Didn't realise until reading on the Virtual Terrace just now that the RFL have made a change to their operational rules that means a foreign club (ie Toulouse) can be invited to apply for a licence, even if they don't fulfil the on-field criteria.

Leyther that will really improve the British game.More aussies playing for Toulouse?To be honest Rugby League will never spread to the south, as rugby union is high profile and football.They need to keep to the grass roots.I was talking to a Saints fan and they are fed up with no away support.Salford,Wakey,Crusaders,London,Catalans,and then Toulouse?That will mean 6 poor gates at Saints.RFL will kill the game unless get a few heartland clubs in their.I enjoy banter with away fans and if teams bring no support the fun is taken away from the game.I enjoy the mixing in pubs with away fans and we need to keep heartlands interested in the game.Fans are turning away from the game, and you can see no promotion and relegation has effected attendances in the Championship.

Makes me all the happier to remain in this league, to be honest.

Mate i will turn my back on Rugby League if this happens and i will spend my money on watching my football team or watch union.It is a joke with no promotion and relegation.What is the point in Widnes spending lots of money on academies?May aswell not bothered and bought a experienced team, so can compete at the top of this league.

Mutha Humpers!!!!!!!!!!!

Wignes and Toulouse in

Wakefield and Castleford out.

Then a closed shop for cloth cap backward little Northern Towns until Sky pull the plug.

See you again in 2026

No Championship club on the UK mainland will be able to apply for a licence in the next round because no Championship club has a turnover of £1 000 000. I cannot do links cos I am getting old but there are threads about it on both the Leythers and Fax boards.

Toulouse are different of course cos they get a special exemption from all criteria.

Any foreign team will get an exception if the RFL offer them the opertunity to apply according to the RFL's operational rules.

What sort of turnover do Championship clubs, I have no idea on these sort of thinfs?

you might be in for a suprise there me old chum.

From another forum we turned over 916k last year so it isnt unreasonable to suggest that we arent far off that figure for this.

TOC made a point of trying to drum up support earlier in the year as the club felt that we where close to hitting that limit earlier in the year and triggering the extra 100k on the cap that it brings with it.

We seem to have brought in more sponsorship this year (3mg for the academy and ground sponsorhsip) but crowds are down for this year. I dodnt suppose it is unreasonable for SOC to pop in 100k to make sure we go over the £1m figure.

Spot on mate and we do have great sponsorship.Northern rail merchandise and runner up prize money is all adding to the profits.So it is imperative we get into the playoffs to get another few thousand quid.

Anyway i think Ste O connor and the board have probably been told already,and that is why no other team are allowed an academy set up in the Championship.

Exactly i'm sure Mr Stobbart would also throw in an extra 50k if meant they'd become a SL sponsor too!

You won the NRC last year and you didn't turnover £1m, Crowds are also down this year. I do hope SOC has tipped more money in to meet the requirements.

Nice to see all these fans of other rival bids desperate for us to fall short of the £1m turnover figure.

Merchandise sales are up as is the club lottery and we have had an extra 3 sponsors come on board.


Crowds are slightly down but that is mainly due to poop performances on the pitch. We still hammer most clubs attendance wise though and have always been well attended in this division.

Were awesome.

Not desperate at all. I hope you do meet all that's required and go up. The £1m turnover is the only area you must be concerned about.

I agree.......you were awesome in the late 80's.

To be honest the £1m turnover is probably one of the easiest points to meet, certainly with SOC in charge.
With his business brain he will have this well covered.

My concern for the SL franchise award process is that the RFL are failing to make it fair and transparent once again and in doing so are likely to leave the decision open to legal challenge and ridicule from inside and outside the sport.

The reason for my concerns are nothing to do with the clubs likely to be “promoted” and “relegated”. I personally think Widnes should be awarded a franchise despite not having the best couple of league campaigns. As for who comes down, I neither know nor care.

My concern is that the award process may be considered illegal and that the RFL may be accused of double standards (no, never I hear you cry!). The reasoning being that the RFL has set criteria against which all clubs are to be assessed, then go on to say that a Championship club (Widnes?) will be awarded a franchise and the league will remain at 14 teams. This is in effect a statement that Widnes are not in direct competition with existing SL clubs for a franchise, i.e. Widnes ability to meet SL criteria is not required to be superior to that of the least capable SL club.

