I Keep reading the same comment over and over again - best interests of the game

irrelevant of what happens to the bulls etc surly what is in the best interests of the game is to have a crediable governing body.

What ever decision is reached the whole fiasco needs to be a wake up call to the RFL to govern the sport in the interest of all its members not a few in the elite league.

Simply keeping bulls in SL becuase they get an artificially inflated gate attendance (due to low unsustainable prices) and becuase they have rich "history" is not acting in the interests off all. IF BB stay in SL it must be for somthing such as a good youth policy etc which benefits the game and this needs to be made public simply to restore faith in the governing body.

Actually it might be that there isn't.



It isn't simple though. Simple as that!



Do you not see the contradiction there?



I am a talented athlete from Leeds. Should I aspire to play football for United at Elland Road, yawnion for Carnegie at Headingley, possibly athletics? No, I'm going to put on my clogs & flat cap & play wugerby for t'Parkside at 3s6d a game on t'rec. Your plan is faultless.

But if you took my wages away and the welfare state, I would be in trouble big time!

Wealth backers have always been in sport, even when it was semi pro. The only difference is the size of the wallet of the backers. The Sky money, why would it stop? They have a schedule to fill, unless football is going 24/7 52 weeks a year they need something else to sell their advertising space on.

Should the Bulls stay up, well it depends on what value you measure on. Financially yes,
Morally well maybe not.
Fair play Yes - as they did not finish bottom of the pile.
etc etc

As for P&R should it come back, well either we are a sport or we are not. For me sport is about the onfield. If that holds no weight anymore about the progress of a club, then are we a sport anymore????

bewareshadows "As for P&R should it come back, well either we are a sport or we are not. For me sport is about the onfield. If that holds no weight anymore about the progress of a club, then are we a sport anymore????"---bewareshadows

Are American Football, Baseball, Ice Hockey, Basketball or more relevantly NRL ,sports/sporting leagues or merely businesses?
Personally I would like to see some form of promotion/relegation but have yet to be convinced that any model proposed in our sport would have more advantages than disadvantages. And some of the models proposed would , in my opinion be disastrous to the sport and to the affected clubs whether the promoted side or the relegated team. Essentially the problem is the change between semi professional and full time professional.
In the long term (certainly not in the current economic climate) I'd like to see some analysis of whether a "Conference" style top league (similar to NFL, and the main American sports ) is a possible solution. That would allow expansion as well as giving our traditionally based clubs a way to top league.

Just having a conference system wouldnt address the principle problem, a lack of money both in the lower end of SL and the tiers below it

For licencing to work requires the clubs outside SL to be closing the gap between them and the bottom of SL, that would then put pressure on the lower SL clubs to retain their licence , basically to find the type of rich investors that other sports attracts, those that dont lose out

don't be a pillock !