I can't even be ar-sed reading this thread, it wasn't until I got halfway through that i realised it was yet more of Maurices paranoid rants about licencing.


On behalf of other Leigh fans, I'd like to apologise for the stuck record.

Without licensing, RL would have vanished about 10 years ago. The money that isn't in the gamee now would have been spread even thinner, leading to a complete collapse.

Simple as that.

My apologies for skoot he rarely gets to games these days since studying 'How to Run Sport with little knowledge' at Scunnie tec, he sits next to Lewis and opposite Woody

I am impressed that licensing saved the game several years before it was even introduced

It was thrown in with the RFU contract, they screen a whole 11 games of a 22 round season + play-offs.

Work it out fellah, bejesus it aint rocket science!

Two levels idea is not a bad thing.....but I'm not sure some are understanding the effects

The days of promotion and relegation were not so great.
Relegation usually damaged a club. Probably with the exception of Cas it takes a long time to recover and come back.
You lose money straight away because of crowds and sponsorship slipping away. The players mostly just join the team coming up or become fringe players elsewhere.

What a big league does is let the likes of Wakefield and Salford get the big days against the top clubs to make it entertaining for people to watch the big games and gets them a higher profile.
Of course the regulars will still watch but the numbers will be much smaller unless you are playing the top teams.

There will always be a gap between the two tiers. Creating a 10 strong league will make that league stronger but will not help the level below............especially if it still a franchise. P&R would have to be in place which would then hurt the top tier.

I think we are better making the current league stronger and supporting the next tier we have now by helping them build to a franchise.

But lets have a look at the detail.

you suggest that we play 9 teams 3 times to give us a league of 27 weekly rounds. We already have 27 games so there's no extra game to balance the income. Plus a 10 team league won't have a top 8 play-off so there will in all likelihood be no extra games for anyone, and less for some.

The 10 teams will get money cut from their income. Daft.

Now let's look at the division 2. the four teams from the old SL will have their budgets cut by just over half, and I'me guessing their attendance, sponsorship & sales will suffer similarly. Daft.

The 6 teams who stay in the second tier will get an additional £350k. Great for them. The teams relegated to the third division (Championship if you like) will have their money halved also. Daft.

So out of all the 26 teams that will be affected by this 6 will be better off whilst the rest are considerably worse off. Not what this game needs at all.

In July ? 2011 a team was to be told that it would lose its licence for 2012, now that could have been multiple teams as I understand it. So put simply a FT SL club was going to be given a few months notice that it was being dumped without a parachute into a PT league for at least the next 3 years - and people knock the alternative.
Like it or not SL is 3 divisions in 1, the bottom third are no bigger/better than some Championship clubs who are dieing without promotion. Two divisions brings these together, provides an opportunity for expansion, provides a realistic platform to move between divisions, increase intensity at the top and starts to eliminate the laughable system we have in place.

How do you build a brand when the team keeps losing? When you are at the bottom constantly the fans stop going, see Hudds three years at the bottom, relegation provides the opportunity to go on a winning run and build again. Winning is a habit.

People base the difference between the divisions on what it was not what it could and should be. The move has been made harder by expanding the top division too much and there were disadvantages to being promoted, some teams over came them and some did not, that is sport!

Id be 100% for having P & R back as ive never been a fan of the franchise system we have now but even I think that it has nothing to do with Bradford's plight. Its an unpaid tax bill, nothing to do with how the RFL runs the game as a whole

The 10 teams will get the same if not more money as more games will be closer, attendances higher with more regular derbies between these top teams. Each team would have more TV exposure (as fewer teams into the same match covered games) so sponsorship money could potentially increase.
Now, lets look at the Div 2, you see you're looking at it from a direct money in from sky POV, that isn't the be all & end all. The 4 teams to drop have to run with a much more limited budget than before so you learn to be more efficient, this holds you in good standing for any potential return to the top echelon and reduces risk of financial losses comparative to before. not having enough money in the pot for a full time competetive squad with the better teams leaves you to rot almost every year, going bust because you've overextended yourself & had bad managment is the ultimate price to pay.
Teams going down with limited finances then have to look at developing their local talent even more so instead of lucrative hand outs to over the hill Antipodeans.
There's no reason these 4 clubs wouldn't remain competitive if not near the top of the tree so fans despite the fact you're in 'div2' will turn out, sure not in the same numbers when facing some of the big teams

You're not looking at the potential bigger picture.
I'd also like to know how you reckon the 350K increase for the 6 remaining teams in 2nd echelon & the halving of income for tier 3 teams?

they have p and r in every other sport i can think of and it works.its the 1 thing about rugby league i hate with a passion.thats what makes football more exciting. knowing that teams like swindon town or bury can get promoted to the premiership by what they do on the pitch. not how big there fan base is or any of other of the daft rules that have been brought up.

The whole idea of franchising was to give clubs a chance to build themselves and ultimatly make the game stronger, rather than making short term decisions just to survive in the top league.

I don't think this has changed.

You are incorrect with many of your thoughts. There are rules in place which can stop teams being promoted to the Premier League, such as ground capacity, club ownership rules and numerous other daft rules. There are plenty of other sports that a franchised within the UK such as RaboDirect PRO12(Rugby Union),British Basketball League, Elite Ice Hockey League and Women's Super League(football)