2005/6 when the council agreed the underwrite , when did they announce the intention to Franchise ?

Just in case you couldn't be bothered to check Mr CharnockThe RFL's in-house lawyer, Rod Findlay, explained, "The basis for the licensing process was established in May 2005 when the RFL, in full consultation with member clubs, drew up a strategy document for Super League which basically said 'This is what we want the league to look like and this is what we want the clubs to look like,'".[5] Findlay continued, "The document concluded that the competition should be expanded to 14 clubs and said it was not felt the heartland would be able to sustain that number of Super League clubs. We do not have 14 clubs who satisfy all the Super League strategy aims. The board needs to decide whether those clubs that are not currently satisfying the aims can satisfy them in the future."[5]

Commenting on the implementation of three year licence cycles, the RFL's Chief Executive Nigel Wood stated, "We hope to capture all of the advantages of a closed competition like the NRL without the disadvantages of having perennial under-performers that sometimes you get in a closed competition." [6]

'"

No. The problem is that the council didn't realise that the stadium was only one of a number of criteria by which the applications were judged.

Is the correct answer

thats ok, took about 20 seconds to find it, then 5 minutes having a laugh at the rest of the document

Of which most were ' subjective ' , unlike a bricks and mortar stadium , which we still havent seen yet at any other club , except of course the one that moved 150 miles to find one

I think the fact that Leigh had a new stadium but it was specifically excluded from the assessment is what confuses most people. Wheras other applications seemed to have been judged on what might be. A strange and dare I say unfair application of the franchising criteria, I'm sure you'll agree.

Of course not , junior development was one of them , how many International/SL/Championship players had the Celtic Crusaders produced in 2007 ?

And yet Mr Lewis stated on BBC Manchester that they had a better development record than Leigh

Then of course we have the financial aspect , they havent had any problems with that subject have they ?

Of course they were , on the one hand we have

Brewery Field , a 90 year old Rugby Union ground with one stand , a standing terrace down one side with a few boxes above it and a shed down one end , in fact it doesn't even have the required number of seats to be allowed into SL , it makes Wheldon road and Hilton park look like Wembley in comparison

And on the other we have the

LSV , the latest state of the art stadium with undersoil heating , the facilities for the latest 3 D broadcasting and numerous other advantages

Very ' subjective

Soooooooperdoooooooper league based on STADIA only would comprise of

Wigan

Warrington

Huddersfield

Hull

Catalans ?

Harlequins

Widnes

Leigh

Doncaster

Sheffield ( if at Bramall Lane)

The rest, even with the money spent on them, old, past it, badly thought out (subjective viewpoint) etc., etc.,.

It's a good job then that other criteria are far more important, and that actual playing ability is thankfully ignored.

bring back promotion and relegation, the current system is a joke

The current system hasn't had time to prove whether it works or not.