RL Expansion - the very definition of insanity

There is certainly an irony in hoping that new foreign teams will help improve the game here.

It's astonishing how for three years a group of people think that shipping English players abroad to make up a team in Perpignan or Toronto somehow expands the game and brings us riches? What their brains completely miss is that for Catalans to go up Widnes had to go down. For TWP to come up London had to go down. You could not blame either club if they just shut their academies. Why the heck should they continue to try do develop SL players in such circumstances? The answer lies in the longer game. This TV contract unfortunately allows access to Superleague on "merit" and not on any sensible "planning", thus TWP and Les Cats can survive merely on buying in players from here.

The next TV contract will remove the influence of the RFL on Superleague's make up and leave that decision to Superleague. Already we hear that Bradford, Widnes, London Leigh and Newcastle are chomping at the bit for a 2022 SL place. In contrast the reserves league appears to have swallowed up all the spare English and Aussie playing talent such that poor old Toronto and Catalans are struggling to recruit......what a mean but delicious trick to play!!

Meaning Ottawa, New York Toulouse and Timbuktoo have gone very quiet. "Helping the French" is a ridiculous notion. Currently we are helping ourselves to repel predatory overseas clubs who really should concentrate on building their own game not on destroying ours.

Irony is, that under ''planning'' imo Toronto and Catalans would be two of the first teams chosen. In that scenario I would worry about Cas, Wakefield and Salford.

Any plan has to underpin the two things that SL have been very clear about for years, and the RFL cannot disagree with, that clubs need to underpin a TV deal and develop players.

Toronto and Les Catalans do neither. Workington Town and West Wales would meet these criteria better? Please explain?

IF there could ever be a strong French national side, it would help our national side, by giving them some "local" opposition to face - mind you, with the form of Great Britain on tour, it may be us dripping to their standard instead.
The ideal situation would be for there to be sufficient players in France, no doubt topped up with a few Aussies, for them to have an equivalent to SL but, that is possibly more far fetched than some of the expansion dreamers on here - as I said "an ideal".

As things stand, Catalan, much as they give decent value to the comp and allow a summer break to the south of France, are never going to produce enough players to make French international rugby any kind of major force.

Should we abandon ship and accept that RL is just an M62 sport - would this really be good for the sport ?

It could be argued that SL, including say London and Leigh or Fev, may be a decent competition and maybe, we should forget any kind of expansion, other than any "natural" growth but, I really dont think that this would help improve any TV deal, in fact, it could nail the coffin lid down and we could then be left with a semi pro sport, devoid of any national profile.

For me, it's expand or die, although, a transatlantic league just isn't the right move.

There is an argument that Valencia and Belgrade would be better off in the French structure.

Both seem concerned with developing talent rather than throwing money about. The standard in the French second tier could be better for them.

This is the plan, we need France to be able to give GB a game. Ideally we need the other home nations to be strong to give England a good game also.

Catalans lack of French players at present is frustrating. Brexit should actually help Rugby League in this respect, once the league are able to force Cats to discriminate against UK players the more likely they are to get in some French players in the team. However is is still annoying Catalan need to be forced to sign local talent.

I agree with your sentiment but, despite their often mediocre performances, I do believe that their president is ambitious and like other CEO's, he walks the fine line between ambition and "doing the right thing". Most chase on field success and yet, as we see with the successful sides over here, most, if not all, gain that success by having a strong nucleolus of young, club trained players and with first pick of all of the young French players, they should be more than capable of this. Toulouse, seem to be doing things "the right way", albeit in the Championship.

Regarding Valencia and Serbia, your idea does sound sensible, although, it may not be worth their while to play in the French National league, both in terms of quality and maybe it wouldn't suit their ambition and who knows what politics may be at work.

Is the French national league the same standard, or similar, to the Championship? If so it might make sense to develop the French league as a European league and have a play off between their winner and the English Championship winner for a place in SL.

That is an excellent post on the face of it.

But you must remember Valencia and Belgrade are probably not even up to the standard of Elite 2, and there would be high travel costs - how would they afford them?. The idea of putting Toulouse and Les Catalans into Elite One would knock these clubs backwards and lose thousands of French fans who turn out because Les Catalans are playing in the highest league and Toulouse are aspiring to do the same. Do we really really see such a set up creating growth? Growth only comes from TV deals and more quality players.

At the level a Europe league would be playing at it would do neither of these things. OK IF playing RL is something that more and more people want to do across Europe then build it and they will come. But less and less people want to play rugby, and the lower the standard the less speccies they will get.

Millom smashed Belgrade in the Challenge cup. We are starting to view low level amateur clubs as potential Superleague clubs one day. If any of them can find a $$Billionaire fair enough other wise we need to try and resist this "Expansion Fever"....

Nowhere near Kev. Try league one?