their application is nonsense.

We'll find out in a couple of hours, but i'd be amazed if Widnes don't get it - despite the RFL's constant ability to amaze us with their incompetence.

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ml&BID=480

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ml&BID=480

Would love to see Barrow in the SL at some point because there is a lot of talent in Cumbria and everybody there loves rugby league. Not going to happen until they sort out there ground and youth development though amongst other things. The only viable option with regards to a new stadium for me would be a groundshare with the conference football team in the town but they dont seem to want to talk to each other. A Cumbrian franchise definitely wouldn't work due to the geographical restrictions discussed on BnA last night.

I'm not convinced the support is there for Barrow. I seem to remember the last time they were in the top flight, around 1990, we went there and the crowd was about 4000. OK that's quite a while ago, but their recent attendances aren't all that good either - Widnes, Leigh, Fax & Fev are all better supported.

I agree with that but they're current attendances are comparable with what Crusaders and Quins get, and they would only increase playing better teams at better facilities. Wasn't there about 6k at the cup game against Wigan in 2009?

That 6,000 was for their biggest game in years, it would never get above that.

Still double Crusaders and Quins current averages though. And for an "expansion team" but in an area where rugby league is actually popular.

That 6,000 is the very maximum they'd ever get to though. Oh, and the ground is actually even worse since Wigan last played there!

Yeh I know it is. No where near SL standard its a disgrace and has been for a number of years. I am not saying Barrow should have got in btw, just saying I would like to see them in it in the future. As far as I am aware they have scrapped their academy system as well which is also one of the major criteria. Central Park is beyond redevelopment, its new ground or stay in the lower leagues for them, I just suggested that I thought a groundshare with the towns football team was a possible solution.

They get on about as well as WRL and Latics except it seems to extend to board level. Got some mates who are Barrow AFC fans and they went as far as standing with us when Leigh played there the other week (though they only went in at half-time so they didn't give any money to Barrow RL!)

We could always rebuild it




or do you mean Craven Park?