Previously clubs applying for a franchise signed a waiver on taking legal action over the decision (happy to be corrected if wrong), with the guarantee that someone is getting the boot, I cannot see SL clubs agreeing to it this time. This may leave the door open to a legal challenge on the grounds that all clubs are tendering an application to the RFL/SLE for the provision of a service (entertainment) and that all tenders have not been treated equally in the selection process.

The decision to stagger the announcement of selection and de-selection will further add to the inevitable fiasco as rumour and “leaks” cause a media circus with the potential for the de-selected club claiming it was unethical of the RFL to allow expenditure on team building/contracts/development when they knew they would be excluded from next years competition etc. That’s the best case scenario, I am concerned they are actually going to stagger the decision making process.

I don't see it being any different to the last time around. All clubs bar one will need to submit applications for 13 spots.. if you don't you're not in.. if you do then you will have to waive your right to legal dispute.

As for the leaks.. they will happen.. but quite often they are not leaks at all. Simply people guessing and spouting their opinions. In terms of staggering the decision making process. I think it is an excellent decision. The newly promoted club needs to play catch up and this time is priceless. I often thought that when promotion and relegation were about that the Champ season should end well before the SL season so that the promoted team had an opportunity to prepare and ready themselves.

Not really in 2009 we got a average of 3800 plus and some where freebies.This year no freebies and average over 3061 and a Northern Rail final. Merchandise and runners up prize money from this day out and we have 3 extra sponsors.Last year missed out by £100,000 and if can make the playoffs it be extra revenue.If all fails i am sure £250,000 wont kill Stobarts.As vikingman says the Lottery is generating money and viqi.

Thing is Chris you cannot enforce a waiver on a point of law, for example companies cannot refuse to employ you unless you sign a waiver stating you agree not to sue them for any transgression on their behalf.

Business law in the UK is extremely clear an the requirement for fairness in all tender/selection processes. If a lawyer can find precedent or believes it can be set in this case the RFL could be in trouble.

I would have thought that your club as the most likely i.e. dead certs

to receive a franchise would be the most keen to see a transparent decision making process. How tiring do you think it will get if this board is flooded with disgruntled fans of the relegated club stating how you never had to compete with their criteria performance.

The staggered decision/announcement is a disaster waiting to happen. I cannot understand why the "promoted" club needs longer under the franchise system than under regular P&R, the "relegated" club and its players are not given that grace to put their affairs in order. All I can see it doing is encouraging cost cutting next season when you get the nod. If it is a staggered decision it demonstrates the unfair nature of the process and makes a mockery of the RFL and the sport.

Having a million pound turnover in a season is relatively easy for any club , any decent accountant could ' filter ' money through an account to achieve it

That is providing you were aware of this requirement in sufficient time to do it

I would guess that some [ a clubs knew about this , and some [ the rest clubs didn't

Similarily , the 2,500 average crowd ' criteria ' only seems to have reared it's ugly head a couple of months ago

It would seem to me that your poor on field performance might have unnerved certain people in power resulting in a little fine tuning , not that this bothers me as it just means that only you will not be wasting money actually submitting an application

This is not a ' pop ' at your good selves or your proud club

As usual we [ the rest have been treated as idiots

Good isn't it

All the best

There were certainly plenty of things they could have tried before calling an end to P & R and introducing this farce of a system. One was, like you've said, ending the season earlier to give people time. Another is very simple, something that works in football, a transfer window which begins after the grand final and continues on until the start of the season. Or giving the newly promoted a one season grace period. There are plenty of things they could have tried and didn't. Probably because licensing benefits the chosen a lot more than P & R and that fixing the old system would have made licensing more difficult to introduce.

We had some builders working on our house yesterday who were from Widnes, i was passing conversation with them and we got onto rugby league. One of the lads said that he knew someone high up at Widnes and this is what he said.

This isn`t official of course, apparently you are either starting work or have finished work on a Sky TV hospitality area/function room at a cost of around £50k - £80k. I`m not sure if that includes a new commentary position, anyway thats the first part what he told me.

Secondly he said that you have already had the go ahead with your SL franchise and that the council are going to spend quite a bit of money on some areas that raised concerns, again thats not official as its just what he told me in conversation.

I hope the above turns out to be correct and that you get a SL franchise, i'm sure you will anyway as you have the backers, the stadium, a good potential SL fan base and in time you can get stronger on the pitch.