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Catalan are actually pretty well-supported – the French experiment only failed when the RFL tried to move into Paris.
For me, there should be a SL of 15 teams:
Wigan
Leeds
Saints
Warrington
Catalan
Hull
Hull KR
Widnes
Cumbria
East Lancs (Salford, Leigh, Swinton
South Yorks (Doncaster, Sheffield)
Huddersfield
Bradford
Calder (Wakefield, Castleford, Featherstone)
West Yorks (Made up from Halifax, Batley, Dewsbury, Keighley)The remaining clubs (York, Oldham etc can remain in their current form in a development league. Looking at the tables, Hunslet & York add no value to the Championship. Rochdale & Oldham are a league below with the development clubs (London Skolars etc).
All TV & sponsorship money should be split 80% to SL clubs, 10% to RFL, 10% to development clubs.
Salary cap retained, but increased.
Top of the League are champions. By all means have a play-off afterwards if there is a desire for another competition, but make it one where there are no 2nd chances for losers.
Challenge Cup to remain.
Incremental money for whatever place you finish in the league, and make it worth their while playing for position.
No promotion and relegation. Licence system to continue, allowing SL clubs to plan, and also allowing development clubs to develop before they are thrown into the Lions Den.
From what I can gather from the above postings, changes are definitely going to have to happen for the good of RL.
A major rethink is upon us and I think The RFL should go the whole hog with a complete restructure and make one Souper duper league of 12 regional clubs.
Forget the regional leagues altogether any clubs not mentioned can be added to one of the newly formed regional clubs listed below.
Future finances will be assured with this restructure as many grounds can be sold for revenue and lodgers in football grounds will be able to put their cash together and build their own purpose built egg boxes.
All the £96.48 sponsorship money will also be divided out equally between all the newly found 12 clubs to boost their finances.
It really makes good business sense, and with this proposal RL may have a hope of survival before Rugby Union devours it.
Here you go, these are the proposals for the newly found clubs that will revitalize and ensure the future longevity of RL:
North Lancashire (Wigan & St Helens)
South Lancashire (Swinton, Leigh & Salford)
East Lancashire (Oldham, Rochdale etc)
West Lancashire ( Warrigton & Widnes)
North Yorkshire (Leeds, Huddersfield & Bradford)
South Yorkshire (Doncaster, Sheffield)
East Yorkshire (Hull & Hull KR)
West Yorkshire (Wakefield, Castleford, Featherstone)
Another Yorkshire (Batley, Dewsbury, Keighley Halifax)
Yet another Yorkshire (York and other Yorkshire clubs not mentioned above)
Cumbria (Barrow, Carlisle, Workington etc)
And last but not least:
All star also rans-shire (For all the other made up clubs that the RFL may want to re-form or create).I know there may be one or two disgruntled fans if a restructure of this magnitude were to take place, but it would give a chance for survival of RL, and create a bit of interest.
It would also rid the game of the need to have an end of season play off system that benefits failure.
The annual piss take of having to play Saints in Scotland or S Wales would also not be needed.
It would hopefully put a stop to the laughable inclusion of teams from outside RL base areas (London, S Wales, where there is even less interest) and most laughingly the inclusion of teams from foreign countries.Any thoughts???
I like the idea concerning the “beefed up” league and revised play-off as suggested by mutty. The only thing I can’t get me head round is the “closed shop” – no promotion /relegation. To me, this is an essential part of league sport,so as to maximise interest both at the top and bottom of the league.
Saying that, rugby league just doesn’t seem to have either the strength in depth or finances to support a successful multi league set up.
i do agree though, that strength in depth won’t be achieved by setting up new RL outposts in various parts of the country, which usually have neither the funds or infrastructure to even hope to be a success. It’s probably best to concentrate on the fact that it’s a (mostly) north of england dominated sport and maximise whatever potential there is in that area.I like the idea concerning the “beefed up” league and revised play-off as suggested by mutty. The only thing I can’t get me head round is the “closed shop” – no promotion /relegation. To me, this is an essential part of league sport,so as to maximise interest both at the top and bottom of the league.My 15 (16 if you left Leigh as a stand-alone club) team league proposal could be split into SL1 and 2 with 8 in each playing each other 4 times with one promotion/relegation slot.
