Will Bradford be around after franchising ? South wales are just another part of the welsh experiment which has been a resounding failure so far what is to say it will suddenly become a success. Super league in its current state is not financially viable for teams without the high turnover of teams like Leeds

My argument for the last few years, the RFL havent a clue what to do to make the Championships a ' vibrant, worth winning in their own right competition ' , the TV ' deal ' is quite ridiculous

The RFL should appoint a Championship ' Director ' with specific responsibility to build the competition and the clubs in it, somebody who will put the Championships 1 st and not be influenced by the requirements of SL or any other aspect of the sport, they should also have their own budget, a couple of million a season should do it

If they want to ring me I'll do it

You realise that they went bust long before SL and survived the experience, right? Why would it be any different now?


The 'Welsh experiment" finished when Crusaders disappeared. What's left is genuine fans of RL doing what they can. Who are you to tell them that they're failures? Sheer arrogance.

No idea, I don't have a crystal ball, but at the moment it looks like they won't.

I'm not clued up massively on the Scorpions, but aren't they doing quite well, bringing players through and getting decent crowds (for that level), and the same with the reformed Crusaders?

Agreed. For clubs like Leigh, Fev and Fax there is still a point to the season, as they have aspirations of Super League so need to win it for the points on the application, but for the Batley's of this world who are quite happy where they are what's the point in winning the comp? It's difficult to see how that can ever change with franchising in place, but then I don't think we'd be seeing the improvements across the board in Super League without franchising.

Perilous state of the game's finances or perilous state of certain club's finances? Last I recall, the balance sheet for the RFL was pretty healthy.

There are no current Championship clubs anywhere near strong enough to go into a franchised SL, Fax are probably the current strongest, and their application was ridiculed by the RFL last year, there is nothing for Championship clubs to play for, and the attendances prove it, last night Leigh drew 1,800 for what should have been one of their most important matches of the season

The Championships need massive investement in time, money and most importantly inovation and inspiration, the RFL dont have any of those things

Mick Gledhill begs to differ, assume he has some evidence to support this tweet:
The whole financial viability of #rugbyleague is under threat. Salford, Hull KR and Castleford to name Three others.

He goes on to say "I truly believe that within 5 years, the sport will only sustain Leeds, Hull, Saints, Wire and Wigan as FT clubs"

Sounds like he's done a lot of research on the infrastructure and funding of the sport in the last few months. Can we support a top flight competition with more than 10 clubs? Very much hope so.

This discussion seams to have gone from 'has SL failed'? to more of a discussion about the championship. If we are comparing RL to attendances in other sports then if you look at SL attendances, and compare those to say football. SL would equate to the bottom of the Championship playing the top of the league one clubs. The Championship in RL would equate more to a league 2 football competition in terms of attendances. www.football-league.co.uk/static ... 057,00.pdf In the end we can all wish for more people to watch the game, but wishing will not make it so. Now that posters have show SL attendances to have actually grown, the doubters then change tact and go to the championship and ask for evidence that these have not suffered. What I'd say is if you want to say P&R has reduced attendances in the lower leagues, then it's down to you to show the figures to prove your own point. Anyone can throw out statements and say prove me wrong, but the necessity of proof always lies with the person who lays charges.

This discussion seams to have gone from 'has SL failed'? to more of a discussion about the championship. If we are comparing RL to attendances in other sports then if you look at SL attendances, and compare those to say football. SL would equate to the bottom of the Championship playing the top of the league one clubs. The Championship in RL would equate more to a league 2 football competition in terms of attendances. www.football-league.co.uk/static ... 057,00.pdf In the end we can all wish for more people to watch the game, but wishing will not make it so. Now that posters have show SL attendances to have actually grown, the doubters then change tact and go to the championship and ask for evidence that these have not suffered. What I'd say is if you want to say P&R has reduced attendances in the lower leagues, then it's down to you to show the figures to prove your own point. Anyone can throw out statements and say prove me wrong, but the necessity of proof always lies with the person who lays charges.

If this is genuinely the case, that SL can only sustain these 5 clubs then, i'm sorry, but we need a large pair of gardes shears so that they can have their wings clipped.

