GiantDee wrote:
The 3 x 8 idea is a nonsense that comes about from looking at the issues the wrong way around. The focus should not be on bringing SL clubs down so Fev and Fax can compete with them but on how to build more full time clubs.
Right now there are issues with every team outwith the 8 who made the play offs. I think yourselves Widnes and Salford have the least to worry about. You would though be in greater peril if funding is cut. The 3 x 8 is a funding cut to full time clubs to fund part time clubs. That just seems wrong. A a professional sport we must support full time clubs and generate more income for the entire sport.
I would like to see a second french team in Super League, Catalans have been a success and I understand French TV would pay considerably more for a second team.
Other than that, though some people may not like it, SL should remain a closed league. It works for NFL & NRL and P&R did not work before. Ask yourself this, is there any club in England that is outwith SL that offers more to the greater game than Bradford Bulls? If there is not (as I believe) why would you introduce the very real chance of swapping them?
If fev Fax or Leigh are to get into SL we need to find a way to bring them up to that level not bring SL down to thiers. The only way to do that is generate more income.
The only real question in the short term is who to swap for more Frenchies? A club down south may be making that an easy answer.
if
Actually, to be fair, SL has never been "a closed league". Promotion to it has been by licence rather than via the league, but it has always been on the agenda. What's more the idea of 'new' clubs being given a three year grace period has been one of its best attributes. To me 12 is about the minimum number of clubs; it gives 22 league games plus MW and cup games which should be financially survivable for clubs and give players some respite before internationals at the end of the season. A lot would depend on Sky, of course, if they would be happy with that number of games..
I'd love to see a Halifax team back in SL. As an area, the town
should be large enough to sustain a professional club though, in the past, the club hasn't always had the support it deserved when in the higher division, which is disappointing.
I tend to think of Leigh's relationship with Wigan to be a bit like Keighley's with Bradford and find it hard to see them with enough support to carry a professional set up. They have a nice little ground now, and though I'm not sure about the capacity, it would certainly help.
As a regular visitor [annually, for the Bulls' visit] I would consider it a sad day if the London team were dropped, or had to resign for financial reasons, from SL. They've always come across as a good club to me, from fans through to back office and in any case their membership, in the capital, is probably more totemic than
any other club, particularly in the media.
I certainly wouldn't be averse to another French club in SL. It would both spark up our league and help the treizistes to compete against union, which currently takes many players from French clubs which are, as yet, unable to offer them a proper job. Being able to retain their better young players would have the added benefit of helping the French national team, which hopefully could then provide more meaningful games for England to prepare for the Aussies and NZ. For the wider benefit of European RL it would be a good thing, imo.
