Therein lies the problem. Do the RFL really care about this outcome?

Since licensing was introduced haven't SL crowds dropped? I know from my own research that currently 9 of the 14 SL clubs attendances are down, 3 of those have quite significant drops, only Wire and Crusaders (using Celtic) crowds are up significantly. Like for like attendances in SL are currently down 1.8%. With no relegation battles due I expect that will not get back into the black before the end of the regular season.

Top 12 playoff system is the answer

Not only do the RFL not actually care about this situation , they want it to continue , they see the purpose of the heartland clubs is to provide a training academy for potential new SL expansion clubs , and now somewhere for SL clubs to keep players fit , nothing more

I have been pointing this out for several years now , they do not want us to increase our crowds or our ' earned ' income , they want us to remain on the breadline , on the edge of oblivion

That way we are easy to control

The only way anything can change is for the clubs to sit down together with a blank piece of paper and start to work together

What are the odds though? Serious question, is that ever likely to happen/will anyone be brave enough to initiate it?

Don't buy in to the Dual Contract system, or loan system. In fact do not take any players from SL clubs, unless they are signing permanently. I know this may cause some lower league clubs a problem or two, but its time to cut the cloth accordingly and the players are just going to have to accept it.

If they can't lend or loan then the SL clubs have to pay them for sitting in the stands. If they won't pay them, then they will come into the championship of there own free will and that in turn will improve it. Is that too simplistic?

I used to watch as much Rugby League as i could. Now I watch Fax-and even then I do not have the same passion as the past. SL games are poor. But the RFL believe the game is healthy because SL Clubs announce record crowds. Yet Wakey, Crusaders, Quins, Hull KR etc are near to broke. Lets spread the game at any cost is the belief of Lewis and Wood-forgetting you need to have proper foundations for that to happen.

The game is in a mess below SL. The prognosis is that the Championship clubs will be forced to become feeder clubs or die off. IF Fax become a feeder club then I have no interest. I doubt I am alone in thinking that. I am proud of Fax and of what we as a club do now and what we have achieved in the past. But the people ruining our game have no respect for our heritage or that of Barrow, Leigh, Batley, Hunslet etc. They just want a SL with the rest as feeder clubs making it look like Bradford, Huddersfield, Crusaders, Quins etc asre well run clubs with great strength in depth and that England can actually beat Australia rather than the joke they are and have been for a while.

The RFL make things fit what they and Sky want. We have Wood and Lewis making up things and going back on their word. We see the same clubs at the top as 3 years ago. We see the same clubs struggling as 3 years ago. We see the same attitude in signing Aussies instead of bringing Youth through. We have the RFL playing Internationals on the same day as England Soccer in a World Cup in a small stadium in Northern England (Sorry Leigh fans). We see the game getting less and less exposure in the media. So please tell me what the hell Franchising is supposed to be bringing to the game? The RFL are forcing me and other fans away from the sport we love to follow.

Toulouse are run like a joke. They do not deserve to even be in the championship let alone considered for SL. That the RFL are still prepared to back them into Sl shows how way off reality the RFL are. The way the game is being run and ruined by Lewis, Wood and co I am not sure I will be following Professional Rugby League much longer.

Get signed up for the fans forum at the George , maybe the perfect place to vent your spleen

I wonder if the club will make a statement about us now not being elligible to apply for SL?

that probably the best and clearest post ive ever read...thanks

What part aren't we elligible for?

The £1,000,000 jobby?

Edit, apparently it's the attendance thing that does us. Didn't realise some had been as low as they had.

Sh[i![/it or bust against Batley, attendance of 5,000 needed. Free gate? Just announce it as 5,000 anyway. Why not

and heres me thinking it was only us fev fans who wa bitter

Mate i have got to agree with you on that front.Even if my team Widnes got a licence i still think it is all wrong.I have lived down London for a few yrs and i once said put the rugby league on, and nobody watched it.It was Quins v Widnes when we was in Superleague.A few like the game but it wont expand.Why we putting money in to develop the French players when we should be improving the British players.If British sport wants to have success we need as many fulltime British or english players.I think it is the same in football,as we see the premier league one of the best in the world.But again full of foreign players.Yes a few foreign players of quality is good but not a squad.A club should only be allowed 5 foreign players maximum.Hopefully one day goes back to a proper sport, where the game used to be fair.

A bit like when they listened to Leighton Samuels at Celtic then and look what happened there