The game has to learn from past mistakes. As has been mentioned already, new expansion teams need to be in an area with history of the game. Which is why Stade need to be in the LER NOW and working towards a license in 2015 which gives them time to start building a junior base and win a few titles / Lord Derby cups.

Of course the Stade owners could forget all about this idea leaving this arguement pointless.

They have been told they have to and the Federation has said that they wil do so next seasonl. Personally, not convinced they have the extra money or players to do so. This season they collaborated with St. Gaudens to provide them with reserve players. It may well be that Toulouse in the LER means St. Gaudens have to drop out as they currently struggle with lack of money & players. The line-up for next year's LER is looking even more up in the air than normal - not obvious than 10 clubs will make it to the starting line.

Hope to be proven wrong, but currently all the signs are that SF XIII isn't going to happen.

Would be a joke if SF got in before Toulouse. They're a union team. What image would that send to the media? "We are that desperate for expansion that we'll take on any sister club to a union team that offers".

I doubt the NRL would suddenly drop all expansion plans if say the Wellington Hurricanes from S14 decided they wanted an NRL side.

they probably do need to have a team in the LER first before entry into SL.

the whole idea of having to go into the championship is a waste of time though, as toulose has shown

they shouldve just stayed in the LER and bid from there

The French league would benefit more from a Stade team than Super League right now.

Thomas Bosc said in RLW world the other month that getting a decent domestic competition (their version of the Championship I suppose) would be a good way of preparing the top clubs in France for SL.

The problem is the domestic game in France. Look at Dragons now they are having to use their squad and players from the UTC domestic side.

its more their location rather than whether they are a union club per se.

the fact they have loads of money doesnt hurt either i guess.

if you want to expand into a tough market, what better way than linking up with a club which is already established there?

we dont have the funds for a paris team on our own, thats for sure

At this moment a 2nd french team in superleague is a definite no-no,we have to get our own house in order first.

You are like a cracked record.

Give it a rest. We know that is your position.

As for Stade, Richard Holt once noted that the soccer sections at both Stade Francais and Racing were not followed with the same enthusiasm as the union ones. Why would rugby league be different?

I don't agree with him but it's a fair opinion.
RL in England is in a mess in parts

so if thats the criteria LEs catalans shouldnt have been included in SL?

or was RL healthier before and now regressed to being a "mess"

BS.

Heard of the term 'Recession'?
I know you don't understand it being all the way over in insignificant Australia but it has hit SL (and most British sport) BADLY. Warrington, yes Warrington who are a decently running club with good attendances and their OWN stadium were running at a big loss last year until they got to wembley; god knows about some of the others.

Catalans was a right move, im almost certain Stade or Toulouse will be.. but not '12.
I'll say it again, put one expansion franchise for '14 guaranteed and decided in '12 to the side and give it to one of the expansion clubs to create a 16 team league in '14 but next year is just too soon.

It's all about opinions,if you don't like it fine,we know what your position is as well.

Dico,do you not think we should sort out the game in our country first and if(and it's a big if) we do then we should consider a 2nd team from France.

In which context, it's worth noting that Stade Francais posted a 2.5million euro loss this season.

so even though SL crowds are up, and have grown since les catalans were admitted entry, you still say the game is in a mess!




and im guessing you are assuming this recession will continue for at least 2 - 3 more years when the RFL looks at the structure of SL!

Dally were i live in the heartlands even now we struggle for exposure(due to football mainly) and until we are given a fair go in the media it will always struggle,it's not like it is in Aus were you get plenty of publicity(good or bad).

I would expect the current unemployment and financial situation to continue for the next 12-18 months, by which time the next licenses will have already been decided and on their way preparing, people seem to be forgetting that for 2012 the applications have to be in AFTER THIS SEASON as it was the aim to stop newly promoted teams running around for scraps after every other team.
I have seen Warringtons accounts, I am a shareholder albeit a small one although anyone is welcome to look. If Warrington are struggling financially then the rest are going to be in trouble (without really risking bankruptcy) its fair to say.

CJ, I believe there is a place for expansion alongside homegrown hearlands development. I would not only like to see an expansion team integrated into SL in 2015 but also another heartlands team for a 16 team league. I just think if expansion teams are going to play by different rules then we might as well admit it and designate one SL spot to them and not have them having to play in the championships (if it is indeed Stade).

with your idea for the future its waiting for godot.

RL is as healthy as its ever been in england

warrington are losing money because they are spending so much on players. this loss is covered by their rich shareholder, and hasnt much to do with the recession.

where is the recession in wigan. heck their crowds are growing by the day.

the next round if licenses is probably too soon for paris, but it certainly could happen if the club and the RFL want it

clearly both the FRL and RFL see the potential here

hey getting a succesful RL club in a city like paris might help just a little bit.

I never once disagreed with that.
You made a point that the RFL would pull a rabbit out of the hat and we could see Tou and SF in 2012, I said it was cobblers.

Again, you're thousands of miles away and i'm sat in an office, in Warrington town centre, with Warrington fans. I am telling you people cannot afford to go.
If there was no recession now Warrington would be getting about 14,000 every week.
Post 2012, SL will see a boom in this country, definately

Yeah and Saints new stadium should be well and truly up by then.

Not necessarily.

I’m thoroughly disillusioned with the sport as a whole. The adhoc and dishonest manner in which the sport is run imo, is a complete turn off. Lower SL clubs will be dismissed on a whim and clubs will be promoted to SL in a similar way. The systems in place are vague and fudgiable and the people administering them untrustworthy imo. I want to watch a sport and not some post code lottery.

Going up to SL is only good because it happens to be a bit better than being in the post-licence era Championship. I will be happy, and probably regard it as over due, but I won’t be Whooping and punching the air as I was when we were last promoted.

I’ll probably be lynched on here for this, but I’m beginning to find RL boring and formulaic in SL. The game has changed imo, and spontaneity and true guile have been replaced by over-coached muscle-bound drones whom, if they don’t follow the coaches game plan to the letter, are looking at being dropped and castigated.

Many of the games we see on TV are held in tumbleweed atmospheres amongst clubs which struggle to get 3,000/4,000 fans through the gate. But that doesn’t matter because, as long as you have a ‘Sugar Daddy’ to bail you out, you’ll be fine.

I used to see 8 out of 10 RL games as great to watch, but now it seems to be the other way round.

So, even if Widnes gets the nod, I may not be going along for the ride. I’m only sticking with the sport now out of pure loyalty to the club, and definitely not loyalty or admiration for the sport, which I now regard as utterly corrupted.

I'd wait until you see how Widnes go before coming to some premature conclusion. I'm sure it only seems disillusional to those people on the outside looking in. Most SL fans seem happy with their lot (save for when clubs go through long stretches of defeats). Now and again i pop on the Cas and Salford boards and it's not pretty. Then, they claim a scalp of one of the top 4 sides and it's all smiles again. Bradford fans went through a similar phase last year and early this year - now a poll on their board is favouring MacBanana and they seem happier. I think if you can hover around mid-table/upwards it's a good thing to be in; if you're getting pumped every week, then not so. So long as you're competitive i think you'll enjoy it. On the whole it's certainly better to be in than out.

Agree with everything you say. I want Widnes into super league not just because I think it would be good for the club, but also because I think permanent exposure to the championship will leave a lot of clubs decimated. Confine them to a weak second tier forever and they are finished, all because of the greed of a few already rich clubs.