Re: Championship/league 1 : Mon Apr 10, 2017 1:03 pm  

SmokeyTA wrote:

Why not just let them in when they are ready. Remove them if they arent.

The only way to square expansion and p+r would be to have conferences. Some for licensed clubs not at risk of relegation, some unlicensed clubs who didn't meet the criteria who were at risk of relegation.

I agree. Anything to stop the support drain from clubs and to help expansion.

Re: Championship/league 1 : Mon Apr 10, 2017 1:04 pm  

Chris.Taylor wrote:

But in the licensing format, Featherstone were league leaders from 2010 - 2014, so what;s your point about the new league structure?

That it has left them entirely uncompetitive. Was that not clear enough?

Re: Championship/league 1 : Mon Apr 10, 2017 1:09 pm  

LifeLongHKRFan wrote:

I agree. Anything to stop the support drain from clubs and to help expansion.

The problem with that is the smaller clubs are left battling for survival promoting short termism there, and if we went to 16 clubs who, realistically would be able to compete if they were promoted? It also wouldn't really address the competitiveness issue and if anything would likely exacerbate it as bar a meltdown the relegated club would walk through the next year to promotion again

Re: Championship/league 1 : Mon Apr 10, 2017 1:22 pm  

LifeLongHKRFan wrote:

With the system I suggested, you get all teams/clubs who are capable of being an SL side in SL whilst not totally closing the door on the Championship sides. Granted not many of the rest of the Championship clubs could get promoted or meet criteria, but it doesn't close the door on any that could eventually meet the criteria.

What is taking place in the 2 leagues outside of SL isn't great. I go watch my team every week but I can't get enthused about seeing them beat a part time team by 50 points. Granted, we got ourselves in to this situation but by having clubs like Toronto, Hull KR, Toulouse etc. in the lower leagues trouncing teams doesn't help the game attract new support. It only serves to help the RFL say that the current format is working when all they are doing is holding back the game. If all or most of the championship teams were as competitive with each other as most of SL are, then I can see a reason for the current format but atm its pointless.

Also, Toronto are looking to have 10000 season ticket holders. How many of those will they have if they can't get into SL within say 4-5 years? All the current enthusiasm for RL there could wane and we have then lost all those potential supporters of the game. The same could be said for Bradford or Toulouse. And I know that Hull KR won't get the same amount of support if they can't get back into SL this year.

By getting all SL ready clubs into a revised SL, should help those clubs and the game keep hold of that support.



This is all my opinion of course.

I agree but, why not just increase SL to 16 clubs instead of having 2 "conferences", at least we'd all get the chance of a trip to Toronto/Perpignan/Toulouse and East Hull

Seriously though, IF we are saying there are only 16 SL ready clubs, then play offs with Championship clubs is just "filler" in the league program and it would lead to blow out scores, one of the issues that started this thread.

Re: Championship/league 1 : Mon Apr 10, 2017 2:07 pm  

wrencat1873 wrote:

I agree but, why not just increase SL to 16 clubs instead of having 2 "conferences", at least we'd all get the chance of a trip to Toronto/Perpignan/Toulouse and East Hull

Seriously though, IF we are saying there are only 16 SL ready clubs, then play offs with Championship clubs is just "filler" in the league program and it would lead to blow out scores, one of the issues that started this thread.

Tbh I only added it in there to appease the Champ clubs as the last time their was a closed shop, there was uproar that champ clubs can't get in etc..

Re: Championship/league 1 : Mon Apr 10, 2017 3:26 pm  

LifeLongHKRFan wrote:

Tbh I only added it in there to appease the Champ clubs as the last time their was a closed shop, there was uproar that champ clubs can't get in etc..

I dont think that we can have it both ways.
Either say no to Toulouse and Toronto or go for P/R, I dont think the two things can go together.
I know that opinion is split and many in the fans in the heartlands say, sod the French or Canadians and that they should sort themselves out but, assuming that we want to expand the game internationally in the next 50 years, this isnt an option.

Re: Championship/league 1 : Wed Apr 12, 2017 10:51 am  

LifeLongHKRFan wrote:

IMO atm there are possibly 16 clubs who could sustain an SL team/Franchise. So here is my 2 pence worth.

2 Leagues of 8 (Pool A & Pool B) Randomly drawn or seeded pre season.
Play each team twice in your pool then each team from opposing pool once. This would give us 21 regular league games.
Top 4 from each pool go into the playoffs.
Challenge cup to have a league stage.
If you want P&R then bottom 2 from each pool to play top 4 from championship in a similar format to what we have now in the middle 8s.

The only issue here is that we would need more funding for the extra 4 teams.

Shoot me down if you will but that's just my opinion.

Just curious as to your team list?

Also what happens if we have other clubs who want to join (more french/NA teams)? do they do into the championship

Re: Championship/league 1 : Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:03 am  

broadybull87 wrote:

Just curious as to your team list?

Also what happens if we have other clubs who want to join (more french/NA teams)? do they do into the championship

There are 3 -4 teams currently in the lower leagues who would have the crowds etc. plus the current SL setup.

By still having the ability to gain promotion, you are not alienating any new clubs. However you could also add additional clubs in through licensing, eventually getting up to 2 pools of 10.

The solution I propose does need some tweaks but it would solve a lot of issues of supporters leaving clubs because they're not at the top table

Re: Championship/league 1 : Wed Apr 12, 2017 4:08 pm  

wrencat1873 wrote:

IF there are only 16 clubs that could sustain a SL franchise, why have the play off with clubs from the Championship who, by your own definition, aren't sustainable in SL ?

We either keep P/R or revert to some kind of Franchise/Licence system, without P/R, unless a club goes into admin/goes pop, which should be automatic demotion.

One of the aspects of the previous system is that new clubs could have been added "when they were ready" (such as Leigh) but, this was never done and instead, we went for the hair brained scheme we have now.

How do you define " when they are ready " ? , without the option of promotion via winning it on the pitch Leigh wouldn't have found the investment , so you are essentially cutting everybody adrift again

Re: Championship/league 1 : Wed Apr 12, 2017 4:14 pm  

GUBRATS wrote:

How do you define " when they are ready " ? , without the option of promotion via winning it on the pitch Leigh wouldn't have found the investment , so you are essentially cutting everybody adrift again

So if Leigh are given a franchise why does Beaumont pull out.