Is that how the system is meant to work ?

Ie , your application isn't good enough this time , but it will be in three years as long as you're good little boys and keep the children quiet

It's silly, but seems to be the way.

If we build on the areas we fell short on, then surely that can put us in a stronger position next time around?

Seems that way mate, the RFL are a disgrace. The thing now is are fax fans going to tow the line as wakey fans now seem to be doing or are they going to carry on with the protest / action group.Wakey fans were up in arms about the disgraceful licence system the other week, now it seems to be ok. the game is full of self centredness and i hate it, if it wasnt for rovers i would never watch a game again. Another action could be urge all championship fans to boycott the 4 nations and not pay for a ticket, hit the bstds were it hurts
if we meet you in the final and i do mean if we get there i will buy you a drink, im waiting to see if we do get there and then im buying some twee3d trousers and waist coat to go wi my flat cap

Bloody hell, you get 2 chances to get there pal and the form your team are in i would find it rather difficult to back against it being a Leigh Fev final............................However playoff rugby is exactly what it says on the tin and with players with the right attitudes and a bit of luck anything can happen.

It's what happened to Widnes last time.

And is that the way the system is meant to work ?

Guaranteed nothing, from what I read into the TV interview. Fourteen teams was too much for Big Ears,12 even 10 muted by the better SL teams sounded right for them. Soon the 12-10 SL teams will have to vote themselves 4 votes apiece to 1 for the lower leagues. For Gods sake I hope that never happens, I certainly do'nt want all those "former"SL fans, thinking they've been hard done to ,starting a rival group against the RFL and wanting the CC&CC1 clubs to help the RFL ,to change their minds and get them back into the Holy Grail from which they came. At least the lower leagues will be vibrent unless most of the demoted clubs can't manage on 300,000 SC, and go "belly up".

Silly, I call it downright dishonest to tell you the truth. Widnes should have been in 3 yrs ago but they were kept out by a club that blatently cheated , broke the law by employing all those foreign players , moved their ground to nearer the heartland clubs (which was the opposte of why they were given a liscence, ) went bust , didn`t pay their players, all this under the watchful eye of the RFL.Is anyone going to tell me that Widnes were not cheated last time and if they had gone in 3 yrs ago they couldn`t do better than that ?
Plus we get them back in the Champ` comp with no traveling fans plus it would not surprise me if they are not given parachute payment plus extra cap but I hope I am wrong.

no its not. our application was good enough because it was good enough, not because the club stuck to the RFL line for three years.

ha,ha, i have been watching Rovers 35 years and never take nothing for granted, in fact in that time i have thought about writing a book titled "Featherstone Rovers how to fk a big game up". Rovers are winning well but we arnt firing on all cylinders yet, were not playing right and i just cant put my finger on where the problem is, were not flowing like last season

Crusaders were put in instead of you, are you saying that you would not have fared better than Crusaders , who went bust , didn`t pay players , moved nearer to the heartlands when they got in as an expansion club , employed illegal players against the law of the land and that is just what we know about.All under the watchful eye of the RFL the expansion policy is another thing we are challenging , they have made a total cock up of it.