There are positives to this structure, and the good news is that they will be immediately apparent.



The bad news is so will the obvious issues which will be so broad as to cause them to be addressed very quickly. The attendances in the bottom 8 will be appalling. Nobody will care about being the 17th best side in the league, pretty much that entire league will be a dead rubber and if as suggested there is relegation from that league. That will be an entire competition solely designed to find out who is the worst, it doesn’t even have the legitimacy of a plate competition. It’s a competition where you just simply try not to be the worst. A battle of the s.



The middle 8 risks being an absolute walk over, where very quickly there is nothing to play for and we have a procession of walk overs by better funded, better prepared, better players.



The top 8 also risks very quickly having no point, with so few games there is very little opportunity to turn things around, and there is also a possibility that we could see teams in that top 8 who quite literally have no mathematical chance of progressing from it and a very good possibility that there will be teams who start that competition with no realistic chance of progressing.



The biggest problem in gaining legitimacy for it is that there is a clear and obvious comparison. If for instance Hull KR (who finished 8th last year) finish 8th, the 7 games they have to play have already been played that year. Their three home games have a clear and direct comparison to live up to. It is likely that these games will be ‘extra’ and not included in season tickets (would you risk paying SL prices for a third of your season to be in the championship?) they were 9 points from 4th, 1 loss (and a 4th place win) and they are 11 pts and 4 places from 4th with 12 pts to play for. How many HKR fans are going to pay full price, for a ticket to see a repeat of a game they have seen, only this time with nothing to play for? If, like you would expect it is very few, you are left with a clear comparison showing a big drop in crowds.

There is no 'bad news'. You have simply set out your opinions - which are without foundation or consideration of the likely reality.



Take your comments about the final 7 matches that the third 8 will play. Consider what those clubs play for now in the last 7 league matches under the current structure. Nothing. Their fans are disillusioned. Gates are very low.



What will differ in the new structure for those particular clubs? Plenty. Just a few:



- Clubs will be fighting to avoid ending in the bottom 2 as it will mean relegation out of SL2 into the third tier

- The finshing positions in the 8 will determine how much SKY money the clubs will get for the following season. (i.e. I expect the distribution of SKY money in the following season to be graded - so that the higher a club finishes between places 1 to 24, the more SKY money they will get the next season). So directors will be able to offer appropriate player bonuses for the higher they finish

- Finishing in the top four will qualify you for the play-offs. OK nothing really at stake apart from pride & player bonuses. So, a bit like the old Premiership play-offs. But fans will be keen for their club to get to the play-off final even at that level - to enjoy a day out at a double header along with the middle 8 play-off final.



There are supporters of clubs outside the top 5 in the game who might win the Super League you know.

Fairly sure I've seen more of them than you

But, once again, you claim that the Bulls being given a licence then having financial difficulties is a problem of the licensing system. The two are, to a degree significant enough for even you to understand, not the same thing.

I don't know how often you have seen them. And you have no idea how much I have seen them. However you have the need to make such an assertion. Oh dear.



Do read what I write rather than jump to your limited conclusion. An alledged detailed financial check that flags up no problems in July 2012 and May 2013 yet sees the club in a dire position within 2/3 months is dreadful. People who have never seen the licensing documents can work that out, you alas cannot.

hilarious from you

so playing meaningless games against less salubrious opponents who themselves are less well attended outside the season tickets is going to help is it?



a couple will, the rest will be safe very quickly. 8 places is a pretty big gap.

that will pack them in for sure, how exciting will it be to watch the battle for 6th for a slight increase in TV money.

it's pretty much the thriller in Manila



So now we get a plate final which has to be a double header to find out the question on everyone's lips, just who is THE 6TH AND 17TH BEST TEAMS IN SL.

I hope they don't employ you to sell it because that sounds like the worst idea I have ever heard if you got 15k people to watch that I would be astounded

i don't think any supporters will win SL, top 5 or not

The equitable division of Sky money is crucial as, in the real world, we are returning to some form of P&R. It is going to be difficult to get it right though and even more difficult to get it agreed.

Clear, simple rules are also vital, I agree - as much as what they are, that they should simple is just as important. Our current regulations are so complicated and riddled with discretion and interpretation that it undermines trust. We've tried to solve our problems with ever more subtle and clever legislation piled higher and higher. My one big downer on the 2x12, 3x8 structure, is that for all that it is quite elegant, it's yet another convoluted solution.

While re-election was only used at the bottom of the football League, direct comparisons are difficult. There are crowds in League 2 that compare with some in SL - especially if you take aggregate attendance over their greater number of fixtures. To see our RL championship as directly equivalent to the football championship (the second tiers), is a big stretch.

Just giving a heads up as to what is likely to be announced later this month with regard to the new structure from 2015 season onwards once agreed by the clubs next week.



If anyone is so against it, they'd better make an appointment at RFL HQ quick, and let Ralph Rimmer know why they're wrong and what your alternative is.

Oh yeah, I know its going ahead. As I said, It means my club will spend the next 5 years at least competing for trophies with the big boys, everyone else will be pretty much irrelevant playing in competitions even they think are irrelevant. Sadly the league will then be cut to ten and your club will be even further away from SL, playing in a lower league competition which will have been absolutely destroyed. Its not the big SL clubs like my club who are going to be damaged by this if anything we really will be strengthened, we will be on a different level, it’s the lower league clubs and the lower SL clubs. Don’t be naïve and think this is an expansion of SL, it isn’t. It’s a huge contraction. Its sharing 2 SL clubs TV money with the entire rest of the league and guaranteeing them they will never be top clubs ever again. This is a ringfencing of a top 6.

That would be catastrophic.



SL2013

1 Huddersfield Giants

2 Warrington Wolves

3 Leeds Rhinos

4 Wigan Warriors

5 St Helens

6 Hull FC



SL2012

1 Wigan Warriors

2 Warrington Wolves

3 St Helens

4 Catalan Dragons

5 Leeds Rhinos

6 Hull FC



SL2011

1 Warrington Wolves

2 Wigan Warriors

3 St Helens

4 Huddersfield Giants

5 Leeds Rhinos

6 Catalan Dragons



SL2010

1 Wigan Warriors

2 St Helens

3 Warrington Wolves

4 Leeds Rhinos

5 Huddersfield Giants

6 Hull FC

Indeed, it would be terrible. With any luck Hull FC and Les Catalans will both be able take that next step and we can have our top 7, Bradford can get themselves sorted and we can have our top 8 and accelerate the move to a better structure.

That would be awesome.

What a surprise to many who have posted on here. All the RFL money pumped into the Bulls + all the license financial checks + the financial check in may 2013 + checking two lots of potential owners in 15 months and we end with...administration.



How fortunate for the RFL that this did not happen a couple of weeks ago when the bulls helped give a 7-6 vote to the rfl plan.



Be interesting to see if any RFL board members will resign.



Naturally the bulls should have a 6 pt deduction. Why should Carter cut players to stay solvent while bulls pop into administration and keep everyone! Why should Hughes put his hand in his pocket and see the exodus of players to stay in business while the bulls 'work with creditors' at keep their squad.



Will Nigel Wood ever man up???