I am confident that as a club they will have a plan for any eventual outcome. They are currently planning to inplement a full time squad for next year in anticipation of beig able to make the jump.

Clubs don't really need to advertise their '5-year plan' to the average fan. I think they have shown they can plan for superleague with limited funds. I sure 1.3 million of sky money (I think it is that) will help with other costs and player funding.

To inform your response about dwindling crowds outside magic superleague land, fill your boots:
Championship 2012
Fev 2283
Fax 2222
Leigh 1772
Sheff 1178
Dewsbury 1134
Keighley 1064
Batley 1013
York 812
Swinton 760
Hunslet 536

Championship 2013

Featherstone - 2,416
Halifax - 1,778
Leigh - 1,571
Sheffield - 998
Barrow - 990
Dewsbury - 908
Workington - 841
Batley - 796
Haven - 772
York - 740
Keighley - 735
Doncaster - 724
Swinton - 715
Hunslet - 544

Ahhhh, but 'good' is subjective so very difficult to judge. I would argue that a bad plan is worse than no plan. If you move the responsibility for planning to clubs, then if their plans are poor (and you're not wedded to a particular vision of who should be in/out), they can be allowed to fail, and those with better plans replace them. If the RFL and the sport as a whole fails, that is a bigger problem. The more comprehensive the remit of the governing body, the greater the risk of spectacular fail.

I'm not inherently against strong and heavily centralised governance, like they have in American sports, for example, more frustrated that we do it in a half-baked way. Do it properly or not at all, is what I'm trying to say.

Agreed.

i would argue that having no plan is just the same as having a very very poor one.

And letting these clubs go to the wall to be replaced by better clubs is dependent on us having those better clubs in reserve. We dont

It's happening Smokey, get used to the idea. As for facilities what can Headingley offer me that I can't get at Post office Rd? All I and the average fan want to do is watch a game of RL and maybe have a pint to discuss afterwards. Your arguments are ridiculous, the people who run Featherstone Rovers aren't stupid. They're well aware of what can and can't be achieved. Give it a rest.

Three years from now Rovers will be kicking the Loiners' butts.

blah blah


It's true, this SmokeyTA does sound like a Soviet government 5 year plan technocrat ...

Anyway, back to rugby league and the Championship. This weekend's final round of league matches should be really exciting. League Leaders Shield still to be decided (Featherstone hopefully will do it) and any one of four clubs could still go down along with York. Imagine how even more exciting it will be from 2015 when the new structure comes in and when there will be promotion as well as relegation issues at stake.

Back to this weekend and it seems SmokeyTA would have preferred somebody (who??) to 'plan' that Hunslet stays in the Championship so that "Leeds' reserves" do not end up in the third tier. Sorry. That's not how it works - even for Caddick/Hetherington. I must admit, I'll have a wry smile on Sunday afternoon if Hunslet is the club to be relegated.

Roll-on 2015 when this dual registration nonsense comes to an end.

But at some point you have to ask "where are the investors?". And if, for example, a team from a town the size of Featherstone did find their own Dr Clothcap, would they be a better bet than a city club struggling to obtain investment?

'No plan' is really just shorthand for envisioning their role differently - as a bureaucracy providing a basic framework in which clubs operate, rather than as leaders with a very specific destination in mind.

That [iis[/i a plan.

I'm sure we'd both agree that it'd be desirable for the sport to be wealthier, the international game more competitive and higher profile and so on.
If they said, 'we've got a vision as to how we can do that and, crucially, we're going to stick with it and deliver, that'd be fine. But they always lack either the political capital or will to properly enforce the salary cap or implement franchising or force through mergers or whatever is panacea du jour. Which isn't necessarily their fault - if the clubs and fans won't follow, what can they do?
Take on a more limited and realistic remit would be a obvious approach, aiming for natural, organic growth (or, if not growth, adaptation).

I think we all agree we need to freshen up SL a bit, a new club, with some fresh ideas and a bit of optimism can only be a good thing.

Crowds are only 1 piece of the puzzle. Wakey and KR struggle financially on 8k crowds with their own stadium. Cas and Widnes seem to do ok with smaller crowds.

Fev deserve a chance.

That's some mighty fine signature material there my friend!

What a load of ignorant twaddle smokeyTA, Have you seen the stadium upgrades that are happening and have been happening for the last four or five years. Fev have backers and serious money is being put in and generated from some high profile sponsors and investors (Probiz, Fosters, Linpac, D.S.Smith) to name but a few. Fev are on the brink of winning the league shield for the FOURTH year on the trot so the ability to get there on a playing front is ticked as well, there are several players signing for Rovers on a full time basis for next season, turning down SL clubs to stay at the club. Please tell me if any player with SL ambitions would do this if Fev were not in that position you question.

My conclusion is that you felt with the inception of SL the "little" clubs would just curl up and die, and the fact that Fev are banging very loudly on the door makes you very uncomfortable Smokey. Get used to it, Fev have "earned" that right and should be given the opportunity.

People mention the p&r coming back in 2015.
Next season there is 1 or 2 to be relegated from SL and maybe as many as 5 to be relegated fron the Championship as it becomes SL2 in 2015.

That's right.
SL 2 in 2015 will, as it stands, be made up of:
-the 2 relegated SL clubs,
-Toulouse and
-the top 9 of the 2014 Championship.
so, the bottom 5 of the 2014 Championship to be relegated to the 'third division'.

I'll ask again, does anybody have a cow?