FWIW, I dont agree with the comment, although perhaps too many clubs are chasing the dream a little too hard and although the very nature of professional sport is to do just this, perhaps now would be a good time for the sport, not just SL, to re-evaluate its goals.

Of course fans need promotion at the end of the season otherwise winning your league is completely pointless. Nobody would have such a system if they had half a brain. Promotion is essential. That is why if you win the SL, you get promotion to . . . oh, hang on. Well, alright, maybe the SL clubs play on somehow despite the lack of promotion, but what about the Premier League? The clubs at the top spend billions just to try to achieve promotion to the . . er . . . or in fact they all play in the "best league in the world" despite it having . . . NO PROMOTION.

I believe that somewhere in the southern hemisphere there's a rugby league too - NRL or something - where they are doing OK yet eschew any promotion as well. How can all these leading clubs all over the place possibly see the point to a championship season where you don't get promoted to somewhere?

Why put discuss at the end?What do you think we are going to do,fry a breakfast?

Quote ="bewareshadows"This discussion seams to have gone from 'has SL failed'? to more of =#FF0000a discussion about the championship. If we are comparing RL to attendances in other sports then if you look at SL attendances, and compare those to say football. SL would equate to the bottom of the Championship playing the top of the league one clubs. The Championship in RL would equate more to a league 2 football competition in terms of attendances. www.football-league.co.uk/static ... 057,00.pdf In the end =#FF0000we can all wish for more people to watch the game, but wishing will not make it so. Now that posters have show SL attendances to have actually grown, the doubters then change tact and go to the championship and ask for evidence that these have not suffered. What I'd say is if you want to say P&R has reduced attendances in the lower leagues, then it's down to you to show the figures to prove your own point. Anyone can throw out statements and say prove me wrong, but the necessity of proof always lies with the person who lays charges.'" It was a SL club fan that mentioned the Championships , now if people dont want to give their opinion about SL , then threads can and do ' drift ' Quite correct , ' wishing ' doesn't work , neither does any of the things the RFL seem to do either , so what do you think should happen ? , I've given my suggestion , or are you one of these who thinks fans should be happy watching SL academies masquerading as historic semi pro clubs ?

Quote ="bewareshadows"This discussion seams to have gone from 'has SL failed'? to more of =#FF0000a discussion about the championship. If we are comparing RL to attendances in other sports then if you look at SL attendances, and compare those to say football. SL would equate to the bottom of the Championship playing the top of the league one clubs. The Championship in RL would equate more to a league 2 football competition in terms of attendances. www.football-league.co.uk/static ... 057,00.pdf In the end =#FF0000we can all wish for more people to watch the game, but wishing will not make it so. Now that posters have show SL attendances to have actually grown, the doubters then change tact and go to the championship and ask for evidence that these have not suffered. What I'd say is if you want to say P&R has reduced attendances in the lower leagues, then it's down to you to show the figures to prove your own point. Anyone can throw out statements and say prove me wrong, but the necessity of proof always lies with the person who lays charges.'" It was a SL club fan that mentioned the Championships , now if people dont want to give their opinion about SL , then threads can and do ' drift ' Quite correct , ' wishing ' doesn't work , neither does any of the things the RFL seem to do either , so what do you think should happen ? , I've given my suggestion , or are you one of these who thinks fans should be happy watching SL academies masquerading as historic semi pro clubs ?

WCC

Champions League

They're Australians

superleague has done massive wonders for the sport for those of you old enough to remember the sport was on the brink of bankrupcy and is now a profitable entity all on its own.

however the league does need to be cut down to 2 or 3 less teams and unfortunately if the bulls do fold i think that is what will happen

Go on , explain that one ?

We did a similar assessment at a regional seminar last year,discussing the parameters of superleague, breaking the game down into positive and negative attributes and came up with a similar outcome that only 6 clubs from academy to superleage team status could operate at top flight level.
In answer to the title of the thread, I would say no, but we do seem to be at crossroads as the standard as flattened out or has descended the last 3 years.
Couple of Questions.
Have we increased sponsorship through marketing at club and RFL level.
Have we really reduced the amount of overseas players or increased the standard of overseas player.
Have we increased the quality of the referee standard.
Have we structured the game to provide more intensity in games.
Have we got transparency between club and the RFL on club finance.

