Yes.

I am starting to see why the Super League clubs are rebelling. Crazy stuff, the document states one thing that is correct and then comes up with a solution that would make it worse claiming it is the solution.

Moving between FT and PT leagues is very hazardous for club finances. So we are going to make it easier for it to happen?!?!?!?

This has to be a the only light in whole lot of dark in this report but does that just create an even larger gap between Saints, Wigan, Leeds, Warrington and everyone else? Also with only allowing 10 elite academies the club trained allowance is only going to apply to 10 teams. So Salford for example who are unlikely to be one of the 10 will be hampered trying to buy their way out of mediocrity, which at the moment is the only way to do it.

Maybe the league should consider setting up elite academies over the country in areas such as South Wales and the North East? If funding is ring fenced why just give it to the clubs?

It's the 3 X 8 that is the big problem.

I tried to have a word with Gary Hetherington at a recent Wigan v Leeds U19 game.
I asked him how was he going to sell the idea to season ticket holders if they didn't know who their team was playing or when, or how many home fixtures there would be even after the fixtures were released.

He wouldn't or couldn't answer.

It is a major problem. I, and suspect many other fans book their holidays around their clubs fixtures, but for the last seven weeks of the season (probably the main holiday season) no-one who would know who or when they were playing.

...so we hold back the clubs that are producing talent because the others either have no interest to do so or cannot raise the money?

If you look at the Euro limits its 2.20M Euros so the equivalent today in £'s is £1868325 at today's rates which is the figure more or less the RFL say we are at now.
Looks like a typo and they have only partially updated it?

Clubs who may want to run an "elite" academy and can afford to do so may not be given a choice.

Doesn't seem fair.

Society did not have democracy a few hundred years ago and not many if any country around the world were not using it..

Does not mean it's a bad idea just because no one else uses it.

I think Rouges is the only person I've seen come up with an actual issue with the system, rather than just feelings about it.

The season ticket is an arguement, but the number of games would be the same whether you are top or middle 8 and as far as I am aware, clubs don't price the season ticket based on the opposition.

There is a point that if you are in the bottom 4 then the season ticket is devalued, but then if you are in the top 4 of tier 2 your ticket is in effect enhanced.

It's a reason for certain and I can't argue it's invalid as we don't know. As has been pointed out it's never been tried. I just think it could open up SL a bit and give us more high intensity matches come season end. Less of the current system where the large majority of the league is treated by players, coaches and fans as a pre-season.

Hey I didn't say that is was perfect. The current issue with the salary cap at the moment is that it prevents a chairman investing large amounts of money in a club to get them back on level terms with the front runners. So the salary cap, which is designed to level the competition, actually guarantees that Leeds, Saints and Wigan always have a big advantage. Looking at football as an example, teams like Man City and Chelsea could not have bought their way to the top and instead Man Utd would have won the last 10 championships uncontested making the league more one sided than it actually is.

As a Saints fans who understands this I am all for the salary cap



However look at the teams that will benefit from the 100k rule. The biggest winner must be Leeds (which may be why Gary is not joining the revolt) Sinfield, Hall, Burrow and Maguire will all be on 100k plus which while give the Rhinos a lot more room on the cap. You would also think that players like Ward and Sutcliffe are also future high earners as well.

Saints and Wigan would have a chance to get former players back such as Tomkins and Graham if they were willing to offer big contracts. There would also be a chance for RU converts such as Eastmond and Ashton could be tempted back but they have burnt their bridges so they are unlikely. I doubt Wigan even rate Ashton enough to give him £100k

Warrington would not benefit as none of their high earners are club trained while Huddersfield only have Cudjoe. Catalan you would suspect also have no French high earners. Hull could offer Briscoe big money but Leeds have him on a 5 year deal and would want a fee. Everyone else doesn't spend to the cap anyway.

So this rule only benefits the three clubs that have won the most trophies in the full time era. So it is not really a rule change that is good for the "whole game" is it?

You're right (as usual

) the 3 x 8 is the problem and I assume that is why the revolt has only just happened as the clubs assumed it would not happen until now.

However I think the issue is that teams will be going bust because of this. You have to suspect that the current bottom 6 super league club that are all being run a losses could not handle dropping down into the championship. While the usual suspects in the Championship Fev, Leigh, Halifax are likely to bankrupt themselves trying to get promoted.

I fear that we could lose these 8 clubs leaving us with Bradford being the 8th biggest club and Whitehaven being the 9th. This structure change could kill the game in this country off.

However you feel this is all just noise to distract us from the mismanagement of the game from the RFL. The report is just a list of weak excuses.

Agreed just because its new doesn't make it bad, and it if goes only to be a generally accepted structure then great, and I'll hold my hand up and say I called it wrong. , Reintroducing promotion/relegation revalues the bottom four clubs and the fight for survival each year. And the top 4 of the championship can be need to be as competitive as possible for a chance of promotion. Don't forget, Huddersfield were relegated after years of finishing bottom, and it's not like they've been yoyoing ever since is it, in fact widnes, castleford, hull kr etc have all had promotion into the league and continue to be competitive.

I can't say xyz will definitely go wrong with it - yes season tickets is an obvious one, and I think under the proposed system well see a widening between the top 8 and the remaining 4 - is that worth the top 4 of the championship gaining on those clubs? The financial implications of the super league clubs missing out on the top 8 would be huge as well.

The way the current system needs to be changed - but that can be done by a top 5 playoff and p/r - why make it more complicated?

It's all a far cry from how I would like the SL to be, but my system would require more central control and the clubs taking far less in TV money.

But I did buy into the original idea that SL should expand. I think a huge amount of money and time has been wasted over the years of SL. We took all our advantage from the club game and money and spent 10-15 years throwing it all away on higher wages. Only to find other games RU follow us and surpass us.

The NRL was behind us for years on player wages and whilst we where celebrating in how we could spend more than them, they were busy running a tight ship, having fierce control over their salary cap, the money from their game did not going into players, it went into putting their clubs onto a sound financial footing and pushing the game to the max. They did not put the cart before the horse. They got the increases in revenue, before increasing their cap. We on the other hand are looking to increase spending before any sign of extra revenue.

You could have all the NRL players playing in SL, but it would not raise a jot more money from SKY. The players do not drag in the money, the fans do. You have to grow the fan base and this is where we have struggled. Cutting teams to 12, cutting the number of players all to split the current miersly pot a few less ways just fills me with saddness that we are on a hiding to nothing with no new ideas at all, just a desperate money grab.

I do think all the talk of mergers at the start whilst with the best of intentions, missed the point that fans would not support such a creation. It would have been far better to just leave them to fight it out and when administrations came force restarts from the bottom. It would leave one club in the area with an advantage and a chance to grab the future fans. Sounds harsh I know.