I like you, you have a good sense of humour

It's a false dilemma to think we have to choose between the game thriving in the heartlands and expansion - these things are not mutually exclusive. Also expansion doesn't mean replacement.

Yet when I suggest a compromise, which encourages expansion whilst offering a route into SL via on field success, you advocate leaving the league?

Didn't realise that regarding Toulouse's stadium. That would clearly need sorting out. Do they have plans in place? I'm less worried about the crowds as one could reasonably expect them to greatly increase if they were playing in Super League.

I'm not saying those two sides are currently running an academy in the lower leagues, I'm saying I'd make it a condition if they were to be put into SL and granted exemption from relegation. They need to be developing new players rather than relying on those produced by heartlands clubs. Same regarding Toronto's crowds, if they dropped off then I'd no longer protect them from relegation. I can't see that happening though given that they have been getting such good numbers in their first season in a division which generally gets a few hundred on.

I'm as excited as anyone (if you see it as a positive) with the North American sides entering the UK competition but believe there are potentially some serious issues with obtaining insurance for USA sides (as a result of the NFL head injury claims). Canada was a struggle anyway but the USA sides will be even harder to place and could scupper the whole thing which would be a massive shame!

The route to SL via on field success would be worthless to unprotected clubs. Accepting that sort of sporting second class citizenship would be an absolute affront to dignity; genuinely shameful. It's a compromise in the same way that the mooted mini-licensing round following Bradford's first demise was a compromise (only more explicit) and it'd be met with similar derision. Clubs won't be complicit in their own shafting - not on that scale.

And that's before the practical implications - can you imagine a final round game between a bottom two who are level on points but one is protected and the other isn't? The latter is doomed to relegation or a play-off irrespective of the result. It'd be farcical.

If the 'integral' teams want another breakaway, inviting others as and when they think they're ready, then that's up to them - as I said SL isn't a prison. But I couldn't follow a puppet club that was only allowed into a league (as opposed to a competition, in this instance) to 'do a job', as they say in professional wrestling I believe.

So, on balance, I'm not quite ready to buy-in

Pretty much along the lines of a conversation I've had this morning.

You just need to look at Union partners/sponsors (NatWest, Land Rover, Guinness, Aviva, Old Mutual Wealth, O2, Samsung, IBM) compared to League's (BetFred, Kingstone Press Cider, Batchelors Mushy Peas). That hasn't happened by accident, it's happened because partners/sponsors know their target market and they want to be associated with a game that speaks volumes about their product, and the social standing of its potential customers.

League is a mostly Northern sport played in predominantly working class towns and former mining communities, flat caps and whippets and all that. In Union, you have clubs in largely wealthy areas, a solid base of aspirational middle Englanders, the old boy network, and if you play your cards right, hell, you might end up rubbing shoulders with the royals! If you were in charge of an investment bank's marketing/sponsorship budget, which sport would you throw the money into for the best return?

Short of a social revolution, there's not a lot that can be done for a quick fix. Calls to just 'market to a wider audience' are simply pie in the sky. This is a deep seated issue with class, political division and the North/South divide at the heart of it.

I've been to a League game in Batley, I've been to a Union game in Bath, they exist in totally different universes.

Bring in teams with largely middle class support bases, like Toronto, New York, Montreal, Boston and Philadelphia, and the sponsorships and advertising revenue will soar to the heavens.

Yep, because those people and those cities are crying out for a minority sport from the north of England that nobody has ever heard of- idiot.

I'd partly agree, but I'm not sure to the extend the political / class division fits in.

There are some affluent parts of the UK right on the doorstep of RL land. I find it hard to believe that we have done all that we can to tap into certain markets of, for example, North Yorkshire and Cheshire.

Thousands of people commute from places like Harrogate to Leeds every day. The train between the two literally passes Headingley Stadium's Western Terrace.

These are people that will at least be familiar with the Leeds Rhinos brand, but how much activity does a club like Leeds actually do in these areas? Have they tried and failed, concluding that the people in that area aren't interested? Is it considered too high-risk, compared to other forms of marketing? Or are they just not interested in that market?

And this applies to all clubs, not just Leeds. We have clubs that are failing to engage markets that are literally across the road.

If carlsberg did posts on this subject on rl fans forums