Quote: Trainman "I agree with al lot of what you say but still think licensing is the way to go.
Assumptions are being made that with a franchise system it has to be a closed shop. It doesn’t. If a club has the ambition, the infrastructure and the finances there is no reason the franchised league couldn’t be expanded. We have a system now that some teams play others 3 times. If SL grew we’d end up with some teams playing others only once. Doesn’t matter with a play off to determine the winners.
Once the league has grown enough to support two mandatory full time leagues then in can be split with promotion and relegation re-introduced.
I see the point that some have made that some teams are relegated because of poor decisions on their part but that’s not necessarily the case. The current system effectively pushes clubs to spend beyond their means to try and avoid going down.'"
The problem with franchising/ licensing is that it tends to be a smoke and mirrors situation, where different criteria are allocated different "points", therefore allowing those controlling the allocation of licences to skew the criteria to suit their agenda and again, with the likely influx of N. American clubs, who have loads of cash but no foundation, just how do you score them ??
Plus, with franchise/ licensing, you are still effectively putting two fingers up to the Championship clubs.
People forget that RL is a sport and as such success should be decided on the field of play and not just by ticking boxes on a checklist.
Promotion/relegation was only brought back because it was deemed "unfair" to prevent Championship clubs from progressing.
Indeed, on any criteria based list, London would be nowhere near SL and yet, this season, having been promoted (and written off pre season) they have been a revelation.
Ironically, it is their success that has caused some fans to moan about the spectre of relegation when, pre season, "everyone" was happy with the format as they were "certain" that London would be straight back to the Championship.
They are without doubt the team of the season and Ward has done an increddible job, on a shoestring budget with a wafer thin squad
All of this will intensify greatly if/when Toronto are promoted as they seem to have plenty of cash to throw around and one would expect that once promoted, they will be here to stay.