We came up with a similar conclusion that a 10 team superleague would give the game a better positive to the above questions. The biggest challenge would be to improve the standard for at least 10 more teams outside of superleague through RFL subsidy.

They are simply an extension of this project, and fair play they seem to be doing it the right way instead of packing their team full of illegally imported or over the hill aussies, but what is the real ambition ? RL will never produce a welsh rugby team like that of the welsh RU team and most welsh internationals in RL are english anyway. What gives them the right to be propelled into Championship 1 instead of heartlands teams such as Bramley who's genuine fans have worked harder for longer without the same help from the RFL

People need some realism

SL will never match the NRL in terms of quality and exposure
England won't consistently produce world class teams and players like the Aussies
RL isn't ever going to match the national and international exposure and participation of RU

RL in england is a northern sport and is a ing brilliant one, and SL was a competitive, entertaining competition so why we are trying to change it into something its not through licensing is baffling. Has licensing so far brought any extreme improvements to any part of our game ? I don't think so

We have to change because the world around us changes. Changes like the end of regional newspaper editions, the reduction of regional tv, planned reductions of regional radio all have or would have a big impact on RL. Kids are drawn to the popular stuff on tv, not whatever is happening down the road which is why kids who have never been to Old Trafford still support Man Utd.
There will be no place for a full time regional sport in the future, we HAVE TO become a national sport or RL will simply be played by part-time players in front of a few hundred people in a few ex-mining towns.
Just what "extreme improvements" were you expecting in 3 & 1/2 seasons?

90 % of your post is rubbish, yes things change and 3 and 1/2 seasons is not long enough, the rest is total nonsense

Well argued. No really. Well done on countering the points I put forward. That appears to be your stock answer when you feel like you should disagree but you dont know why.

If you seriously can't see the effect national media, be it newspaper, radio or TV has on people and what they take an interest in then I suggest you open your eyes and take a look around. There are kids that I coach who can name more of the England rugby union team, more of the GB Olympic team, more of the England Cricket team than they can Leeds Rhinos first team players. You only need to go into a non-RL pub and see how few if any times rugby league is mentioned during people's normal conversation. Yet national topics that are in the national media, are. You only need to look at the huge rise in popularity of international rugby union to see the effects of the imbalance between regional and national media. Domestic rugby union is of similar popularity to rugby league, yet international union is popular nationwide but has only become so due to it being widely reported on by national media. If people cared as much about regional sports they would be off to see Wasps v Gloucester as much as they do England v anyone at all.
The only regular media exposure RL gets is regional in local papers and local radio. Even then it's patchy. With thr move to more internet forms of media Less and less people are consuming local media, I walk into my local supermarket there are around 10 or 11 national or international newspapers and about 3 regional. Most people pick up a national newspaper. I switch on the tv, its all national programming. I turn on the radio, most of the stations are national and no-one under the age of 50 listens to regional radio except for specific local sports coverage.
When there are plenty of people living in the so-called heartlands of rugby league who have never heard of the sport (or if they have they have no idea who plays it or what it is) then how do you think a truly regional sport would survive with a full time pro league?
In the end, for the non-diehard fan there are plenty of other things to do and watch that are reported on. When there is Premier League football, International Rugby Union, International Cricket, Euro 2012 & the Olympics all with high profile, nationwide status why would people put the effort in required to actively take an interest in a sport they barely know exist?

Quote ="bewareshadows"This discussion seams to have gone from 'has SL failed'? to more of a discussion about the championship. If we are comparing RL to attendances in other sports then if you look at SL attendances, and compare those to say football. SL would equate to the bottom of the Championship playing the top of the league one clubs. The Championship in RL would equate more to a league 2 football competition in terms of attendances. www.football-league.co.uk/static ... 057,00.pdf In the end we can all wish for more people to watch the game, but wishing will not make it so. Now that posters have show SL attendances to have actually grown, the doubters then change tact and go to the championship and ask for evidence that these have not suffered. What I'd say is if you want to say P&R has reduced attendances in the lower leagues, then it's down to you to show the figures to prove your own point. Anyone can throw out statements and say prove me wrong, but the necessity of proof always lies with the person who lays charges.'" I'm not actually reading this thread post to post or making a point to favour an argument but surely if the highest Championship attendance is just about 2,000 it's more comparable with the bottom half of non-league football than it is league 2.

