Because franchising has been in place a number of years now, It is no longer in its infancy and should be used as what it was designed for, To make those clubs outside super league build correctly for entry into SL, Nigel Wood said at the last round of franchising that those clubs who did not deliver upon its promises could be removed at any time and replaced by another club. Whether this was due to wakefield and castlefords long standing ground situation or not is up to us to decipher, However this could also mean any club who has not fullfilled its licence application business plan etc, again open to interpretation. What i do know is that to have a closed shop whilst clubs keep going to the wall is making the game look more and more stupid year on year, I'm cant see into the future, perhaps putting another club up in bradford place would all go tits up, but surely it should be seen to follow through on what they are telling people and the media and follow through on something for once to gain some respect back to the governing body of our sport.

Now before some of you give it .....all this from a fax fan, I am not saying it should be Halifax, However it should certainly be one either Halifax, Fev, Toulouse, Whoever the RFL decide, but it sould be someone, Halifax have made a PROFIT this year and i am sure Fev will also post a profit and if they dont it will be down to investing in their ground and infrastructure, not due to overspending and bad business practise.

so a whole year later from wakeys admin makes all the difference and fax being a possible beneficiary is just a happy coincidence.......................

Cas Tigers fan.
Bulls should drop down to Championship One.
P & R should be re-introduced in 2013 (1 up/1 down) - Bulls will be back to SL for 2014.
Franchising to be scrapped - its failed.

Fev are been pumped with money at the moment - and their strategy to get to SL will be proven wrong.

The problem is that there is such a chasm between SL and NL1 that building fior SL can only be done up to a point. There is absolutely no guarantee that a club that is successful in NL1 will make the transition to become a successful SL club. The promted club has to make so many fundamental changes to its organisation, personnel and financial structure on becoming a SL club that its previous record as a well run NL club is almost irrelevant.

So F"ck em. leave em to rot in the lower league and continue to let SL club after SL club go to the wall!!!!

NL1 has not been around for years and it is the Championship, there is that big a gulf now that championship teams are running the SL clubs close or in some cases beating them on the pitch with a Salary cap of £300k and part time players.

OK then, So a full 4 years into licensing that was designed to make clubs stronger and to compete with the NRL we have Crusaders bust and out, Wakefield saved from the brink and in administation and the once Giants Bradford bulls teetering on the edge, Fax have applied for the last 2 rounds and will wait their turn, can the same be said for the other clubs, Fax were once in the mire, and ever since have rebuilt and come back stronger, Been in 4 finals in 3 years and possibly more to come this year, Have the stadium which some SL clubs envy, but lets not let the facts get in the way, Fev are dominating as well at the moment and plans for stadium and are awaiting planning permision which will be through in the next 2 months, Not 4 years + like some.

I can see both sides of the argument with regards to the franchise system.

However, the reason for clubs struggling at the moment is less to do with that, and more to do with the state of the economy in the country. People have less (or no) cash at the moment so leisure activities such as supporting your club take a much lower priority.

The Bulls might have kept limping along under the old regime if it hadn't been for the UK economy generally.

As for the Bulls? They'll stay in SL (if they survive), and I tend to agree with that because it is in line with other decisions made with other clubs recently. As for points deductions and when? Because I'm a Rovers supporter I can't really comment because it would be my team who would probably ensure a playoff space if it happended this season. I want us to get there on merit.

This