This would be ok if the reason cited (for not going to France) was the non level playing field and not the covid risk.

Strangely, the same people complaining here are the same ones complaining about how few fixtures Catalan completed last season.
When covid was rife over here, they were demanding that Catalan fulfil their fixtures.

Instead of taking EVERY opportunity to take a pop at anything related to French RL, lets take out the anti French bias out of the argument and have a sensible conversation

Certainly not a level playing field for French club Catalans Dragons when a home cup tie cannot be played at their home stadium - nor in their home country.
Yet they are courageous enough to travel to England where the experts have insisted that the government have failed to deal with the pandemic - while a large minority whinge about their ' freedom,liberty and rights ' when it was France,and other countries that had proper,initial lockdowns.
None of the English clubs entered into the Betfred Challenge Cup had to leave their country...

Catalans v Wakey.. Enough of this gruff. The rules/laws were put in place and agreed too.

Some need to follow them.

It's the "some" rather than the "all" that seems to be the issue here though.

It is very strange to have different rules for different clubs in the same league in a professional sport, even if some players at some clubs are part-time.

Maybe it's just as strange to have a league in which some clubs are fully high level professional on full cap and and some clubs are semi-professional on just what they can afford.

A league where the difference can be a club spending like a Wigan or a Saints playing clubs with all their players on low level part time contracts.

Then the governing body deciding to apply different rules to different clubs. [i"those are the rules get on with it"[/i isn't the answer at all. Toulouse are guests only, and maybe it's them that should have stepped down for the season, whilst there is a healthy environment for all visiting teams to enjoy......

French RL admirably carries on as normal in the French Elite league, only problem is their league has lost their two biggest clubs from that league in recent years.

You seem to think "French RL" is a load of English and antipodean players galloping around M62 land

It's just not is it?

Be sensible about this. These clubs are guests so the sensible thing if anything is for them to stand down not the English clubs.....

How long are these two French clubs allowed to be guests in this country=#FF0000?

The whole thing is problematic. Is the second tier what is supposedly a professional sport really to operate under some form of handicap rules like an amateur merit league? Did London Broncos really agree to this, or was it imposed on them by a majority of other clubs who benefit from the handicap? Does this set a precedent for handicaps in future? What is the criteria of the handicap, what if a mixed pro club could field a team that is mainly fully pro? If this handicap is actually predicated on Covid related restrictions, why are the most recent set of Covid restrictions in France not relevant? If Covid is not the full story, what are the non-covid factors?

It's this kind of comedic administration that makes RL a joke in the UK. Nobody could have predicted Covid last season, but this season they had time to deal with the issue in a way that didn't turn the competition into a joke.

Until some sort of leadership and collective decision making can be organised.

There are two governing bodies who don't see eye to eye and within one of these governing bodies there are splits, and when splits occur then nothing happens and the status quo remains. (no not Francis Rossi)....

We saw with the Private Equity thing that to change to that system it only needed one club to say "no" and it wasn't going to happen.

Fear not, the RFL and SL are supposedly coming together again, all will be well

Quote Donnyman="Donnyman"Until some sort of leadership and collective decision making can be organised. There are two governing bodies who don't see eye to eye and within one of these governing bodies there are splits, and when splits occur then nothing happens and the status quo remains. (no not Francis Rossi).... We saw with the Private Equity thing that to change to that system it only needed one club to say "no" and it wasn't going to happen.'" It required a unanimous vote - not just one club saying 'No'. https://inews.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/ ... one-845530 You seem to have overlooked the fact that Toulouse are in The Championship- not Super League - so only one governing body involved;The RFL. Maybe in your mind London Broncos are the one club that don't want Toulouse in the European Super League// or RFL competitions.They should be gone,then.

Quote Donnyman="Donnyman"Until some sort of leadership and collective decision making can be organised. There are two governing bodies who don't see eye to eye and within one of these governing bodies there are splits, and when splits occur then nothing happens and the status quo remains. (no not Francis Rossi).... We saw with the Private Equity thing that to change to that system it only needed one club to say "no" and it wasn't going to happen.'" It required a unanimous vote - not just one club saying 'No'. https://inews.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/ ... one-845530 You seem to have overlooked the fact that Toulouse are in The Championship- not Super League - so only one governing body involved;The RFL. Maybe in your mind London Broncos are the one club that don't want Toulouse in the European Super League// or RFL competitions.They should be gone,then.