Yes, I think if you win the second tier competition two years running then absolutely you deserve a chance in the top tier. Didn't they also win at least one Premiership trophy in that period too?

Tb surely it is fair to say that Keighley should have been given a chance in SL. In 1995 they were absolutely on fire, they had a fantastic team, great home support and a strong away following too. Will never forget them coming to CP on Good Friday 1995 and they literally took over our East Stand, there was something there for sure.

In SL now they would be an established club with a good following, + easily accessible for so many nearby clubs' fans too like Leeds, Bradford, Hudds, Cas etc. Keighley in SL would have contributed more then what London have, that I'll always believe.

i seam to remember when broncos was 99% aussie and also had there debt cleared by super league so they could carry on existing you seem to have a very short memory as for the youth develpment congrats you deserve it but you have had a lot of had other clubs have not

Hear we go again, the same old drivel shouted out by the same people. Lets put the argument right. Crowds are nothing to do with the argument, potential crowds are, that is why clubs like Featherstone, Barrow, Whitehaven, & Workington plus many others from small towns have no chance at all of becoming succsessful super league clubs, Even the club I follow (Robins) will struggle If the game becomes as popular as many think it deserves (or at least hope it wil) lf the game starts to draw crowds of 15K to 20K then a lot of clubs out side big citys will fail. The only way smaller clubs without large fan base will survive is if the game fails to grow & they stay in by default. The main thing that prevents the game growing is lack of top quality sponsorship as we are not perceived to be a National sport. The reason Union is doing better with an inferior game is that it has a very high National profile with an International & European compatition that generates lots of cash & sponsorship with the media coverage. Lets face it us Northern folk could not fill a half built ground for a cup final last week so why do we expect the Crusaders to have 20K at their games?

Rugby league in wales works in the north! The crusaders are a new found club in wrexham and their support has been very very very healthy in wrexham for a new club. Keep their games in wrexham and get rid of south wales, rugby league is just never going to take off in south wales.

Shocking decision to take the games to Neath really. A pointless waste of time for everyone concerned.

If Salford moved to Sunderland then came back to Salford for two games how many would you lot get?

Interesting that here we have a thread slagging off the number of Crusaders fans who failed to 130 miles from Wrexham to Neath and yet on another thread, we have Wakefield and Castleford fans claiming that they refuse to travel less than 8 miles to Glasshoughton or Newmarket.

Why be unrealistic though? At the end of the day you are just not going to develop a strong SL club in many UK cities no matter how hard you try. Birmingham, Newcastle, London, and countries like Scotland and Ireland are simply not interested enough in the game because there are already sports in place there which are part of their heritage and culture, you will not change that with any amount of marketing, free tickets or whatever.

There is no way Rovers will ever struggle crowd-wise in SL, because whilst we had (IMO) a slightly disappointing crowd on Sat night, it was still higher then every attendance yesterday, so I'm sure we'll be fine.

Re Keighley, it's just my opinion like I said.

There was more at Dewsbury and Batley.

The year that Keighley won the (pre superleague) second division, six teams were relegated from the first division, four of whom (Featherstone, Salford, Wakefield and Widnes) had finished the season above the two relegation spots (Hull and Doncaster). Did Keighley have a better claim on a top division spot than the four teams finishing outside the relegation spots? For info, Salford then won the division in 1995-6 without promotion.

No not at all, but they had a much, much better claim then London IMO.

You sure about Salford? Always thought Keighley won back-to-back titles.

Not only is it not even remotely interesting, it's also not even remotely relevant.

This weekend was one of the worst for attandance figures for some years as only 1 game got over 10k

Reads more accurately now- Since when have the RFL had millions to prop a club up-last year I believe it made 17k or something equally insignificant

But you believe what you will- Stick to talking drunken cr*p with your mates in the social-they will believe you-Shouldn't you be talking about the absurd amount the BP chairman is about to get- think of a number and tell your mates

Wrong! On every level Wrong! And just in case...wrong again. The inland Revenue were never paid...so nobody cleared a debt. The Broncos offered to pay up....the Inland Revenue said no, they folded and the SL chairmen voted to let us stay at the top table. If you want to point the finger...point it at The RFL/SKY...but be careful, one of these organisations gives you a dispensation for extra overseas players, the other 1.2 million a year