This is the RFL for gods sake, what exactly do you expect ? , this is the same organisation that read Faxs SL application in January, but decided not to tell them they hadnt provided sufficient information till July

No it doesn't.

Have been awarded a '1 year probationary SL licence' apparently. So they're safe for 2013 at least.

that's great news - good luck to them

Why bother.
Once again the RFL refuse to come clean in a failed attempt to sound 'fair'.
They are either in or they are not to suggest anything else is simply rubbish.
Some are going to jump on me over this I would imagine but using a 'probation' is simply hot air and deep down they and everyone else know it.

It has all the appearance of a classic RFL fudge I'd agree. I imagine they had zero luck putting together a 'mini licencing round' so this is Plan B.

EDIT: The official statement confirms that part of the reason was the impracticality of organising a mini licencing round in the time available.

Interesting statement actually. They've basically put SL and the Championship in a holding pattern pending the results of the comprehensive review.

Now, now - I'm sure the terms of their probation will be clear, unambiguous and widely communicated.

Sarcasm aside, mistakes have been made and licensing was badly compromised even before this, but we have to look to the future and hope that something better replaces it in the near-ish future. This is hopefully no more than a convenient pretense, to buy a bit of time, which is sensible enough. At least they didn't go with the mini-round - this is a much more honest kind of sham.
Small mercies and that.

As a matter of interest, which rule would you have used to do this? And who would you have brought in at short notice to replace them?

This solution is far from ideal but might well be the lesser of several evils.

I have a feeling we'll see a different system, although quite what it will be is anyone's guess. It's one reason why I can't get worked up over this 'probation' for the Bulls - licenses are likely to be redundant by the time it runs out.

As I may have mentioned , I think we need to. Propping this up serves no purpose now and a reboot would be too complicated to do properly and way too much of a hard sell, if they want Championship teams to engage in it.

Massive crossroads for the sport.