Not if super Nigel (saviour of this country to the hard of joined thinking) and the rest of his UKIPers get their way

Its always funny to see the fans of some non-descript small northern club decrying les Catalans and the French as 'bringing nothing to the game' as if their tiny club which is barely even heard of in the small pit-town it inhabits brings in all the money and the visibility and the players.

There are probably 6 clubs (including Les Catalans) who bring something meaningful to SL, the rest are only there because they either have a rich owner or have been the best at signing the cast offs from the big clubs and journeyman overseas players.

In fact that's one of the problems the game has

Why is it then that clubs like the one you claim to support are forever in areas where "small northern clubs play" hoovering up the better youngsters on scholarships? . If they didn't do this maybe the clubs you continue to mock wouldn't have to relay on signing your clubs "cast offs" to fill their squads?.

You will never admit it but all the current clubs in this country need each other in some capacity. As for this thread i don't have a problem with Toulouse if they made it to the top table providing they achieved it on the playing field and put strong foundations for R.L in the city for the future...and not like P.S.G did.

Because we play in a competition, teams compete with each other. A pro club doesn't lay claim to a player just because they may have lived near them at some point.

Toulouse will never make on the playing field because the playing field is entirely set up to protect these small northern clubs, who if you believed them have somehow never been given a fair crack of the whip. Even though the ENTIRE GAME is set up for their benefit and the rules we have, from the Salary Cap to quota's to the league structure are there to protect small northern clubs.

Have we been drinking again



The new structure does not benefit the smaller clubs in SL, it ensures that they will be playing in a relegation league every season.
What it does ensure, is that the top six, plus 2 others will dominate the league more than they currently do, probably leading to an even smaller
top flight in the next few years.

It does allow a possible promotion for Leigh, Bradford, London or Featherstone but, of course they too will still have to get lucky when the relegation league comes around each season.

Although there is some merit in the comment you make regarding the salary cap, this was only brought about to prevent other clubs trying to
follow the lead of the leagues biggest club, Wigan, who bought success and almost bankrupted the game.

Maybe, you haven't travelled outside the big city of Leeds very often but, you really should take note of the numbers and quality of junior set up's
in the areas around the clubs that you are talking about. Without which, there would be somewhat fewer youngsters taking up the game, which would
make the player pool very small indeed.

Perhaps the big 4 should just play with each other and leave the rest "behind" ???

Makes me laugh when I read about how Leeds rhinos have this amazing scholarship system when the truth is that it's full of young lads from Wakefield Castleford and Featherstone.

Then there's the Academy which is packed full of players who have spent 2 to 3 years in scholarship systems of so-called smaller clubs only for Leeds to come in for them when they are 16 years old and offer them more money to go to Headingley.

I accept that that is the way of the world and it's the nature of sport but for fans of the bigger clubs to then come on the forum and start criticising the smaller clubs for not producing players is downright pathetic.

Largely what you are saying is true... However lets look at the alternatives, are Wakefield or Castleford for instance under any more threat from being relegated under this structure than they were under franchising? Im just using them as an example, im not saying they are the only ones in that position, but Wakefield and Castleford made huge promises in terms of facilities that they just haven't delivered on, both have had serious financial difficulties etc etc and struggled with all the things demanded under licensing. Even as a Wakefield fan you cannot really tell me that you would have been confident coming up to a franchise decision time that Wakefield were in can you ?

If you think of it another way clubs who will likely be under threat from franchising are also the same ones likely to be most at threat under this P+R, however the 'fall' as it were is much less.

As a short term move, clubs at the lower end of SL don't really have much more of a threat of SL, but should they actually be relegated the downsides aren't as great (they get more funding, they can almost immediately come back up (in theory), they may still get a few 'bigger' attendances against the SL sides) In the short term the lower SL sides have somewhat insulated themselves from some of the more extreme damage relegation does.

However as you also state, long term it gives up pretty much any chance of a club growing in to a challenger, sure a Dr Koukash might come along every so often, but the best a lower end SL club can now hope for is a season in the sun before their squad is picked off ala Cas this year.

what right pathetic is a pro club expecting some kind of acknowledgement for that fact that another club scouted and trained and developed a player who at some stage lived quite near them .

The lads playing for the Leeds Rhinos academy have the square root of F all to do with the pro clubs in Wakefield, Cas and Featherstone. That these places are a hotbed of amateur players playing for the big clubs is not source of pride for those pro clubs, it should be a source of shame.

It makes me laugh that we see fans of these smaller clubs arguing that because a lad in the leeds academy once went to nostell priory it is somehow necessary that we have 3 pro clubs in Wakefield.

Could you say its a source of shame then for amateur clubs in a large city like Leeds if the Rhinos look in other districts constantly for junior players?.

Lol at that, all of it!

So a kid from Castleford, who attends Castleford Academy school which has strong links with Castleford Tigers, who's spent 7 years playing for Castleford Lock Lane and 3 years being trained by Castlefords Tigers youth system, who when turning 16 is tempted to Leeds by a few extra grand has the square root of F all to do with Castleford?

Don't talk daft. There are a ton of players from Leeds playing SL for Leeds and for other clubs.

Cas tigers? Yes. An RL professional isn't made at 14. It's a pretty pathetic claim to fame that the club is near where a player lived for a time.