France has it's own RL heartland completely independant of the UK or anywhere else - it always has had - RL would continue with it's own federal leagues as it always has done irrespective of if it's a part of SL or C/C1.
SL through Catalans has allowed many of these die-hard french RL fans to watch top-class RL and the TO has allowed the french die-hard RL fans to watch Championship level RL,which has been great for french RL. Whether the introduction of Catalans & TO respectively has actually improved the RFL set-up as a whole is subjective.Obviously the 'expansion' experiment with respect to these two teams has increased the popularity of RL in france and will continue to increase in popularity if the RFL allows it to happen.

Birkenhead switched back to union, Runcorn went bust during WWI and reformed as a soccer team, Stockport went bust and the football club moved into their ground (Edgley Park was built as a RL ground). Altrincham played Northern Union at one point too, I think.

Cheshire competed in the first dozen or so RL County Championships.

Thanks for that, I suppose I was being sarcastic, in pointing out that the game cant even expand back into its original areas (all three towns being capable of supporting superleague or Semi pro teams by population size) that are not a dozen miles from today heartlands. But so many people including the RFL still proposing expansion into Paris, Edinburgh, Dublin etc. We cant even expand back into Carlisle!

Really?

I don't think the fact that they were promoted to SL because Murdoch wanted it that way rather than winning a place through merit is a myth.

And in any case Bronquins did not appear in the final. Keighley beat Bronquins on the way to the final at Old Trafford where they played and beat Huddersfield. As "corrections" go, this doesn't rate very highly.

I said London finished third and reached the Premiership Final in 1994, the year you claimed they finished second bottom. To back your claim up you now inform us that they didn't make the final in 1995. This is indisputable, but it is difficult to see the relevance to your original claim about a different year entirely. As "re-corrections" go you'd be struggling to get gamma minus.

Sorry, you're argument is compelling. You are right.

The East / West thing is more to do with the heartlands. If it took into account the expansion clubs, then it wouldn't work. Huddersfield have been placed in my west division as an example, due to being the furthest west of the SL Yorkshire contingent.

Anyway, I've seen a lot of people in favour of the idea, if SL is going to continue to expand. By no means is it mine.

maybe the general public around Carlisle don't want an RL team in their area and are quite happy for the minority interest to travel to Barrow,Whitehaven etc etc ?

Perhaps your argument that finishing third and losing in the Premiership final in 1994 previously "merited" a SL place ahead the side that finished top and won the Premiership in 1995 was so bizarre that I found it difficult to comprehend how anybody could make it.

Can you point me to where I put forward that argument (except for in your own imagination)? I simply corrected your inaccurate statement about what happened in 1994. You seem very sensitive to being corrected. If your argument is so strong why make stuff up?

I said that Broqnuins were not as strong a team as the Fulham side had been and said that IIRC they finished 2nd bottom. IIRC is generally used when you are not entirely sure about something - hence it is rather petty to go on ad naseum about how I had repeated "facts" about Bronquins that were inaccurate.

And I really can't imagine why you would bring up where Broqnuins finished the year previous other than to justify their inclusion. I had made no statement about the previous year so there was no "facts" that needed correcting.

It's not a bad idea actually.

Agree with you bug.
Spent a week at a festival in Gisborne and there were a very large number of NRL jerseys on show...very few S14 ones. Most of the NRL wearers I spoke to were from the North of the north Island.

The social demographic of the Auckland area make it a RL heartland...the Waikato and Auckland regions which are the direct catchment area for the Warriors have 27% Maori/Pacifica populations...League is the sport of choice for these groups. Compare this with Wellington (18%) and Christchurch/Canterbury (10%) and you can see why the Warriors are based where they are.

Basketball is also a sport of choice for these social demographic groups....that's why the Breakers are based in Auckland while the European sport of soccer is based in the European dominated capital city.

The NRL should be looking at a second NZ team...maybe based in Wellington but one that plays games "on the road" in Canterbury and Bay of plenty (30%)...with some form of transport initiative in BoP......it is a bugger to get around up there as the NZ v PNG test showed.

As for the UK and expansion? London has worked on some levels (number of kids playing the game, producing more home grown players than many heatland teams etc..) but continues to puzzle many with regard to the lack of interest from the paying public......Wales ....? It is too early to judge Wales yet, but I suspect that crowds will be an issue there as well. The Midlands might be the next place to look at. Scotland and Ireland are worth looking at in maybe 10 years time........as with any form of expansion...it is better to get what you already have in good shape before trying to expand......there's no point in building an extension on your house if your house is in danger of falling down is there

The only person posting ad nauseum is you with your ever more desperate attempts to explain away the tripe you posted by reading into a simple correction my views and pretending a final held in May 1995 happened in 1994.

Still we get the point. You don't like expansion clubs and wish they had never entered your cosy perfect world.

As I understand it at the moment the only RL Club in Carlisle at the moment is a summer team which is dependant on the West Cumberland Amateur League for players. When I was playing in West Cumbria, Carlisle had a professional team as well as a number of amateur clubs & the situation tending to be one that players & supporters from West Cumbria wanted to be involved with RL in Carlisle. Unfortunately for professional RL both Whitehaven & Workington are small towns, Carlisle being the only place that could realistically support a super league team due to its population & location. I find it strange that a place like Carlise with its stategic links to Scotland & Northern Ireland can end up in such a state. I am sure that many people in Carlisle are working away at developing the game, but are they getting any support from the RFL.
My own view of expansion as stated by someone else on here is that it should start are Amateur level & build from there, starting at professional level is too costly & carries to much risk of failure. I would like to see the RFL or Barla support the re-establishment of all the old failed professional clubs in an Amateur form, similar to what happening with RL in Liverpool with the Liverpool Lions etc.