1) you could argue that as most ply there trade down NRL. And the intense nature of there competition is why we did . Leeds side was before then.
Given that only 7 sides have played a GF (4 won it). And that only Warrington appeared during licencing, and only those 5 finished top of the league. could argue the other way.

2)I admit I could be wrong about this.

3) one of the main reasons we left licencing was because of crowds. Yes crowds are down, but that's a problem year on year. Most clubs don't do things to improve. But a personal view is the Thurs/Fri games. I can't go to a home game due to other reasons Work etc. This effects a crowd, both home (people who don't live in the city/area), and obviously away.

4) not giving clubs a chance of going up, hampers there crowds, how they can market the club. Gives them nothing to aim for. And possible new fans would find new things to do. Plus loses local sponership who could move on to bigger sponsorship. Plus it makes the game go stale after a couple of seasons.

How has this played out at clubs like Batley, Dewsbury and Featherstone? These are clubs that simply aren't going to make themselves into competitive Super League clubs under any model (indeed, Batley's board are on record as saying they're not interested), but the clubs don't - on the face of it at least - seem to be dying.

I went to Batley v Catalans a few years ago and what I saw was a vibrant community club with a lot going for it. Some challenges, yes, but a lot to be positive about and a lot to market to the local community.

I don't see the lack of P&R as this death-knell for the lower leagues - at least, it only is if the clubs want to let it be.

Jesus that's pushing it trying to back licensing with that. Had the luxury of not facing a good NZ team in the SF and still almost messed up against Tonga. And we weren't within a gnats pube, we failed to score a point, even then we'd need a conversion to just level and still have to find a winning score. And the same team failed to get to the 4N final a year earlier or the 2013 WCF.

What about when we did actually beat Australia last in 2006?

The attendance issues are more to do with the style of rugby, tired and injury hit teams from overplaying, frustration at referee standards and general poor marketing than the league structure. I think we'd be struggling more if we kept the old system.

Going back to licensing would see teams get comfortable again. See where Cas, Wakey and Hull have come since we introduced this new system as they've started to push themselves more and not just making up numbers in SL.

Featherstone could. The others I'd agree about, Halifax didn't want to go up last year. But in a few more.

If you want to go back to licensing (which as you may have noticed I'm against), the possible solution would be to return to 2 leagues.

will the game be on sky, as part of the magic weekend package, or premier sports who are showing all league games upto the middle 8s??

You honestly think that Featherstone, a club in a town of about 17,000 people, could be a competitive Super League club and cope with the standards that we really should be pushing clubs to attain?

Printer - we beat Australia in 2006 in a game they didn't need to win. Comparing that to a World Cup Final is nonsensical. As is saying we didn't score a point but ignoring the fact that the best team in the world, with several all time greats in key positions only managed ONE try against us. In the past twenty years I've seen two really top class performances from England/GB - this year's WC final and the semi final loss to NZ. Sadly both were narrow losses, which reflect the fact we simply don't have enough quality players in key positions yet.

Anyway, back on topic, I'd say the only realistic hope for growth in our sport in the near future is expansion in France and ideally a genuine north american presence (which again will need more than one team). Its a big if, but if we get a properly funded Toronto, with the ability to tap into a completely new market in terms of revenues, they at least should be given exemption from any threat of relegation for long enough to get them established.

It's a fact......6 points from a draw or 7 from the cup....when were England ever that close?

Yes.
I don't think it's about the population of a place. But about the ambition of the board. Who they could attract, weather they'd get 3/4 full or more stadiums. And I believe that Featherstone could be all those things.

France is an interesting one. For years there league was a mess. With new teams popping up, teams folding etc. But the last couple of years it seems to have sorted itself out, crowds aren't big. But from the sponsorship & media side, I'd say you could be right. Maybe do like before and have some of there clubs in the early rd's of the challenge cup? See if that works.

Personally I'd also be looking at Scotland & Ireland. Getting a foothold in these countries also opens us up to new markets and media coverage.

Number 6.

I would imagine that the game would be on sky. Otherwise what's the point of the game. Though I don't know this for sure.

Sorry, but I don't see that in the slightest.

I just can't see Fev attracting the sort of audiences that quality advertisers care about. I don't see them attracting the sort of audience that broadcasters care about and I don't see how on earth they could grow to the point I feel the sport needs to be growing at.

We need to be working to a point where 10k-12k averages are the standard for all of our heartlands club, not some unattainable ambition. I don't think that Fev, a tiny town in a saturated market with minimal corporate market to tap into, would ever achieve that.

Fair enough. We'll agree to disagree on this point, as your entitled to your view, as I am mine.

I agree about trying to raise crowds. But the figures you put rule out half of SL at this moment, and there's no gaurente that expansion clubs would be pulling in that amount regularly.
I think that we need to do it slowly. As if we dash into this and do it hap hazardly, we risk damaging RL more.

Until we up the exposure of RL, get it in the media, on TV, etc. We are not opening ourselves up to new markets. And until we get a proper international calender, we will struggle to do this. The international game is the top of any sport, and the hap hazard way we do it at the moment won't appeal to people outside of the sport. And this has a knock on effect with regards club rugby. We should be looking at getting an international calander in place now till the 2025 WC. Look at places to play the WCC (ie Canada,USA, France, Italy etc). Looking at on the road games, we should now where magic weekend is going to be for the next 5 years now.
And to be honest, we should know what format the league is going to be for the next 5/10 years now. Not debating what it could be.

There is 2 much going year by year. When what we should be doing is having a clear 5/10 year plan. With the games I put known (ie WCC being held here). And until that happens promoting the sport, trying to get in new sponsorship etc, is harder than it should be.