Seems to me the breakaway SL clubs are holding all the aces in this bust up.
The majority of SL Chairmen who bankroll their clubs,The players and the Sky TV money which will surely follow whatever move the SL clubs make.
No matter what your personal feelings are about the rights and wrongs of this dispute it is looking increasingly likely that the Breakaway clubs are going to have a huge say in the future structure of RL in this country

and the blame for this mess lies fairly at the feet of the RFL who have apparently been to busy saving Bradford and Buying Iconic Odsal to concentrate on running the sport and generating revenue.

Tubby Nigel can't survive this, can he?

depends in whos eyes are the real champions... under the new proposal more emphasis would be put on winning the league and we all know deep down the real champs win the league

A depressing summation. I wish I could say you are wrong.



True - but having nothing to lose is empowering in a way. If SL offers the rest of RL 'nothing', why should the latter do the former's bidding? And vice versa, of course. There's a split, a division of interests and it can't be bridged by one side. Maybe it can't be bridged at all, and we'd be happier apart, rather than trying to hold together a dysfunctional family. SL can't lock the Championship clubs in the basement flat [iand[/i tell them how to arrange the furniture.
If the RFL were able to act as arbitrator or counsellor, it'd be good. But licensing and commercial failings have eaten into their credibility.
Bit of a car crash, unfortunately.

No one has really answered the question of "why now?"

IMO if I was one of these clubs, I would announce whatever i intended at a time which would have the most impact and media coverage. That time is now. Just before a World Cup where the eyes of the media are on the RFL and right before a publicized EGM meeting which will ratify changes to the game.

Doing it now gives the break away clubs maximum publicity. Shrewd timing imo

You're starting to sound like a desperate fool.

Wigan 'won the League', Wigan are the 'real' Champions.

Really, I'd quit it now.

On 'why now?', them having narrowed it down to 2 options a while ago, I can only imagine that either:

1. They thought one option would win out and it was looking like going the other way.

or

2. It's simply a pretext for a vote of no confidence in the RFL. Which I can understand to an extent - but the SL clubs did vote both for the Stobart deal and (indirectly) to end licensing.

Its politicking, and a power grab by the SL clubs. Lets make no bones about it. Nigel Wood has tried to gain more RFL control by trying to ally himself with the lower league clubs, the SL clubs have kicked back and it has swung the other way in to the SL clubs wanting more control. As for why now, the answer is obvious, the RFL have tried to bounce SL clubs in to this using the WC as their bargaining chip.

It has been perfectly obvious that many SL chairmen weren’t happy with the re-structure, many outright said as much, the end of every meeting ended with them asking for ‘more detail’ and EGM was then arranged a couple of weeks before the WC in the hope the SL Clubs wouldn’t rock the boat. Unfortunately for the RFL enough clubs have banded together to not only force a rethink on this structure but the high stakes being played has made them question the entire relationship with the RFL.

www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/29 ... umentation

www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/29 ... umentation

That policy review document is dated Sept 2013. That could have been last week. Maybe there's stuff in there that the clubs didn't know about or hadn't agreed to? Would explain the timing.

Meeting dates are on the appendix document. 10 July 13 appears to be the last SL CEO meeting.

Didn't read the appendix

So if tier 2 can have a salary cap of £900k, then it blows out the water that theory that tier 2 clubs will not be able to compete with those teams at the bottom of SL.

Also will explain the worry of SL clubs, if Championship clubs are brought within closer range of them.

Would explain it if it was the lower end clubs but 6 out of the top 8 aren't really looking over their shoulder surely?

I think it's a great thing the championship clubs having a bigger salary cap (so long as they can afford it) and should see more retention of players from the current academy system which is only a good thing

I agree with most of the proposals - just not the structure and am disappointed that some of the marketing aspects have been left out

I doubt IL is worried about Doncaster having a few bob extra to spend on players...