Like the idea. My perfect super league:



As we use the play off system to determin the winners it is not crucial for each team to play all the others home and away. So lets expand (in no particular order)



1. Wigan Warriors

2. St Helens

3. Leeds Rhinos

4. Bradford Bulls

5. Hull FC

6. Hull KR

7. Harlequins

8. Warrington Wolves

9. Salford City Reds

10. Widnes Vikings

11. Huddersfield Giants

12. Barrow Raiders

13. Catalan Dragons

14. Toulouse Olympique

15. Crusaders

16. Cardiff Camels

17. Glasgow Grizzlys

18. Edinburgh Eagles

19. Dublin Donkeys

20. Cork Cheetahs



I know this is in the land of make believe and thr RFL wouldn't have the finances but we would have a balance east and west of the pennines, a presence in Cumbria and 2 teams in France, Wales, Ireland and Scotland creating rivalries in those countries and hopefully over time creating some sort of international games. I'd love to see a competative rugby league five nations.

W*re out, Widnes in.

I'd love to see the competition named anything other than '4 / 5 Nations'. I mean seriously, can we not think up a name that doesnt make us look like a cheap and nasty copy of Union? The current RFL staff may as well just go down to Twickers and bare their collective @sses for a rogering.

They are, without question, an utter shambles.

if you mean using loan/dual registration playes in a legitimate manner then yes. didnt do joel tomkins or liam farrel any harm. And if by 'youth policy' you mean having possibly the best under 16's and under 18's in the country then yes you are correct. for the record, our under 18's have spent this season bitch slapping most if not all of there super league counterparts. and none of those lads are wigan cast offs. ive also noticed a few posts making out like we (widnes) will only get a franchise because our chairman is minted and has put in loads of money. firstly, Steve O'connor paid the agreed sum for the club, which is how any other transaction works, secondly the only other real outlay was to wipe out the previous owners debts. oh and i forgot, we (widnes) are funding our under 16's and under 18's through the clubs budget and they are still hammering all their superleague rivals who are partly or fully centrally funded by the RFL. i dont mean to be y but these things really need the cold hard light of truth applying. also, there seems to be a trend to focus purely on stadium issues, making out that we only have a nice stadium to offer. with al due respect to our fellow championship clubs, besides the stadium (which only leigh and halifax can match anyway) we also have the aforementioned amazing youth development system. something most championship clubs dont even have, never mind a good, no EXCELLENT one like ours. we are also the only team that meets the average attendance criteria, and the only team that comes close to having the financial clout. not to mention a huge fanbase of people just waiting for superleague rugby, as our northern rail final attendances of the past four years show, not to mention attendances during our last foray into superleague. oh and us holding the current record for a championship match attendance, and the previous record also. i dont see why the RFL doesnt just expand it to 16 teams, that allows for the obvious choice (widnes) plus Toulouse, which i have no problems with at all. and possibly even a desperately needed cumbrian influence in the top flight i.e. barrow depending on who doesnt make the grade and how many extra places that would create. i have no time for players crying about it involving too many games, the NRL is 16 teams and once you factor in State of origin and internationals they end up playing more games then our guys do between league and challenge cup. notice how its always the players who are getting on a little bit that complain about the number of games i.e. chief number of games moaner Jamie Peacock.

Im not even going to attempt to read this as dying of asphyxia wasn't on my to-do list today.

Paragraphs.



Who needs 'em?

readers

A franchise is the very least you deserve for all that.

I agree, and the thing is, an Irish team would be absolutely fantastic. They love three things in Ireland (I am Irish

) Gaelic, Rugby and Soccer; Rugby League is a wonderful mix of two of those things. It's faster than Union, and it's a better game too. If you get it in Dublin, and you just do what Huddersfield did for years (i.e Give out tickets for free/reduced price) you'll eventually get to a stage where with the right financial backers, you'll see a good team developing, bringing Irish players through.



Also for a Scottish Team, why not have a Cumbria Team (Barrow, Whitehaven) playing in a better ground, and playing the odd game up in Scotland, getting a little shout out about Rugby, we'll have a thriving international game - and if PNG/Fiji get a place in the NRL, even better.