You would get 28 very intense, competitive games, compared to now, where about half of them are very one-sided affairs.
Really nice to see healthy debate about the issue.
I also am in a lot of agreement with mutty in what he says with the possible exception of the promotion/relegation issue.
RL did have a two division structure back in my day, and a two division structure could still work. I would think that a relegation out of SL2 possibility (maybe on the lines of old FL voting in which saw us into the league) should still be a possibility – otherwise teams at the bottom have nothing to fight for, and teams outside the SL structure would have nothing to realistically aspire to.
Voting, play-offs or whatever would just give that edge to avoiding finishing bottom, and give National League clubs something to play for.
And if anyone questions my RL credentials – my first professional sports team that I followed was Liverpool City in the 1960s. I even have colourised a (rare) picture of one of their games, v Saints in 1966.
If you look at the young lad to the right of the photo with the green and white scarf that his aunty knitted – that’s me :)
It’s alright talking about merging teams and all that the big question is are there enough decent players to go round because ya all know what happens as soon as anyone player starts to shine he his poached by the Aussie league or the Union mob Tomkins brothers being a prime example at the end of the day you can merge teams expand the league but if $ky dont increase the money to at least double what the RL are getting now the whole thing will turn full circle
St Helens and Wigan merged just wouldnt work.
A good idea on paper but from a Saints business and moral perspective this would be a defo no go area.
Would Saints want to merge with a club with no assets to bring with them? No ground to sell! They did this allready to pay off their debts that financed their success in the seventies and eighties. Other success has been brought by totally ignoring salary rules in Super League to give them advantage. Even this season they manipulated team selection and rested players prior to the play offs. How the hell could a team in freefall suddenly turn things round and win a competition they were dead and buried in otherwise? No Horc Saints wouldnt want our lodgers and their very dodgey past.I’m pretty sure the likes of st helens and wigan wouldn’t want to merge anyway….it’d be like asking city to merge with united.
Promotion and relegation doesn’t work in Super League because of the financial gaps. The promoted club just buys the players from the relegated club and then gets relegated themselves.
Oh, and Wigan didn’t break a single rule this year Donny and St Helens have broken the salary cap more times than Wigan. Good effort though.
Fact is nobody outside the M62 corridor cares a dam about watching RL.
Sums things up when Darts pulls in a higher proportion of Sky sport viewers.
Boring game…simples. :)Perhaps the next negotiation with Sky needs to be a bit more robust by the governing body.
SL is the 2nd most popular team sport on TV, regularly attracting around 200,000 viewers when its on Sky Sports 1.
(source: http://www.barb.co.uk/).
Unless another tv company rivals sky for broadcasting rights then I can’t see the tv money increasing RL will pretty much get what is offered
SL is the 2nd most popular team sport on TV, regularly attracting around 200,000 viewers when its on Sky Sports 1.I’ve just had a quick look at your link Mutt, and it shows that nearly four times that amount (680,000) watched a Womans World Cup Football Qualifier on BBC3.
So that throws your 2nd most popular TV sport theory out of the window straight away, and that’s before we look for figures for proper sports like Rugby Union, Cricket, American Football, and Tiddly winks.
I meant on sky, who are the company currently under-paying for what is quite a popular product. Free TV will always attract more viewers. Based on that theory, women’s football is more popular than Championship Football, where the viewing figures are less than 500,000. Very few premiership games get over 1 million viewers.
The actual breakdown is only available via subscription, but FYI, the Superbowl was watched by 173,000 on Sky Sports, with the next best being 125000 for a divisional play-off. I cant be bothered to find the other sports.
I meant on sky, who are the company currently under-paying for what is quite a popular product. Free TV will always attract more viewers. Based on that theory, women’s football is more popular than Championship Football, where the viewing figures are less than 500,000. Very few premiership games get over 1 million viewers.The actual breakdown is only available via subscription, but FYI, the Superbowl was watched by 173,000 on Sky Sports, with the next best being 125000 for a divisional play-off. I cant be bothered to find the other sports.
I can’t be bothered either, but if you’re telling me that more peope watch RL than watch cricket (or possibly even RU) on Sky then I’ll show my arse in the West Stand – again.
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