The idea of merger assumes that there are other town /cities willing to take the place of one of the merged teams. there has een no evidence of this in the uk since the last licensing, only Toronto have come on board and we are at present unsure of their sustainability, mergers were rejected in Cas /Wakey /Fev, Hudds /Fax, Cumbria, Widnes /Leigh. The Hull /Gateshead was a disaster. Licensing did not work last time.

RL in common with all other sports including soccer and RU has been struggling for years to attract new players and spectators. The RFL recognised this over 10 years ago and identified one of the key problems as the amount of competition for the “leisure pound”, i.e. so many “new” ways for people to spend their time and money. Like other sports it hasn’t managed to react. What most have done is sell themselves to tv which in turn leads to decrease in live gates. It’s a vicious circle.

Whatever we decide going forward we need a genuine vision for the game that the RFL, SL, players, and Sky all get behind and work towards.

We can't carry on just making it up as we go along and changing it every few years.

Except I think the cap has done its job as far as it can of levelling the playing field.
We’ve had Salford making the Grand Final. Huddersfield finishing 1st. Cas finishing 1st and making the Grand Final. Huddersfield, Hull FC, Hull KR, Cas all making the Cup Final. Warrington finishing 1st, making the Grand Final and winning the cup. Hull FC winning the cup.

These teams won’t be able to compete consistently until they up their revenue streams and can not only spend on players but also spend on youth systems that rival Leeds, Wigan and Saints.

I agree with most of that but you are talking about small towns. Cas has a population of 40k yet they get around 8k crowds most weeks. If Leeds got that high a percentage of our poulation we would need a stadium bigger than Wembley.

All very well saying increase your revenue streams but how can they do that when they are working wonders to compete as they are.

I bet Cas' hospitality is booked to capacity most games now.

Theres no money in the game.

Fundamentally, how can a sport which struggles to achieve "critical mass" thrive when it's riven with in-fighting? I don't just mean in the UK, I mean the global game.

We need a root and branch approach to the whole sport globally, pooling resources and probably a move away from the slightly Norman structure we have now, of independent money men in their castles.

What you cannot afford in tough times is a lack of vision.

So your vision is ?

We have root & branch reviews every few years, all done in house. Like previous changes, it will be rejected after a few years and either another solution found or a return to the previous status quo.

I know what you mean and agree to a large extent but it’s where I think we need to look beyond small towns otherwise 8k will always be our limit.

If Cas can’t reach further afield then we need clubs with bigger reach who can attract more money into the game.

A league of:
Leeds
Hull FC
Hull KR
Manchester
Newcastle
London
Wigan
Saints
Warrington
Catalans
Toulouse
Toronto

Looks a lot more likely to attract investment than:
Leeds
Hull FC
Hull KR
Wigan
Saints
Warrington
Wakefield
Huddersfield
Castleford
Salford
Featherstone
Leigh

Which is a league we could easily end up with if we don’t provide a proper direction for the sport.

If I were marketing or wanting to be associated with a sport, and I weren’t a scrap metal merchant or local fish and chip shop, then I know which league I’d prefer.

But either way, the cap dependant on income truly gives clubs the opportunity to prove their worth to the league. We could even include a rule that over so much spending on players incurs a 20% tax that is then spent on infrastructure for clubs in development areas or for marketing the sport. It then further restricts the ability of one club to
massively spend more than the others.

The problem is the current “established” clubs are only established at being a bit sh|t. I don’t think we should bank on them finding another 10k fans each.

at what point does a club become established? London 40 years a professional club Gateshead/Newcastle over 22 years, Sheffield 36 years, or by established do we refer to "traditional clubs" Fact is the game as thrown so many expansion clubs under the bus over the years and missed so many opportunities. when the RL threw a million at gateshead hull merger why could they not just give it to Gateshead when Hull had over 120 years to get things right, same with Sheffield Huddersfield.

I'm not, but given the experience of salford, london and Gateshead I don't see a new team bettering current teams and therefore don't throw these to the wolves (pardon the pun) on a fantasy trip.

A better bet would be to look at Widnes /Leigh, Bradford and possibly revisit Cumbria. With Cumbria it needs somebody up there with a vision that the fans of the area might latch on to rather than the RFL suggesting mergers which will then be resisted.

The debate around the impossible problem has been around for decades, literally.

The salary cap is still relevant IMHO. If you just let nature take its course, yes Leeds might be competitive but you're looking at a 4-5 team Super League.

If you want more fans across the game, each side must be competitive. There is no magic formula to increase revenues significantly by traditional means.

Like I've said before, the game simply cannot afford in-fighting and a lack of vision. How do you fix that? United governing body for a start, and I've suggested a closer link with the Australian game too.
It is in everyone's best interest to make the international programme meaningful again, and let's face it we've been off the pace for as long as most of us can remember.

The game won't die in any case, but it can decline a fair bit still. We're already starting to look like a feeder competition for the NRL.

The clubs have voted unanimously for the cap to remain as it is.