As bad as Wakefield were/are, I've seen nothing which would lead me to believe 'Fax would be any better.

I suggest they follow the superb examples shown by Andy Glover and others at Wakefield and Steve O'Connor and others at Widnes. Both have been through various examples of adversity, testing times and big personal risk - yet remained positive and determined to demonstrate to the RFL they were worthy of places in SL. As I've said elsewhere, the process we have has been agreed by the clubs, it's up to the clubs to embrace it and raise standards at every level. I accept its tough for non-SL clubs without the SKY money and the inevitably lower crowds they get - but that's the way it is. Instead of moaning, continue to grow your club. The fans clearly bought into Glover and O'Connor and have backed their clubs. If Halifax aren't careful, their fans might just give up.

So Wakeys attendances have rocketed since Mr Glover turned up ?

Widnes are getting more since Mr O Connor turned up ?

Are they ?

Or is it just more bollox

Yes you are right , Faxs fans might give up , I certainly have , SL is now a closed shop , just as we all suggested it would be , and the Championships ( Christ they even changed the bloody name of the comp to accommodate a French club that has now left ) will continue to struggle

I will say one thing though Starbug: Do you know how many people watched the Championships in the last round (excluding the Widnes crowd of 3,873) last weekend? 8,078. Super League matches brought in 54,559. I'd say that 8k figure has to treble before the RFL sit up and take notice, and probably justifiably so. With those kind of numbers should the RFL give a hoot about life outside Super league?

Probably not , but I'd be happier if they just told us as much , and stopped messing about with the competitions like they do , and pretending they give a stuff , like feeding Fax the titbit they did at the end of last year

They either don't give a stuff or are just too stupid , personally I think they want us around , but not to get any better/ bigger , a bit like having a puppy to kick occasionally when you have a bad day at work

The clubs won't let them. They specifically requested that the RFL release NO information on their bids - not even the summary information that was released last time around. Instead these summaries will go to the clubs who will then release as much or as little as they please.

If Fax want the information on their bid to be made public then they can go right ahead.

You've seen the documents which state this?.

Yeah, I've seen the public documents which publicly state that the clubs want more secrecy.



It was in the RL press months ago, and has been mentioned in tweets from RL journos. Apparently the clubs were worried by the potential impact on sponsorship if their financial performance or business plan were rated poorly. At one point they were trying to have the gradings withheld as well - we would only have been told the number of each grade and not which teams had achieved them.

And i think Nigel Wood confirmed this on the B&A interview.

Fair enough.

So there is less transparency in the decision making process than in 2008 (which was sketchy at best)?

At the behest of the bidding clubs, yes.

Fax have had their RFL feedback, has it been published on their website yet for all to see?

I really hope that Fax release their feedback. That way everyone can look and then make an informed decision on whethere they were had off or not by this process.

People are understandable disappointed, but they dont know that their bid wasn't a pile of poop. By the same count people dont know if it was the best.

However, if Fax choose not to release it then that would say to me the feedback is negative. The club must release it to put it all to bed. Until it does there is no argument to be had as nobody knows whether it was good or not. Pointless discussion that is dragging on

Not a cat in hell's chance of Fax releasing a "warts and all" version of the feedback they've got from the RFL IMO.

You might get edited highlights from the club, emphasising all the positive areas so they can continue to make out they were robbed.

From the Mr Fax blog, on the Fax website (halifaxrlfc.wordpress.com/) "The rumour mill also had us holding talks with the RFL and for once they were right. The board of directors and the RFL met and discussed the bid for a good few hours. Will all of this information be released? I’m not too sure yet. The board will continue to meet in the coming days and weeks and decide the best strategy going forward. Like all things, certain things stay in the board room to help an organisation build to stronger things."

From the Mr Fax blog, on the Fax website (halifaxrlfc.wordpress.com/) "The rumour mill also had us holding talks with the RFL and for once they were right. The board of directors and the RFL met and discussed the bid for a good few hours. Will all of this information be released? I’m not too sure yet. The board will continue to meet in the coming days and weeks and decide the best strategy going forward. Like all things, certain things stay in the board room to help an organisation build to stronger things."

I'd they don't go public with the feedback they will have lost the respect of many Fax fans with regards to this matter. Especially after the comments our chairman made with regards to the licencing decision.

And this is what's making me cross. For all the shouting for transparency the ones to blame aren't the RFL but the clubs.

Problem is Fax releasing their feedback will do no good whatsoever if no other club releases there's, and that's not going to happen.

Nobody expects Fax to release commercially sensitive information as part of their feedback.

Just a summary from the club of what areas the bid was strong in, where it was weak and why would suffice.

Fax not releasing even the edited highlights of their feedback after kicking up such a fuss about the transparency of the process is a touch hypocritical IMO.

Completely agree.

+1

I agree with that, we are going to end up doing ourselves damage either way.

The government after their review of football recommended that long-term the only way to guarantee the stability and growth of any professional sport is through a licencing system like those used in North America and Australia. Its being recommended for the biggest most important sport in our country now.

Stadiums have improved and more kids have come through. Widnes were a mess last time round but now will be able to compete well in SL

But Fax are annoyed so lets scrap the whole thing

Take it on the chin, build your club and juniors and believe in the process. Just because you have a better stadium than Wakefield doesnt mean you deserve to be in SL. Seems like real sour grapes and an unnecessarily negative attitude toward the future of the game. Fax can get in SL but only with positive building and progress. Focus on that.

...and that's what we'll have to do (unless another SL club can't balance it's books, and then it all starts again). What SL supporters need to just stop and think about is how they'd feel if they found themselves in the Championship with 3 years to wait until they had a [ichance[/i to apply for a place back in SL... and then found that they were rejected again, and faced yet another 3 years before re-applying.

Fax fans would be no different if they were in SL talking about other clubs wanting to join the party. Indeed, when Fax were in SL, I confess to not knowing a great deal about what was going on in the lower leagues (until the end of the season, when there was some interest in who was coming up).

The thing about P&R (for a supporter) is that you at least get a chance to go up (and down) every season. Franchising (with a great deal more transparency) may well be best for the game at the top level, and tbh the standard of semi-pro rugby is far better than it used to be (not sure why, other than the general level of fitness is much better now), but for excitement and interest for the fans P&R is a far better sporting experience.