Of course there are winners. Now the real RL fans can stand up and say 'we told you - RL is for us and us alone'. Maybe it is childish pointing it out, but perhaps you can't see it is the case.

Of course there have been and will continue to be mistakes....how did they develop the motor car? First time? Or did they make as few cock ups and learn from them. Good job RL fans are not involved in such a project, we would still be driving Model T Fords.

Things like the CC take time, even more than one or two seasons in fact.

I would point out that bowes' team is Coventry Bears so it is extremely odd to accuse him of wanting to keep rugby league near his house.

I would suggest that like me, he is sick of seeing expansion clubs fail due to stupid RFL decisions and / or club incompetance. If Cru had stayed at Brewery Field and NL1, I don't think we'd be talking about Wrexham.

Cars were invented by starting with a simple process and making it increasingly complex i.e. bottom-up.

The rugby league equivalent would trying to invent the Formula One car before the Model T (and failing).

Coventry Bears - another example of wasted opportunity. What have they done since winning NL3 a few years back? How did 'doing it right' help them develop? Because they seem to have gone backwards. Had the RFL helped them out with funds or something, you can bet your life there would be a queue a mile long slating them.

How long would the Crusaders staying in the lower leagues satisfy real RL criteria? 5 years, 10 years? 20? Until they won promotion? well how would they achieve that without being accused of 'RFL' favouritism?

Rugby League does not have the luxury of hoping that a bunch of players pop out of nowhere and suddenly are world beaters, it has to use some artificial means, if only initially. Almost all other sports did their developing years ago, RL did not and if it wants to develop, it has to start somewhere. Perhaps it's me that is out of step and almost everyone else is perfectly happy with RL being a regional sport?

Wrong, in the RL world, a car would have been invented and that was that. No need to try and make it better, it had an engine and worked so that is enough.

You are kidding.

If we can have the same format for a world cup twice in succesion, it would be highly unusual. Rugby league is the sport that changes things for no reason at all.

Well I'll give you that one.

No way of knowing that. I don't think I would have slated them.

Bowes would know more about the Bears than I do but I wouldn't judge an RLC team solely on the results of their 1st team particularly as juniors are considered so important these days.



I don't know another 3 might have done for me but there is no way of knowing.



The trouble is that if you keep doing something and it keeps ending in disaster then perhaps you ought to reconsider your methods.

Rather than have this kind of farce every few years, I would prefer that the RFL fund a couple of RLCN sides and bring them into CC1. I think the sport needs 3 divisions below SL really but we don't have enough teams currently to do that.

I think you talk sense but it will never happen. Again we don't have that much time on our side. It could take 15-20 years to develop a SL side from scratch...where will RU be by then? It is growing (much as I hate to admit it) and an unfortunate side affect of that is that RL will become something of an oddity.

15-20 years would about right IMO.

Union is its own thing, I don't see any need to compete with union just as I don't sit around agonising about cricket or ice hockey.

In any case, there are a lot of negative stories about union floating about, I think the union "bubble" is going to burst. It will always be a big competitior but I think it will never grow again at the speed that it has.

Really? Please describe this model and the roles of "heartland" clubs and the RFL in geographical expansion.