Quite simply a horrific response that shows a definite 'as long as I'm alright' mentality. I completely disagree with the whole response and I understand that due to our different experiences watching teams in different leagues we are probably never going to agree or even take on board each others points here. Hopefully the people in charge do no have this view, because fev have done everything they can and more to get into top flight. No it's not a charity and letting us in isn't like throwing us a proverbial bone only for us to choke on it. I feel it is the spirit of what makes sport great, that chance you can get up there and compete...and maybe even stay up.

What team do you support I ask again as you seem to be picking and choosing which parts you reply to?

Finally, it it's just a small minority with backwards mentalities can you explain why the attendances are so awful for internationals and the challenge cup, our so called showpiece final? And why are attendances dropping everywhere outside superleague except at fev where even though fans at other clubs have been in short supply our attendance has bucked the trend and risen? Because licensing removed the hope and soul of the game and made promotion into a men in grey suits box ticking except use instead of sporting achievement. Again I would love to see how you mystery club would get back in after so many years out.

Birchy - you are 100% correct. I wouldn't continue to debate with this Headhunter guy. To be honest, it sounds like he is on the wrong board and, suffering some form of dyslexia. It seems to me he really intends to be discussing rugby union in South Wales. So just leave him to it.

Personally, I'd have Super League as a 13 team league in 2014 if London drops out. Under the new structure from 2015 onwards, Featherstone will have the opportunity to win a place in the top 12 Super League; on merit, on the field of play. They (and other current Championship clubs) deserve that chance. The work done in recent years by the Featherstone club and the new financial backing they have will give you a pretty good chance of achieving the success you have earned. If it turns out that Featrherstone and others aren't in fact good enough to break into the 12 then so be it - but the new structure will be fantastic in that it opens up the possibility.

Good riddance to the system of the men in suits in smoked filled rooms deciding who's in and out. It's not British.

In response to your reply Churchill 'ooooh yes'! I agree. It just needs to be fair to all and not a flight of fancy sorting rl out in France and god knows where else.

I think there is a fundamental question about what role we think the governing body should play.

Do we want something that limits itself to competent bureaucracy, organisation, facilitating and oversight allowing the sport to evolve naturally? If you wanted to put a negative connotation on it, you might call it 'drift'.

Or do we want it to offer leadership, direction and vision. Or maybe 'manipulation', if you prefer the first option.

The problem for me is that we never choose - when it looks like we're going one way, it is always tempered by a little of the other, creating confusion and distrust.
SL without Cheshire, Calder and Humberside. The non-fed rule in constant retreat, the loopholes in the salary cap, licensing as softcore franchising, then abandoning it to save Bradford. Fudging everything with constant dispensations and exemptions.
Or now we're supposedly going a bit more laissez-faire, there's a rumour on the London board that if they're in SL next year they'll be allowed extra non-fed players. As a Hull KR fan, I'm not going to be holier than thou about that one, and it might not be true - but who'd bet against it?
There's never the political will (across the sport) to implement radical reform properly, but we can never fully stop ourselves interfering either, it seems.

Well said. Some of the arrogant posts in this thread are cringe-worthy.

Wire have never been relegated in their history, so we have 7 clubs. 10 years ago Huddersfield could show you their stadium and their investment. if Hudds were back at far town without 2 pennies to rub together, nobody would be arguing for their inclusion in SL, not even themselves.

As for who is to say fev won't be where Leeds are, me. I'm saying it because the don't have the facilities, they have shown they have the money, a plan, or the ability to get there. If they show those things then I'm more than in favour of giving them a chance. In fact I'd give them a better chance with more time and stability to do so. Leaving it in the lap of the gods, with no strategy or long term plan is an idiotic way of running the game.

If you want to ask who is to say Fev won't thrive in SL, I can ask who is to say their presence doesn't damage SL who is to say their promotion won't stop some other club thriving in SL?

The romanticism of the underdog is not a replacement for long term strategy and planning.

whats funny is they won't be offered a place in SL. The morons have been tricked by a Trojan offering. This isn't an expansion of SL, it isn't bringing the lower leagues in. It's a contraction and some idiots blinded by the hope the would be challenging leeds and Wigan for trophies haven't yet noticed they have been sold 4 home games against the worst teams in SL.

In 3 years time when they realise what has happened, I wonder what will be to blame?

they aren't

Is it though? I'm not somebody who believes in taking the ideas of Adam Smith or Charles Darwin to illogical extremes. But there is surely something to be said for just letting the clubs get on with it, adapting as they see fit within a simple and basic framework, rather than top-down slightly Maoist 5-year plans.

The World changes and rigid long-term plans are likely to create unintended and undesirable consequences.

We had 10 years of quality leadership. The game at all levels grew hugely. We have seemed to have spent the last couple of years undoing all the good we had done.

Within 5 years we will have completely new leadership at the rfl and this dumbass idea which has proven a complete failure everywhere it has been tried will be dumped. Hopefully the 2nd tier and lower SL clubs won't have lost so much ground they are cast adrift.

Super League is a fully pro sport. As much as some don't like it, it is a business.

Would you invest your money in a business which said 'we have no idea what were going to in the future, we have no plan or strategy, couldn't tell you where we want to be or how we are going to get there, but f@ck it, anything could happen so let's just wing it'?

Also we aren't just letting clubs get on with it are we, we still have salary caps, we still have quotas, and we need them because time after time after time after time clubs prove they will do what's best for them even if it is to the detriment of the game or even their own long term future.

It's why we have clubs arguing for a place in a league before they have a team, the facilities and the money to compete in that league

Isn't the bit I've highlighted one of the great joys of sport? If we know what's going to happen, what's the point?

Perhaps the RFL isn't like a business - maybe it should actually be more like a regulatory body. Like Ofcom rather than BT. I want my club to have goals and plans, there's a case (at very least) for the RFL to be offering a blank canvas rather than a paint by numbers picture.

Come on, be realistic. Just hoping for the best is not good enough

I don't think you would be arguing that the fact 'anything can happen' is one of the great joys of sport if the 'anything' that did happen was a club going bust, the game reverting to semi-pro and the big boys moving over to union.

But you're assuming a negative outcome of one approach. You could have a plan and cack could happen still. Look at the planned economies of the Soviet bloc. The de-regulated Western Capitalist economies had a big shock a few years ago too, of course.
There's no way of [iguaranteeing[/i a positive outcome. What you can do is have a clear set of principles and rules, that you stick to, so that everybody knows where they stand, for better or worse.

There is no way of guaranteeing a positive outcome. You do give yourself a much better chance however by having a good, detailed plan and strategy as opposed to throwing it all in the air and letting the chips fall where they may.

The most likely outcome of having no plan at all, is not the one you want.