Two teams that won their league comp didn't intially get in, yet one team that won a trophy that no one really cares about got in. Only in RL. An professional sport run by amateurs.

I don't think these Leythers are quite getting the point

I wouldn't care, at no point have i ever said that Widnes didn't deserve their license. In fact, if they've got someone willing to put money into the club and invest in things such as the academy, then that can only be good for the sport.

I just think the process needs reviewing, for example, how important was the Northern Rail win in the grand scheme of things? Would the RFL really have wanted to give a license to one of Halifax, Barrow, Fev or Batley, while Widnes are sat in the Championship with all the off field setup but no NR trophy from 2 years ago?

Also the 3 year cycle does Championship clubs no good, look at Halifax, won the league, no chance of Super League for another couple of years at least, and lose a couple of their better players.

The only reason I've piped up is when people have started comparing franchising with a decision made two years ago to replace a team that went bust. The two are totally different scenarios.

It is slightly ironic though eh

If you read what I’ve written, you’ll actually see that I am agreeing with you on that. You went down, a little pedantic to say so, but I’ll accept that. Plus, that was written before you were handed a Championship place back by the RFL on off-the-field issues only.




Nope, whilst I would prefer it if promotion was based entirely on on-the-field performance, I understand this can’t always be the case. Leigh’s reprieve was a far clearer case of a club being promoted entirely due to off-the-field issues, than Widnes getting a licence now. At least we did actually have to fulfill an on-the-field criteria, in order to make a bid. Therefore, it wasn’t quite as clear cut and dismissive of on-the-field performance as it was for Leigh. Please tell me why Leigh weren’t allowed to make a bid, despite all the excellent infrastructure and off-the-field quality it has going for it?

In my opinion, the decision to hand Leigh a Championship place before Oldham, despite on-the-field performance being ignored totally, was probably the right decision. I accepted it at the time too, despite some misgivings.

Widnes being awarded a licence this time, under the current rules, definitely is the right decision also.

My arguments against Leigh’s promotion from Ch1 was being based on the same rationale that some Leythers are now using against Widnes. It was also a way of showing up the awful hypocrisy about the issue of on-the-field performance, shown by said Leythers, for what it truly is. At the time I never saw a single comment arguing about Leigh being favoured for promotion due entirely to off-the-field strength – not one!

But now look.

I’m not saying that all Leythers are hypocrites, most have been very sensible about the situation, but a few are making themselves look incredibly foolish. Some of them should know better.