So what we need in SL are the top 10,12 or 14 teams with the greatest level of support, regardless of their business acumen and any rules which may be in place within the comp.
Do away with any promotion between the leagues, as the teams in the lower leagues cannot possibly be stronger or more financially viable and pull up the drawbridge.
Stagnation and prosperity in one fell swoop
We should be brave enough to apply the rules and IF the Bulls drop down a league, the CC attendances will probably improve and the new SL club will have its opportunity to prosper

Actually it ts the teams with the greatest level of support [unow[/u. We're going to completely ignore what other clubs might be capable of in the future. This one point in time is so special, so unique that any club not in SL now is clearly not ever going to be capable of excelling on the pitch or off in future so we might as well accept that teams like Bradford can do whatever they like and remain in the top tier.

This is the same Bradford whose attendances were in free fall before they started to give away season tickets for the price of a Mars bar and two balloons.

But we don’t ignore the level of support a clubs could get do we. I don’t think anyone has pretended the clubs below SL need to have SL level support before they move up, but they do at least need the potential to do so.

Anyone of the heartland clubs proposed to move up don’t even pretend that they will be among the ‘top clubs’, they aren’t even pretending that they could be achieve better success, crowd figures, and youth development than a club like Bradford. Realistically the cause of all this debate is 3 or 4 clubs who, even themselves, in their wildest dreams, believe that with a fair wind and some success on the field, they could possibly be roughly where a club like Wakefield or Hull KR are now, clubs who would admit that they can’t afford to sustainably challenge at the top.

And Bradfords free-fall attendances, at there worst, were still averaging more than 8k. That was Bradford at their very lowest. The season before they were 9.5k and the season after just under 14k, and we are talking about replacing them with a club that might, if they are lucky, might, in three of four years, get to about 8k averages. Christ one of the clubs put forward to replace them has a stadium with less than 7k capacity and is in a town with a population only 2k more than the MINIMUM stadium capacity in SL.

Its nothing to do with this time now being special or unique, its about those clubs put forward to replace Bradford not ever showing, or even themselves realistically believing that they could reach the levels Bradford have.

So what if they have decent crowds now and potentially even larger ones.
The round ball game is brave enough to allow bigger teams to be relegated and allow less fashionable clubs to have their moment in the sun and when the likes of Burnley or Norwich get promoted it makes it isnt detremantal to the game, or when Leeds and Newcastle go the other way, their sport doesn't implode.
For all the faults in football (and there are many), it does at least have principles on how the game is run ie. severe points deductions etc and many of their top teams have been relegated.
RL should be equally strong.
A "top" club going down will add interest to the second tier and give a "lesser" club an opportunity to prosper.

FWIW, i dont think Bradford will be "relegated", but as a sport we shouldn't exclude them (or any other club) from the possibility of this, just because they have big crowds (as we did for Huddersfield many seasons ago, because they had a shiny stadium, or even Wigan, who drove a bus through the salary cap and pretty much got away with it)

And premier league football is massively indebted and as stagnant as SL in terms of teams challenging at the top. Outside the top flight it is a complete mess financially, there are things we can learn from football, certainly in how they sell their game, how they build and prepare their star players but it isn’t perfect. Whilst you may want to highlight the example of Burnley or Norwich having ‘their season in the sun’ what about Bradford City? Portsmouth? Leeds? Crystal Palace? Ipswich? Wimbledon? Derby? Leicester? QPR? Barnsley? All went in to admin within 5 years of relegation from the premier league.

45 clubs have played in the premier league, 20 are still there, of the other 25, 10 went into administration within 5 years of relegation, Sheffield Wednesday faced winding up orders before being bought for a pittance By Milan Mandric, Watford verged on administration before their coaches and players deferred their wages to rescue them and Birmingham are struggling massively financially at the moment. And that’s with massive parachute payments which we don’t pay. That’s not brave its stupid.

Even the most one-eyed Bradford fan hasn’t argued they should be in under any circumstances, but if they new owners can run them sustainably at the level they are at and higher then they should be in SL

At least they have the guts to stick to thier agreed rules, whereas RL doesnt, we just make a new rule to fit some kind of masterplan.
Of course nobody wants to see any club disappear, or struggle financially, but neither should there be a clique that can do as they please.

If the rules aren’t achieving what they were meant to, then only a fool would stick with them.

Its not pass the parcel, when the birthday boy has to win !

No, it’s a multi-million pound business which employs real people, with real lives and real jobs. Compared to the people who have been made redundant, people who have lost their livelihoods, the players and their families who don’t know if they will be paid next month, Mick Potter using his own savings to keep the club together, frankly I couldn’t care less about the rules and the needs of those feeling slighted by the efforts to save Bradford.

Good job we've never been afraid to or we'd all be following Rugby Union clubs.

...and that says it all really, doesn't it, but more appallingly the SLE/RFL echo your sentiment.

What rules are the RFL not following?