Theoretically it isn’t too bad an idea - but it needs to depend on the draw rather than just being a guaranteed event that happens regardless.

You could have a semi final line up of Saints v Wigan (who could fill Bolton on their own) and Hull v Hull KR (who could fill Headingley) and suddenly a potential 50k attendance is halved at Bolton.

In future You could also potentially have Catalans v Toulouse - which obviously makes sense to play in France, rather than Bolton.

They also need to look at the scheduling of games. It was obvious that 95% of Hull/Wire fans would leave at the end of their game - so the Saints game should have been first with a “full house” for the 2nd half

It would have been sensible to increase SL to 14 clubs last time around.
However, I dont think that this would have made a jot of difference to the Challenge Cup semi final attendance.
It would be interesting to know where the idea for the double header came from
Was it from the Beeb, to help with production costs or The RFL, hoping for additional income ?

It's only sensible to increase to 14 teams of you have the talent pool that can sustain 14 teams without diluting the quality, and I'm not sure that we do. That was the reason for going from 14 to 12 teams a few years back and since then, we've had falling participation, the salary cap has fallen further behind in real terms, we've lost more talent to Australia and we find it harder to attract decent talent from the NRL.

The more sensible option would have been to insist that clubs needed to grow the revenue from the games we have, rather than milking our big fixtures to the point than fans are bored of them. There have been 31 Hull derbies in the last ten years - and consider than in one of those years, the clubs weren't even in the same division, can you blame the fans for getting bored?

The double header is very much the RFL's idea. I'm sure the BBC, as a stakeholder, would have been involved in the decision making, but it was Red Hall who, in their words, wanted to "tap into the event market".

Regarding the talent pool, nobody can disagree and with the playstation generation no longer willing to participate in any sport, Cricket, RU, RL and even football have fewer numbers of kids participating, this trend looks set to continue.
However, IF the 2 additional clubs were based overseas, say Toronto and Toulouse, the impact on the player pool would be reduced.

Again, you are right about the increased number of players now moving down under and the reduced quality of some of the imports, although it would be fair to say that, in relative terms, there are plenty of "Aussie" players to chose from, albeit not the very best, as they would negate their chances of playing Origin and International RL.

Having 14 clubs in the top flight still remains the most sensible option, as this would take out the loop fixtures and allow us to have a balanced fixture program, apart from Magic, which I think will stay.

The one real positive from the semi finals was the inclusion of the Women's final, which will have given their game a huge boost and may encourage more girls to take up the sport.

Agreed, but it isn't just that, I watch SL and the NRL, there is simply no comparison, SL may pay "professional" wages but 80% of the players are still nowhere near the talent.

Saints are the exception, but they are coached by a man going to the NRL.

Quote: wrencat1873 "Regarding the talent pool, nobody can disagree and with the playstation generation no longer willing to participate in any sport, Cricket, RU, RL and even football have fewer numbers of kids participating, this trend looks set to continue.'" Participation in rugby union is growing https://www.sportengland.org/media/1174 ... _aps10.pdf. And given how difficult it can be to book af five-a-side pitch near me, there's clearly enough demand for football facilities from Generation XBOX. I know "kids and their Playstations" is an easy answer, but we've had video games for a lot longer than we've had falling participation.

Quote: wrencat1873 "Regarding the talent pool, nobody can disagree and with the playstation generation no longer willing to participate in any sport, Cricket, RU, RL and even football have fewer numbers of kids participating, this trend looks set to continue.'" Participation in rugby union is growing https://www.sportengland.org/media/1174 ... _aps10.pdf. And given how difficult it can be to book af five-a-side pitch near me, there's clearly enough demand for football facilities from Generation XBOX. I know "kids and their Playstations" is an easy answer, but we've had video games for a lot longer than we've had falling participation.