Why would anyone be interested in a contest to determine the worst team in the league? Why would fans take pleasure from knowing that their club is one of, but not the worst team in the league, and actively be encouraged to attend matches because of that? That just seems completely backwards to me. I can't wait until people grow out of this ridiculous notion that relegation makes the league more 'exciting'.

What would a neutral supporter rather go and watch. A dead rubber between the bottom two sides in SL or a relegation fight between the bottom two sides in SL? If they chose to go watch of course.

Probably a relegation match, because they are hyped up by people who don't know any better. The reality is that they were error-strewn contests featuring substandard players who were too nervous to make any sort of mistake, and they were inevitably the worst matches of the year. Super League has been infinitely more enjoyable with the focus on the top of the league and teams looking to achieve success, rather than a ridiculous contest to determine who is not the worst team.

This argument is completely irrelevant since there hasn't been any sort of decrease in attendances since licensing began. In fact clubs like Wakefield have seen big increases, so your hypothesis is pretty much garbage.

If Bradford could get a Grade B licence whilst of the edge of financial doom then that says a lot about the licensing grading system. It isn't transparent, it isn't thorough and it isn't providing a realistic assessment of the state of a club. On that basis, all the other possible merits of the system are negated as the RFL can't be trusted to make good decisions about the clubs that get in.

And if there aren't 14 clubs financially capable of operating in Super League then SL shouldn't have 14 clubs in it.

I'm talking about "SUPER" League. Trades descriptions act offence right there. I know you don"'t want to talk about these problems but some people do. Even Chairmen of average SL clubs (Hull KR), Chairmen of "stable" SL clubs (Hull), Chairmen of successful SL clubs (St. Helens). But let's brush that under the carpet like KPMG obviously did with Bradford's application.

There are clubs in SL which are no better than some in the Championship save for the odd million received from Sky.

the game is in ruin

what can be done to resolve this

Perhaps we should just have a league of the top six clubs and just show them on TV. Oh! but wait a minute! someone would still finish in last place. Someone would still be the worst club.

If you can't understand why a relegation battle might be interesting and make for some excellent and exciting games, more so than say a game where absolutely nothing at stake, then you suffer from a distinct lack of imagination.

I can understand Headhunter's lack of understanding. He doesn't attend matches. He doesn't support a club. Can't really get the proper feel for the issues at stake. Conversely maybe this makes him the best person to judge? Someone on the "outside" looking in?

Im not going to read the 8 pages already posted on here, my take as a Widnes fan is Franchising is killing the game.

I have been a home and away supporter for 20 years watching Widnes, ups and downs and good and bad days. My family have always been the same, tomorrow we are at home to Catalan Dragons and of the 5 of us that usually attend, only 2 of us are going. At the end of the day our season is over, it was over before it began, this following hot on the heels of 2 previous seasons in the Championship where we had nothing to play for, Where ticking boxes was more important than playing well. Now we keep getting told not to worry we have three years, i dont want three years of this junk. When Widnes were Relegated last time i lived and breathed Widnes, every game meant something, even when it looked like mission impossible we travelled in our numbers because it meant something.

Now it means nothing, if the Dragons put a hundred on Widnes tomorrow then i will probably laugh it off and forget about the game, seriously it wont mean a thing.

If i dont watch Widnes i dont watch Rugby league, and if i dont watch Rugby League my kids dont, and then you lose 2 Generations of supporters because we lost sight of the most important thing in sport, Winning.

In my eyes the Sports Dying a death, and i have played, Coached and Watched Rugby league for more than 25 years. I would rather we were relegated this season due to our poor managment than sit in this league with the mighty few while better teams are locked out, and we never earned the right to be here in the first place.

This is what every "sports" fan should be thinking.

Headhunter and smokeyta will be along shortly to tell you, you know absolutely nothing about sport and to tell you, you are sooo so wrong in having these strange feelings about your club