Quote ="bewareshadows"This discussion seams to have gone from 'has SL failed'? to more of a discussion about the championship. If we are comparing RL to attendances in other sports then if you look at SL attendances, and compare those to say football. SL would equate to the bottom of the Championship playing the top of the league one clubs. The Championship in RL would equate more to a league 2 football competition in terms of attendances. www.football-league.co.uk/static ... 057,00.pdf In the end we can all wish for more people to watch the game, but wishing will not make it so. Now that posters have show SL attendances to have actually grown, the doubters then change tact and go to the championship and ask for evidence that these have not suffered. What I'd say is if you want to say P&R has reduced attendances in the lower leagues, then it's down to you to show the figures to prove your own point. Anyone can throw out statements and say prove me wrong, but the necessity of proof always lies with the person who lays charges.'" I'm not actually reading this thread post to post or making a point to favour an argument but surely if the highest Championship attendance is just about 2,000 it's more comparable with the bottom half of non-league football than it is league 2.

I have thought about this today, I would not say that super league has failed, I would say though that super league has failed rugby league. This has more to do with the people running the RFL than anything else.
I will use the football example, sky and other TV companies pay for the rights to show the premier league, they also pay to broadcast the championship, and lower divisions. This money is then put into one big pot and divided throughout all of football right down to subsidising the running of kids’ football and pub team football. The higher the league you are in the more of a percentage you receive. The football association don’t give TV companies games for free; they also don’t give sponsorship rights away for free.

I think super league would be an overwhelming success if

A) The licence application rules were set in stone, no bending them at all. The rules are changed only by a majority vote of all clubs it would effect not just the super league clubs.

B) If you break any of the rules it automatically terminates your licence.

This would keep all clubs honest. If we brought going into administration back as a licence termination it would make clubs think about managing their finances better.

It would encourage the lower division clubs to improve as they will get a chance when / if a super league club fails.

This can only be done with money feeding its way down from the top. Better management of rugby league.

At the moment the whole structure of rugby league is top heavy with the support below it getting thinner and thinner, and eventually it will break, the top will come crashing down and it will all have to start at the bottom again, unless you start to strengthen the support below super league will have failed.

I would suggest that the RFL has failed superleague. Between 2000 and 2008 superleague was a great product and needed to be enhanced to the next business sporting model. Lewis and Wood became too blinkered the last 4 years with the Sky contract and RFL profit.
When in reality they were failing in global sponsors, marketing and national media exposure. I would imagine the RFL don,t have the people in place to address these issues to flaghip the sport, an individual club can,t as a single entity.
Marketing is EVERYTHING to give a sport stability and stature, this is one of the RFL,s total failings.
Maybe we need to streamline Superleague and use the RFL profits to give the sport the national exposure it deserves.....before its too late.

Super league has not failed it is the people that are in charge of our clubs that have failed when we get somebody to take charge of the chairmen and owners we will be better run and we might get more fans to watch the greatest game of all

You answer your own question, apart from the Premier League ( the most widely watched, supported , sponsored, internationally worker populated competition of the worlds most popular sport ) all your other examples are not club sport, but International sport, we dont have a competitive International aspect to RL, therefore RL will remain a regional sport, its marketing should reflect that, our only option is to build up our clubs local support

Australian rules is a regional sport, Gealic football and Hurling similarily are regional non international sports, yes we need to try to expand the International interest in RL, on the other thread I pointed out an idea several years ago when Russia were showing interest, but as usual RL never does anything properly, it is always half cocked, underfunded, our club sides ( all of them ) have no interest in building the game ( we see criticism of ' self interest ' by SL fans of the lower tier clubs, well the SL clubs are no different in that regard )

We are a regional sport, and that isnt going to change any day soon, until we can run a world Cup with 16 nations ' competing ' and 6 potential winners we will remain a minority regional sport played in Australia, Norther England and the south of France ( even in NZ the sport is seen as something the ' Coconuts ' , slang term for South Sea Islanders and the Moaris not good enough for Union play )