So Wigan, Leeds, FC, Wire and Saints survive as they are technically able to stand on their own 2 feet, Catalans and Castleford are about 2k fans per game away from that......but after that, who do we have? Salford, Widnes, Wakefield and Huddersfield need the sky cash as well as that of a benefactor....

If you vote for a Toronto, then why not Huddersfield? Both are basically propped up by a wealthy backer and realistically both have similar crowds PAYING to get in.....so why Toronto and not Huddersfield? Neither bring a TV deal or major sponsors.....

I am all for "ripping the plaster off" but to do so and replace 1 rich mans toy with another's is just shifting deckchairs on the Titanic.....

The crowds for Toronto are real and you know it...for what its worth I was disappointed with 7 300 for last game....this will grow to roughly 9 300 by the end of the season (if the weather co operates). Toronto does have a number of TV deals, the latest being in Asia with a potential audience of 100 million (that right, don't choke, 100 million).
Toronto is the future and you know it....learn from us, emulate us....we are the saviours of Rugby League...you can trust us....we are Canadian. We have a surplus of money over here and are looking to help some of our poor cousins out.

Signed,
The Saviours

As I said, the hole has been dug long before this season. You want change,then do it properly. Many clubs have suffered under the dictatorship of SL,many have had a free ride.

Time for change again,hopefully this time it doesn't include the lower tiers,who can get on with their own tv projects that don't involve SL.

What sport sponsor buys the rights of the lower tiers,to not broadcast them. Pathetic..

didnt leigh get a handout from these SL clubs who are 'ruining our game'??? a £500k parachute payment (not given to the previous SL club who were relegated in 2016)

as for the super/middle 8s, im glad they have gone, hated the system from the off, not knowing who you were playing in aug/sept until late july was stupid, no wonder gates were down and clubs took a financial hit those two months with fans not getting time off work, holidays and dead rubbers

during the licensing years championship clubs/fans were desperate for promotion and relegation to return, now we are going back to it, great, we are back in line with football/RU with P&R

The parachute payment was put into place to assist the relegated club. That could have been anyone of four. Show me a statement of a complaint from Neil Hudgell contrary to that. You won't find one, why?

During the licensing years there was standards that had to be met. God help you if they enforce them again.

The point being, SL clubs gave a club going down to the championship a parachute payment. If these clubs had no interest in the championship they could quite easily have said no

The concept of Super/Middle 8s was interesting and worth a try - the aim was to make more of the season meaningful to more teams. It did that, but at the expense of repetition in fixtures and uncertainty as to who/when you'd be playing, which impacted crowds.

You could make a case that on the playing side the Middle 8s did the job. It didn't stop a team getting promoted, and the Million Pound game was a bigger event for the sport than any relegation tussle in the past. However, the impact on the losers is immense.

Super 8s never worked because we just don't have enough competitive teams. In a good year we might have 3 genuine contenders for the title. In the three seasons so far since Super 8s was introduced only ONE team from outside the top 4 has made the play offs at the end of the year - Sts last year. Its really hard for teams to even make up a small gap from 5th, because the 6-8 teams are generally rubbish/not interested, and the top 2/3 are too hard to beat. So if the gap from 4th to 5th is more than even 2 points its much harder to make up than it seems because results against the other teams are generally so predictable.

Its odd that Hetherington has complained about this decision, given the vote was 11-1, and he's using a previous 7-5 vote as a case to negate it. It all suggests he's very much on his own in this.

I'd also add that much as I have a soft spot for them as a club, the day commercial decisions for the game are made by the likes of Batley is the day the sport doesn't serve to exist on a professional level.

Leigh v Fax attendance at the weekend just shy of 4k more than hudds v salford would get :/

Fax V leigh in next years million pound game

There's not going to be a £1m game next year i'm afraid.

Leigh v Fax - 3,891
Hudds v Salford - [url=https://www.salfordreddevils.net/match-report-huddersfield-giants-12-30-salford-red-devils/4,385[/url

So Wigan, St Helens, Warrington, Widnes, Salford, Hull, Hull KR, Huddersfield, Widnes, Catalans and Castleford all show their support for Robert Elstone (either through their website, social media or the press) and express optimism for the future.


Gary Hetherington's Leeds release a statement condemning the whole process. Go figure.