In 1996 at the creation of Superleague Lyndsay & company spoke of the following potential clubs...Toulouse, Barcelona, Rome and Paris

So they added the word Europe to the new entity "Superleague". Only Paris joined but collapsed in 1997 so I don't agree that that original name confirms there is any policy to become a European League. I suppose they could have changed to name to "Superleague (Transatlantic) Ltd" last year if that had been the case

People have constantly suggested that we may see a French TV deal if both Catalans and Toulouse were to be in Superleague. The first issue is do we block Bradford and put Toulouse in instead on a wing and a prayer that a French TV company can see the value of two French clubs playing mostly English clubs?

It has been noted that SKY will not countenance any less than nine English clubs in Superleague, Adam Pearson said this when he was interviewed by the RL press when TWP won promotion. They understood our policy to try to expand the game. However North America failed, and France has failed as Les Catalans aren't a French team any more and Toulouse only got 2,300 crowds, before their last two play off games attended by only 1,000. It's clear there isn't enough interest in France for their TV companies to provide a paying TV contract

Look at it this way. If we only had Warrington and York in a French Superleague what contract would SKY give us then? Giving SKY 12 English clubs would be excellent business at a time they are looking to reduce their contract with us.

As for your assurance all the Bradford people who were paying for SKY when Bradford were serial trophy winners and big time charlies, are all still paying for SKY then forgive me but a crowd drop from 15,000 to 4,000 probably indicates they are not?

Do we block Toulouse for a historically mismanaged club in Bradford?

yes

Serious applications are in, see the applications thread soon.......

"Block", stupid word to use, be frikin serious.

We need to convert some soccer fans in the north of England into RL fans. That's the only way IMO.

I'm not sure about "conversion" I've taken soccer people to RL games and they really like them. They just like soccer better, and nobody switches. It's maybe at a young age when a choice is made, I feel that some people prefer soccer as it's easier to play but others prefer Rugby league as it's all action unlike pro-soccer which is like a chess game to me?. Certainly Spurs.v.Arsenal yesterday was a bore-fest

Now I would say that the biggest conversion may have come when SKY paid for a professional Superleague. An average 5543 fans a game watched the old top ("first"icon_wink.gif division. Once we professionalised that rose to as much as 9833..........

The first part of your post is utter nonsense or maybe it's a Yorkshire thing? Plenty of people on this side of the Pennines actively follow both sports

It's not. You won't be surprised that plenty of people on this side of the hills actively follow both sports too.

Glad to hear it Wanderer I wasn't criticizing btw just couldn't understand the post and thought that outlying towns might not support say Leeds United (other football brands are available) on the basis that if you are from Wakefield or Cas it might be anything Leeds 'over my dead body'.

I follow both sports 'over here' and have to reign in my football bias as there is my team plus three Premiership rivals in the stands next to me at the HJ (mine is currently under-performing ha ha)

They do over here too.
Traditionally, if Leeds United are flying high, it has a negative effect on Rhinos attendances (apart from the big games) but, many Cas & Wakey fans also support Leeds United and other clubs.
Just like football, some fans just prefer RL and dont really bother with the round ball game.
On the point made about converting more football fans.
It doesn't matter where any new fans come from, although, for those in charge of marketing the game, it would helpful to know where RL has most "pull" and then try and target that audience but, ANY new fans would be gratefully received - assuming that we/they are allowed to attend games.

Mine got beat 6-3 at home on Saturday in League Two. The four consecutive Premier League top eight finishes of the early to mid 00's are now distant memories sadly.

Anyway, IMO we should ban being able to kick in a forwards direction, up 'n' unders don't come across very well on TV, especially on the BBC and SKY, Channel 9 and Fox do a better job of showing them, but still, they're better when showed on slow motion replay, which is not ideal. By doing that we should go to 11-a-side. ban the scrum, give teams the option of a 7 on 7 play after a knock-on.

And get rid of the VR, have in-goal judges instead.

The comment was as a sport has a whole. I didn’t single any club out. But if new boys in town want SL then look at what the product wants and make it so. No point saying let Toulouse/Newcastle/York or any other off the field club who hasn’t experience of SL.

If the Bulls can get their fanbase back then that checks the box for SL. But still ignores what is present in SL. So those who don’t meet the present criteria being asked should also be relegated and replaced.

Well, I think that you just ruined the game completely.