Exactly. A name that worked in the past. But supposedly the process is supposed to work on a system where no ones in SL and you'll get judged each 3 yeas accordingly. But it isn't.

Leeds sligthly annoy me actually aswell. I mean they are the 2nd best 'club' in SL after Wigan in their marketing, attendances, teams etc in my opinion, but i wish they'd sort the away stand and the cornered off bits of the South Stand out. Headingley is not a stadium fit for 3 times champions imo. If you can't even get their ground right, it doesn't look good.

The process works to whatever trumped up laws the RFL want it to.

ah yes Leeds. they could have been a bit more smart, that Carnegie stand doesnt really fit with the rest of it, they could have spent the money more wisely and built a smaller stand that would fit in with the rest of it, then could have doen something to get some sort of cover for the away fans, thats not there designated stand though for away fans i dont think anyway, they could go in the carnegie stand or the north stand or even the south stand although i wouldnt reccomend it if they wanted to leave again.

they should so something though,

the blocked off bits of the south stand are a health and safety matter i think, they did used to use all of it upto a couple of seasons ago then they were told it wasnt safe for some reason

Aye, suddenly before a Wigan CC game i think it got shut and has never opened since. Bit wierd really. I'm nit-picking at Leeds here really which isn't fair, just being an @rse really.

At end of the day, all people have talked about for 2 and a half years every day is who's license is supposedly better, who has better stadiums, everything that doesn't involve what goes on on the pitch. Rugby League just isn't a sport anymore, i've never known anything like it in world sport and probably never will again. It's a joke and it's beginning to waste a lot of people's time by being part of it at a supposed 'professional' level.

am just not thinking about it.

we wont get it this time, we might not get it next time.

all we can do as fans is keep supporting fax and hope some day they come to there senses and end this shambles

Does it matter now that the NL are starting their season.....£2 enterence,60p for a bacon bun, 50p for a steaming cup of tea (a real cup), £2 a pint and a good booze up with the players after in the local...and now they are switching to summer rugby (apparently!) who would you go and watch and how many fans will be lost to the local game?

Championship - £15 enterence (i'm a season ticket holder), £3.50 for a sloopy joe, £1 for a tea servered in a fibre cup, £3 a pint...it goes on.

It was great when you could watch Championship in the summer and local in the winter, now I'm thinking why am I paying over £1,000 a year on season tickets for me and the family and travel when summer rugby will be on my doorstep for a fraction of the cost.

I never thought I would be saying that.

It depends on people's outlook. I'm a fan of Halifax - first and foremost, not Greetland or Elland. If Halifax wound up tomorrow then that's me lost to the game.

Yup! No Fev, I'm out too!!

I have played at colt level for Barrow and followed throughout, however watching the games now I have not been too concerned with winning the league but more about gaining a GF playoff place...Thats wrong! Why have the RFL done this to the game?
I follow my local team Dalton home and away in the winter and have storng ties with the club aswell so what happens if it does change to summer? I am lucky I married a rugby fan but some wives won't want the husband away 2 days of the weekend watching rugby.

Lets just cut to the Chase, Nigel Wood and Richard Lewis are going to run profesional Rugby League in England into the ground, and nobody will stop them.
They can market it all they want and talk about potential growth, opportunities, dynamic strageties... The bottom line is they need the customer to buy into it. The Franchise system makes us look stupid, were not looking after homegrown talent, we have 2 berks on tv spouting the same 'better and better' nonsense, when we can clearly see crowds are leaving and the gap between the Southern Hemisphere and us is widening. The question is when will fans start to really lobby the SL and make known the displeasure with the mess they are making of our once fine and dignified sport...

The only people i know to genuinely complain were Leigh, my only hope is that they mess it up just as bad this time and people really wake up to the stupidity.

I would like to be serious a bit In June 1999 when looking at the impact of BSkyB on Sport the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport (yep MP's) recieved a report from Memorandum submitted by Chris Gratton and Lisa Ann O'Keeffe of the Leisure Industries Research Centre on Rugby League which conclusion made the following points...



This decline in attendance figures and the number of people actually watching the sport on television highlights potential problems for the futureits future seems precarious.

--------They were proved correct (this also had not considered how profesional Union will impact) and the key message has been lost in time. When a club attracts only 15/20% of the atendance of the larger clubs and has no "sugar daddy" it has no voice. In 1948 two of the top five spectator sports were (Greyhound Racing and speedway) League great sport as it is, is in decline and will find its own level as a minority intrest sport (Horse racing as a live event is in similar trouble).

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... field.html wakey saying their ground ready for 2012 season if get franchise n ground not ready do they get booted out? doubt it, will be given 3 extra years to get ready.

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... field.html wakey saying their ground ready for 2012 season if get franchise n ground not ready do they get booted out? doubt it, will be given 3 extra years to get ready.

But we are being told that attendances have increased compared to the 1980's. Is this not true?

Attendance numbers are difficult to compare as the structure has changed and the RFL has “magic weekend” which makes it difficult. But the often quoted increase at top level is correct, but reverse at lower level

2009
Super League – 202 Games – average 9336, total 1,792,536 (ignores Magic)
Nat 1 – 116 games – average 1872, total 217, 165 (ignores Grand Final)
Nat 2 – impossible to get accurate figures due to gate “rounding” and non returns

1980-81
First Division – 240 games – average 5110, total 1,226,428
Second Div – 210 games – average 2005, total 420,994
So at Super League level it looks like physical attendance has increased – I have no idea on TV audience

For info Halifax attendance averages (random selection) - I think best recent year was late 1980's but Andrew wll know for sure
1976/7 1,429 – div 2
1980/81 4,090 – div 1
1982/83 2,270 – div 1
1991/92 7,181 – div 1
1994/95 5,600 – div 1
2001/02 4,832 - super
2008 1,999 – Nat 1

The problem with the RFL is they are not forthcoming with any information. The question is, why is this information released into the public domain a few months before the event? Why wasn't the information released the day that Franchising was announced the last time. Such as, these are the teams that have gained a franchise. For the next franchise round teams in the championship will have to do these things in order to qualify. Teams in the Super League will need to meet these criteria. Instead you get a rule here and there and you tend to try and fill in the blanks. that way there is no he said/she said or thought of underhand dealings. Everyone knows the rules from the outset and can deal with them accordingly.

Also the RFL are also a tight lipped on anything financial to do with the sport. If i wanted to know anything about a football prize fund i can go to The FA website and find the prize breakdown for the FA Cup (rlcan be found hererl). You cannot get anything like this with the RFL. Everything is kept secret. Just remember back to our game with Castleford in the Cup last year. The rule book actually never mentioned Golden point in the published rules, but the next day the RFL had ammended them to include the actual rule. Now the rule probably did exist, but that is poor management to say the least. No one in the stadium for a bit had a clue what was going on.

The sport will never gain any major interest while their is a lack of transparency. From both the clubs and the rule makers.

The only reason Sky show the championship games is because they didn't want anyone else showing rugby. As Eurosport tried (rlreport hererl) to show the games a few years back but sky blocked the deal because they didn't want to release their rights to show the Grand Final. So obviously Eurosport were not as interested if they didn't get the main event at the end.

All these things add up to show how closed a shop it is in Super League, red Hall and Sky.

I ask you, who really cares about Championship rugby except the fans of championship rugby teams???