Yep.

I agree with al lot of what you say but still think licensing is the way to go.

Assumptions are being made that with a franchise system it has to be a closed shop. It doesn’t. If a club has the ambition, the infrastructure and the finances there is no reason the franchised league couldn’t be expanded. We have a system now that some teams play others 3 times. If SL grew we’d end up with some teams playing others only once. Doesn’t matter with a play off to determine the winners.

Once the league has grown enough to support two mandatory full time leagues then in can be split with promotion and relegation re-introduced.

I see the point that some have made that some teams are relegated because of poor decisions on their part but that’s not necessarily the case. The current system effectively pushes clubs to spend beyond their means to try and avoid going down.

The problem with franchising/ licensing is that it tends to be a smoke and mirrors situation, where different criteria are allocated different "points", therefore allowing those controlling the allocation of licences to skew the criteria to suit their agenda and again, with the likely influx of N. American clubs, who have loads of cash but no foundation, just how do you score them ??

Plus, with franchise/ licensing, you are still effectively putting two fingers up to the Championship clubs.

People forget that RL is a sport and as such success should be decided on the field of play and not just by ticking boxes on a checklist.

Promotion/relegation was only brought back because it was deemed "unfair" to prevent Championship clubs from progressing.

Indeed, on any criteria based list, London would be nowhere near SL and yet, this season, having been promoted (and written off pre season) they have been a revelation.
Ironically, it is their success that has caused some fans to moan about the spectre of relegation when, pre season, "everyone" was happy with the format as they were "certain" that London would be straight back to the Championship.

They are without doubt the team of the season and Ward has done an increddible job, on a shoestring budget with a wafer thin squad

All of this will intensify greatly if/when Toronto are promoted as they seem to have plenty of cash to throw around and one would expect that once promoted, they will be here to stay.

TOUGH, it's called business. Widnes gave Dennis Betts a coaching role and bought a plastic pitch, hardly a loss to the game.

The difference is that in the NFL the governing body owns the franchise. They don't have to worry about the clubs.

In SL the incumbent clubs own the game and would own the franchise structure so their own self interest will always mean.

Fewer team to keep TV money to themselves
Incumbent teams favoured over better long term outside prospects.

At least with p&r, the clubs can't nobble the process from the inside.

If you finish bottom of your league, down you go..

It is that simple

These are the rules as it stands and therefore, someone will go down this year and someone will be promoted.

What I do think will happen sooner rather than later though, is we will see a 14 or even 16 team SL with franchise/licenses. There will be the usual moaning from clubs who will feel that they "coulda/shoulda/woulda", but the reality is that without a sugar-daddy or 10,000 regulars, all teams will struggle to survive.
The fact that Leeds of one of 4 sides dicing with the drop is no excuse to change the rules mid-season.

Unless the current players improve their attitude, Widnes could find themselves getting relegated from the championship. Obviously the announcement that they will go part time next season, I doubt they all gave a 100% in their 62-0 thrashing at Bradford, although I'm sure the Bulls played some great rugby.

I was just using Widnes as an example. Whether they deserve to be in SL is a separate debate.

I feel as a sport we need to make some real tough decisions to move forward. Franchises would allow those decisions to be made.

Set a minimum criteria to apply. The league then decides whether to approve & expand the league or not based on the application and the potential benefits to the sport. Any team that is admitted then has the security to build strong foundations and grow.

I was a massive fan of Licencing, but they really did mess it up....by "they", I mean both the RFL and the SL Chairme and Owners. If we are to return to it, then there needs to be a clear understanding of why it's coming back and the method of being promoted or demoted from it.
If we are doing it to secure the games future, then fine, but if it's just to protect the "average" SL clubs, then I'd steer clear.

Agree completely. It’s one of the many things the RFL did badly.

The list of things they have done well is blumin short!

Just want to throw my two cents worth in as a Widnes fan.

I thought licensing was the right way to go, I thought we as a club were gradually building, bringing through our own players, and slowly catching up with the big clubs.

We had been, in my opinion, harshly treated twice by the RFL, firstly missing out on the original SL to clubs such as Workington and Oldham, when I thought we had a lot more to offer, and again when we were overlooked for the Crusaders. Much as I would have loved for them to succeed and spread the game at the top level, it felt at the time as though the RFL/Sky were being bullied by their owner into including them.

All this pales into insignificance when you look at how we are being currently treated.

Our previous custodians, Steve O'Connor, his brother Brian and our fabulous CEO James Rule have slowly drained the club of all funds over the last few years, to the extent where at the time of our entry into admin we had around £750 in the bank.

Looking at our playing squads over the last few years it's blatantly obvious that they weren't overspending on players, we've been awful for the best part of three years, the money was just going on salaries for themselves.

Our current problems have come about from all the season ticket money raised and the percentage of parachute payment received disappearing before the season got going. On the back of this we have had the rest of the parachute money withheld as well as £70k of funding for the academy, which is the only decent thing to have come out of out time in SL and, without which, we wouldn't be fielding the majority of this years side.

I understand we need to be punished but having the points deduction, which will cost us money for next year due to a lower finishing position, and then the other monies withheld feels like a triple whammy.

It's a horrible time to be a Vikings fan, we are constantly putting our hands in our pockets to help try and maintain our club, while the people who put us in to this position seem to have got away scot free, and the powers that be seem quit happy to watch us die a slow painful death.

Of course a Widnes fan would say licensing worked, you got promoted from 5th in the final season with having a team that was nowhere near the standard of the league leaders at the time.