Wasn't it Hemel Stags and maybe one or two other NL3 teams that used to compete in the comp. To be honest, there's not a huge difference between the elite amateur sides in the UK and the lower half of NL2. So it doesn't sound so crazy to be getting the Irish involved. I do know that there has been a lot of activity in Ireland of late, though I'm not aware of any plans to go pro just yet. However, this may prove to be the jump start to get a pro league going.

That would depend on how you define 'elite amateur side'. To me, it would be the National Conference (winter) sides, and even they rarely get a win in the Challenge Cup.

Every year this competition seems to get re-vamped, and every year it seems to get sh*tter. Just scrap the damn thing.

Hemel and St Albans were in in 2006. They were thrashed by bottom-of-the-table London Skolars and the newly formed Celtic Crusaders. I think only one match was by less than fifty and they conceded 70 twice. And if you bear in mind that these two would probably thrash an Irish team by a similar score, then it shows how wide the gap is.

An Irish team/teams is a complete non-starter imo. Putting in a club which will get completely thrashed in every game, will do nothing what-so-ever to promote the game in Ireland, or offer any possible value to the NRC competition. Who would want to part with their hard earned cash to watch that?

The Welsh will be in it anyway next season with the Scorpions. The French can be represented by Toulouse.

For other French clubs to participate, they would have to bring their season in-line with the Championship and drop the Lord Derby Cup. Otherwise they may well find themselves playing far too many games. Don’t forget that Le Bobbie may want to try some of these players out in internationals, which are becoming far more frequent for the French these days.

Now, here’s the killer…

Who is going to pay the travel costs?

Given the amount of traveling that this would create, the new UK airport taxes and overnight stays, who in the Championship, Championship 1 and the French league would be able to fund these costs? None of these clubs receive TV money to fund it. We are not talking about Super League or the NRL here.

Given that Championship clubs already have to travel to Toulouse at least once a season already, and many clubs are struggling - many failing and going bust – before we even start to add even more substantial travel costs on top of them, how can this possibly be a sensible idea?

If I had a plan to kill all lower league clubs stone dead, this would be a good way of achieving it.

Are the RFL going to fund travel costs which could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds?

I doubt it

Would the Sponsors be willing to cough up the substantial costs, for what is a pretty low profile competition?

No chance imo

Will SL clubs give up a penny of their money to fund it - for the betterment and expansion of the game of course?

Now that is fantasy.

South Wales will be automatically included in 2011, the only reason they weren't in this year's competition was that they were formed too late to be included in the group draw.

As I understand it, Toulouse were also invited to play in the competition this year but declined the invitation.

Just to back up what Eels Fan is saying about encouraging new Irish players into RL can I point out Brian Carney.

Came from Gaelic, played RL for Irish students, got a shout from the Irish national squad and then signed for Gateshead.

I think this expansion is a great idea. The French will obviously compete with the English teams and I'm sure they'll be a few Welsh teams that'll be able to give a few teams a run for their money. The Irish might not be there yet, but we need to start somewhere and the young lads coming through need some realistic incentive.

Have you read Pepe's post , if not , read it , if you have read it , answer it

For the comments about the Welsh and Irish being RU Players playing RL in the off season. Whilst I agree that its true at the moment, isn't there a chicken and egg situation with the RL Conference season being too short for serious players to make it their football code of choice?

The pool structure allows geographical pools to keep travelling costs down until the knock out stages.

The NR Cup would allow the season to be extended and potentially allow players to be primarily RL players.

The Edinburgh Eagles v Carluke Tigers in the Scottish Grand Final last year was a pretty high standard even with primarily RU players. Presumably Wales and Ireland would be better still (although I agree for the first season or two they would get heavily beaten).

If the travelling costs can be covered for the knock out stages then I say give it a go. Give the National Leagues a bit of international glamour.

Again I don't get the attitude.

The Jonstones Paint / LDV Trophy creates excitement for lower league clubs in Association Football as it cumulates in a trip to Wembley. Carlisle United v Southampton this year was the highest UK sporting attendance for the weekend.

With there being zero chance of a team from a semi-pro league ever winning the Challenge Cup, the NR Cup should be the RL equivalent to the Jonstones Paint trophy.

The group stage also provides much needed extra games for our clubs.

Whats not to like?

It would be a great incentive for young lads coming through but as far as I know there are no young lads in Irish RL. Students is the youngest it gets, there are no U18 or even U20 teams playing. It's all older guys playing in their off seasons with younger players (Who are usually very good union players anyway) mixed in.

Irish RL has plenty of structural work to do. A new development post that will deal with schools etc is up for application and that is another good step forward. The game over here is still at the stage of poor season planning (so many breaks makes it hard to keep player interest) and of course problems with getting enough players every week.

The All Ireland union comp is a pretty high standard of rugby ,after all players can be called up for provinces and pro players are all connected with a club. Problem is if top All Ireland players started playing in the NRC for a few months the IRFU could have a quiet word with players and clubs. They wouldn't want their structures interrupted.
Also fitness levels would play the biggest part in all the beatings the Irish sides would recieve.

I must say though, I think it'll be very interesting to see if there is truth in an Irish side being entered and the consequences.

'Much needed extra games ' , playing games against opposition is not what is needed

Playing games against opposition that people are willing to pay to watch is what is needed

You seem to be forgetting that playing games costs money , quite a lot for clubs that have to pay rent for the use of stadiums

What we need is more Championship clubs , real genuine semi pro clubs that people want to support and fans are willing to pay money to see their team play against

Ok, might it be time that you take a break from the computer have a cup of tea/lay off the redbull/have a nice sleep???

I was just saying that I like the idea and that I think that there are a lot of teams that could perform well. Pepe does make a good point though. But, if there is a suggestion that French/Welsh/Irish clubs would participate it wouldn't be a case of all teams involved boarding a plane every other week. The article in the OP suggests that the French would duke it out between themselves in two mini-leagues with either the best team or best two teams going through to the knock out stages. So, this plan isn't really going to exterminate 75% of all Championship clubs. There are also logistics to get around,but if the French are saying this will happen then the finance and time frame will probably have been arranged.

Its difficult to tell what will happen if Welsh and Irish clubs are involved (if the Irish clubs will be involved), but we come here to speculate and get a little giddy about the dizzying prospects of the future development of RL because its fun.

So what this is all about is once again expansion , unfortunatley the Championship clubs dont have the resources available to them to be at the forefront of the international expansion of the sport

What the Championship clubs need is more viable well financed English/British semi pro clubs that fans are willing to pay to see

That's one way to spin it. Another would be to say that it's a shame that St. Go aren't strong enough to put out a team on their own (it's only 6 years since they were champions) and that Toulouse haven't been able to fulfil their promise to enter a team in the LER. Probably best to have one decent team than two teams struggling to fulfil fixtures though.

There was a half-baked RFL/FFRXIII proposal for this season of a Northern Rail Cup pool of Toulouse + French regional selections, with the winner going into the quarter-finals. Quietly dropped around xmas.

20 English clubs in five pools of four gives 5 winners + winner of french pool + winner of welsh pool + we need one more to make it eight, ok let's find £2000 to bring an Irish team over. That's probably the amount of detailed planning that's gone into this. At least this time they've done it before the French LER fixtures have been announced, so the French have some ability to work out when to fit the games in.