Any 'breakaway' would require SL to set up their own administration etc, all the bread and butter stuff that they clearly don't want to do.

Correct SL holds all the power, and I don't think SKY would be that bothered if they are showing an RFL sanctioned SL or a breakaway SL as long as the viewers still watch. They of course instigated the Premier League's breakaway from the Football League decades ago anyway.

SL currently throw the Championship, Championship 1 and the RFL a few million a year.......more than enough to set up an accounts and HR department.

I can genuinely see SL trying to copy the Super Rugby model, with local clubs feeding "super clubs" and running 2 comps.

As an example, Wakefield, Castleford & Featherstone would all exist seperately in the 2nd tier comp with the stars from each of those clubs assembled into a super club.......the one-eyed flat cappers can moan about "tradition", but their clubs will still exist and if they don't want to watch the "stars"they don't have to, but there's a reason that the Hurricanes attract 16k as an average gate here, whilst the regions that feed them have sides that attract 4 and 5k gates......perception is everything.

The RFL Operational Rules now run to 615 pages. If there was a breakaway, then the newly formed SL would need to create their own version of that. I'm sure it could be simplified and cut down in size, but still a mammoth job that couldn't be done quickly.

I'm not a flat-capper (that's reserved for our friends from Fev) and the last time I looked I had two eyes, but equally there's only one RL team that I'll ever support. 40 years plus, and it's a "tradition" that I'm sticking with. If the game has to change for the "better" then fine, but I wouldn't be attending any games that didn't involve players in the blue'n'white.

The Hurricanes Franchise in Super Rugby encompasses teams from the Eastern, southern and Eastern central provinces. Hawkes Bay, Manawatu and the Wellington region all have their own provincial sides in the second tier comp as well as other sides like Whanganuiin a lower tier playing in what we call the heartland cup.....and then filtering down to club level.
What I was suggesting was something similar......which would mean you could watch Halifax play Featherstone in a 2nd tier competition, that would start as soon as the super one ends.....prior to that, some of the Halifax players might be picked to play for the SUPER team that had Halifax as one of its "feeder" clubs...Possible called the West Yorkshire Wilder-beasts or some other stupid name....and you can choose to attend or not attend.......as I say, 16,500 is the average for the Hurricanes in Super Rugby, 4,500 the average for the Wellington Lions in the same stadium one tier below.......but the revenue from the Hurricanes is divided across their entire catchment area....so whilst you might not want to watch the WYW-B's, if you did, the benefits would filter down to your club.......the choice would be, as it is now, yours to make.

I'd be happy for London Broncos to become a feeder club for the South Eastern Scorpions and I'd go to watch both.....the Broncos because they are my club, but the scorpions because they would be the elite and they'd represent my region......

I'd think that the setup you're suggesting would need rather more mega-bucks to create than the money that we have coming in at the moment. All good in principle, but needs a massive up-front investment to give it a chance of working. What you suggest would need a complete top-to-bottom overhaul of the RL game in the UK, which would come at a significant cost.

The other problem would be that we don't really have "regions" around the UK that we could build this on. Given only two clubs in France and one in Canada, we'd have to say goodbye to them as well.

Keep the ideas coming, but this one isn't one of your best.

I think for the game to go up a notch, this needs to happen. The vision of SL in 1995 has not yet been realised.
Too many clubs, too close to each other congesting the comp is not working anymore. A different type of fan is emerging.
Super or provincial clubs in locations like Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Cumbria, with established feeder clubs playing in RFL comps would include Salford, Swinton, Leigh, Rochdale, Oldham, St. Helens, Wigan, Hunslet, Workington etc....

So, Wire/St Helens/Widnes to combine as one team called Liverpool, existing teams to play in the second tier. Wigan, Leigh, Salford, Oldham, Rochdale to play as Manchester, existing teams to play in second tier. Trinity, Leeds, Cas, Fev, Batley, Dewsbury, Bradford, Halifax and Huddersfield to play as West Yorkshire. Hull/Hull KR move east to play as Holland. Catalans and London represent larger regions anyway. Boom. Room for expansion.

I genuinely don't think they would be a break away (think its a load of chairman playing my clubs bigger than yours) The sport isn't big enough. While Wigan, Saints, are the big boys of the sport, they're not exactly like manchester utd, Arsenal etc when the premier league broke away. Also arguably the biggest club in Leeds are on the RFL's side.

If there was a breakaway there would be no challenge cup which i think would hurt a few clubs. Yes the crowds aren't great but it still means a great deal to fans and clubs to win it. The same clubs playing each other (with a possibility of loop fixtures to make the season longer) would soon wear off. There is only handful of SL clubs that are actually strong. The rest are all getting poor crowds and could all be replaced. I can't see sky getting excited and paying record amounts to see the same 12 clubs every year, with no chance of any of them being changed, and fixtures including Salford V Widnes in front of 2k fans.

My own view when all the statements and counter statements stop (and i include my own chairman in that) and SL actually produce a solid plan, which they've not done yet, then i personally believe the structure will change after 2019 to a 1up, 1 down, and the lower leagues are guaranteed the same slice of funding they currently get. They've already said they're willing to change the structure. We just need them all to get round a table and thrash out their differences. SL will probably end up with more power too.

Personnally i am in favour of s breakaway. Sick of the small clubs dictatating, and small club fans ranting on about they ate the foundations of the game. They are not, the super league clubs are. Franchise was the way forward but the RFL bottled it by not kicking out under performing clubs.
A breakaway super keague with the best run vlubs in the better stadiums rather than the dilapidated dumps some clubs are allowed to play in. Bring on tje revolution.

4 team league then.

I think it McManus and in particular Lenagan that are trying to force a civil war,all Rimmer has done is state the position as it is now

Possible NRL takeover of SL?