Okay, I'm relicencing my Superleague,



Huddersfield Giants

St Helens

Leeds Rhinos

Bradford Bulls

London Broncos

Crusaders

Catalans Dragons

Halifax Blue-Sox

Warrington Wolves

Wigan Warriors

Sheffield Eagles

Gateshead Thunder

Hull KR

Hull FC

Toulouse Olympique

Widnes Vikings

Dublin Tigers

Barrow Raiders



With what you've said in mind, I've relicenced my Perfect Super League, and I've added a Dublin Team (Dublin Tigers) and I've added Barrow, who will be transformed into the Barrow Raiders, the Cumbria/Scottish Border Team, they will play games in Barrow's Craven Park, Heart's Tynecastle, Hiberian's Easter Road, and Carlisle's Home Ground.



Dublin will play in Tolka Park, but will play some games in United Park, Drogheda and Dalymount Park, Dublin. There strip will be Green and Gold hoops

.

So Dublin Tigers will be nothing like Tigers then?

SUPERLEAGUE XXXV



1 Leeds

2 Wigan

3 Bradford

4 Saints

5 Hull FC

6 Hull KR

7 Salford

8 Harlequins

9 Arsenal

10 Les Cats

11 Dublin

12 Bristol

13 Newcastle

14 Barcelona

15 Paris

16 Glasgow

17 Nottingham

18 Cardiff



--



Leigh will be full time pro in the second division, along with Cumbria, Exeter, Edinburgh, Wrexham Crusaders, Tolouse and Belfast, as well as a few familiar names from the RL past. There are three full time divisions, and three or four part time divisions below that. There is a seamless pyramid from amateur to pro, with no franchising (because the game is strong enough not to need to protect its emerging teams against their own excesses). The season runs from March to October for the whole game, across the whole world.



England are world champions, beating New Zealand in the final. Prime Minister Burnham presented the trophy at a packed Wembley. England Coach Sam Tomkins has been knighted, while all the players have received MBE's. France upset the odds by beating Australia in the 3/4th place game. Serbia and Wales performed well to reach the last 8, and the plucky Czechs excelled themselves to beat Samoa.... and who can forget the cracking Lebanon-Malta game in the group stages? Germany will be disappointed with their defeats to Italy and South Africa, after the encouraging win over PNG in game 1. Coca Cola's sponsorship of the event has been reinforced since the adopted RL stars to front their European ad campaign. RFL Chief Executive, Phil Clarke, promised to build on the success of the event, which has made RL the biggest tv global sport after football.

You know what, Prime Minister Burnham is the worst thing in that paragraph

Joe , wake up , Joe , Joe , wake up



time to go to work

you could always try breathing :p and yes, i realise i forgot to press 'enter' every now and again, but its a rugby forum, not a booker prize shortlisting. nice to see nobody questioned the content tho. i do apologise for the rant, but i just got a bit sick of reading the same old misinformed crap about widnes use of dual reg players, the youth development system etc etc etc. also, i just found out, (and it would be interesting to see what you all think of this) that a team from NEW ZEALAND, actually applied for the last round of superleague licenses!! and didnt even get a mention when they were announced. i just think thats a bit strange in many ways.

I still think the league need 16 team.

At least he's a genuine RL fan (as, incidentally, is Alistair Campbell)

Campbell my a[irs[/ie! Yeah - every 40 years





[urlhttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_league/article6312502.ece[/url



I once went to a speedway match during the eighties - that doesn't make me a genuine fan

Both they both have had the money the gravy train provided to do something about it, we havent.

How the hell does Super League money go towards building a new ground? If we had a rich backer I could see your point but we don't.



The money that we get from Sky goes directly to funding a squad suitable for SL.

No such team applied. HTH



Y'see that's one of the problems about discussions on thei license system: people believe any old crap they hear. And then repeat as an argument against licensing.

AFAIK Licensing makes you fat and gives you spots. It also makes applicant clubs appear ten times the club they actually are. 24 hour licensing hasn't really worked either, neither did dog licenses. However, driving licenses do work, as do wedding ones. Mixed bag really.

Why do people want to see HUGE leagues in the future? There'd be so many boring games with no real intensity or emotion.



I'd like to see smaller, high-quality leagues personally. I'd also like to see an extended WCC, and maybe even a 2nd tier world comp (like football have the Europa League, but obviously ours would be more worldly!).

Actually, I agree with the post above. I think something like MLS does, with there 'SuperLiga' with Mexico's League, giving something to play for for mid-tabled clubs. Perhaps we could have a pre-season tournament for the NRL's 3-8th teams, and the Super Leagues 3-8th Teams, acculminating in a Super Cup or Something. Also, I'd like to see them try the WCC re-organized into a 1v2 2v1 competition, leading into a final. It would give it more meaning.