I know you don't want to hear it, and the relevance to this thread is questionable, but I've seen plenty of games where this has happened. Plenty. And it's not just about what gets given - it's about what doesn't.

See any game that Silverwood has ever refereed involving a 'top 4' side against an unfancied one for reference.

Referees regularly affect the outcome of SL games. But nothing will get done because there's no will to tackle the issue, not enough referees even if there were, and far too many people in denial.

Honestly, we might as well put a deranged chimp in charge of the RFL. This is an awful idea.

Oh, c'mon!



They're not going to fall for that again. Judging clubs as businesses has been well and truly deaded, and at least the rfl don't seem to be looking at another round of applications.
You can't build a sustainable SL business outside of SL. Most can't even do it in SL.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/22488221

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/22488221

FFS. Think it will alienate more than it attracts. I'll certainly think twice about remaining a season ticket holder.

Widnes and Catalans did alright. I agree that most championship clubs couldn't do it, but gettin rid of franchising won't change that. Can Fev really sustain a full time SL club in the long term with a population of roughly 10,000 people, can Leigh with 40,000, or Batley with 50,000? Sheffield, and Halifax maybe able to but it would take them a lot longer than 12 months to be able to build a squad or an infastructure capable of surviving in SL and remaining sustainable.

Anyway it looks like changes will be made. Getting rid of franchising after only 5 years is a very short sighted and will damage the game long term, I can't help but feel the RFL have lost their nerve on this.

For me there's a distinction between licensing and franchising and the Bradford and arguably Wakefield situations saw of us move from the former to the latter. Nothing in it for those without a franchise, so it'd effectively be another breakaway, where the RFL seem to want something that is a whole sport solution.

Are the Bradford, Wakefield and Salford situations a result of the liscensing system or a result of years of mis-management by the clubs themselves? I just don't see how bringing back P & R, and as a result making the future of several clubs unstable is a good thing.

The problem is it seems (as you say) the RFL, and the championship clubs inparticular want a 'everybody wins' situations which is understandable, but very unreasonable in the current climate.

I'm not blaming licensing for those situations, just saying it collapsed in the face of the first listed, possibly set up by circumstances surrounding the second.
If we want to carry on down that route, then fine - but we have to be honest with the the second tier teams, and acknowledge there would be no structure in place for them to move up and they should modify their aspirations accordingly.

Option one or two! Option three is just pure madness.

needs to be some sort of poll done on here, with the results sent to the RFL.

If the fans dont buy into it, then the game will suffer

The RFL dont care what the fans think, they never have.

I can't believe these changes are being considered. I don't even want to wrap my head around different permutations of how all this will pan out.

All I will say is that if the current format or a simple league structure with promotion and relegation isn't chosen I'll stop supporting rugby league in the UK because this is a farce.

Hate to say it, but I agree, it's an absolute joke and the RFL need to see the Shiite promotion of the sport is the biggest problem at hand and not the structure of the league itself

I wouldn't say they didn't care, it's more like they're just ridiculously incompetent

various actions by the RFL over the last 20 years have convinced me they don't give a flying one about the fans.

simple promotion and relegation providing the club being promoted has sufficent funds to sustain the move up

And what if they don't?

And therein lies the problem

they stay down knowing they will not run the risk of going bust spending more than they can afford


having discussed the options with fellow fans at the games, most of us wouldnt re-new passes if they chose the 3rd option of split leagues!

Sorry OP don't think your structure will work it would simply kill the passion for the game and of course superleague.

I think the only changes that need ringing are relegation to National 1 and promotion to the superleague.

But the promotion could lead to an increase in revenue from supporters/extra merchandise sales/more attract to sponsers. Equally, it might not. How do you factor that in?

I tend to agree with Tony Smith's comments. There are some changes that need to be made but don't make wholesale changes for the sake of it. We are producing top quality young players and whilst P&R might be worth looking at we need to forget about all the gimmicks.

The same with expansion, why not just concentrate on what we do best?

Not read all the thread but this is spot on. But have the clubs signed up to it? the controversial option is the one thats getting all the press, but so far only the club heirachy and RFL have been discussing this and Hetherington said discussions would continue for several months. At some point the RFL will have to listen to the voice of the fans, and even if we are ignored then they surely will take the players views into account (or maybe not). Peacock made it clear he didn't agree with it on the SL show, and I tend to go with his preference which was along the lines of two leagues of 12 a top 6 play off, and some form of promotion and relegation between the two leagues. Personally think this is the way to go and I'd have one up one down.

Yes there could be the odd casualty / administration along the way but that happens now anyway (Wakey, Crusaders, Bulls) and it also happen in football (Portsmouth, etc).

For fooks sake keep it simple or fans will not buy into it and will vote with their feet. I certainly won't renew my season pass in 2015 if we follow the route of split divisions, not saying that I wouldn't attend games, but would keep my options open. When I first heard about the split division format I honestly thought it was a non starter, and I really hope it gets consigned to the bin pdq. Wonder if Miller knows what he's letting himself in for!

We've failed to get a sponsor for the games flagship competition , Where's the money going to come from to fund the extra teams ? . There's not enough quality players to fill 10 SL clubs so where are Fev , Halifax ,Toulouse going to get there's from ?