may be a dumb question but is the walk from Coventry station to Butts Park ok? Not a dodgy area or anything?

The only part I've seen any trouble is the stairs out from the station but you can easily take the pavement on the road for all of a minute added to the journey and if there's a couple of you the stairs are fine. Then it's past a private school, a park, a street of £400,000 houses and a former college so about the least dodgy you can get.

Thanks, I look forward to breaking my Coventry virginity soon. Hopefully my little boy will protect me through the stairs of danger!

Thanks Bowes.

It will be great to see you Tre Cool and Harborne Saint down at the BPA. If you come down, make sure you come up to the tannoy point where i'll be and say hello.

I tend to sit tannoy area to do help with things like scorers. Had a go on tannoy once but couldn't work the technology.

Quote: ap1717 "Well that only leaves two remaining options, South Wales or gateshead.'" www.rugbynetwork.net/boards/read ... 6,14218106 Hopefully they can turn it round but doesn't look like they have income streams away from what the RFL give them

Quote: ap1717 "Well that only leaves two remaining options, South Wales or gateshead.'" www.rugbynetwork.net/boards/read ... 6,14218106 Hopefully they can turn it round but doesn't look like they have income streams away from what the RFL give them

It seems absolutely bizarre that the weakest clubs in the structure have been the ones expected by the RFL to pay for new clubs to enter the league. With this and the refusal to discuss what is going to happen to the CC1 competitions in 2015, it shows the hypocrisy of those who regularly trumpet their own "successes" in adding teams to the league.

Don't they raise any money of their own through Lotteries and sponsors and gate receipts?

The RFL have been quite stringent with financial criteria for new clubs apart from the abomination that was Northampton Rebels. Given Coventry Bears chance to source funding from a diverse number of areas that weren't there last time they applied IMO and this time the bid is from what I hear much stronger.

The worrying thing about the third tier is the RFL included only twelve clubs in their presentation on it and given they said Toulouse were coming into SL2 and Coventry into the third tier that means they're expecting 3 clubs to fold by then, no idea who the third is unless it was merely an estimate

the bears have a great website logo and love the jersey.. Keep up the good work

I think you are being generous to the RFL in suggesting they have a plan for CC1. At present the league seems to be just an afterthought in the plans (and I am not sure they have had the thought yet).

The RFL did think of plans for the third tier but they were completely unworkable and involved splitting it north and south. They backed down when they realised the clubs weren't there to fill a Championship South and due to opposition from clubs like Hemel

I've got family in Cov and I'm down there fairly regularly, I'll definitely try and get along for a game next season and I've just bought a T-shirt in anticipation!

The way l see it with 2 SL divisions of 12, there will be 6 teams relegated from the Championship next year
There are 9 teams in Championship 1 plus Coventry
lf Toulouse are coming in thats 7 relegated from the Championship to tier 3,
2 promoted making 15 teams, in tier 3, hows that going to work ? NR Cup etc, lot of games, lot of travelling, lot of expenses, for the clubs least able to afford it

I think they're hoping to do it the way NL3 worked back in the day, say Hemel only play Gateshead, Barrow etc once but Skolars, Oxford etc twice. I doubt there will be a NRC and if there is would just be a knockout for third tier clubs as SL2 clubs won't be in it

It won't be 7 relegated from the Championship as they won't relegate a playoff team to accomodate a team that can't win Championship 1.

SL2 will probably be:

Bottom 2 in SL
8 Championship playoff teams
Toulouse
Winners of a Championship/Championship 1 promotion/relegation playoff series

I'd have thought the playoffs would be something like 9th-12th in Championship (bottom 2 would go down anyway) plus the top one or two teams in Championship 1 but the exact format isn't confirmed