Gloucester are the 3rd new team.

The 4th one is looking like being either Coventry or Oxford as these are currently the only remaining bids.

A few people upset in bristol then?

There was noone wanting to set up a Championship club in Bristol.

Is that Gloucestershire Warriors or a new club as with Northampton?

A new club. Lionel Hurst and the University of Gloucestershire are backing them.

Thanks for that. Do you know if they'll play out of the UoG facilities? Have RFL made an official announcement?

The way to expand the championship is to make super league a 10-12 team league and dropping our lesser clubs down to the championship untill they can spend to the cap and play in decent facilities.

Don't want to go too far off topic... but as you brought it up [iChampionship[/i[iChampionship 1[/i[iChampionship 2[/i:
Skolars, South Wales, North Wales, Gateshead, Gloucester, Hemel, Northampton, Coventry, Oxford +1

The rumour was they might actually base themselves out of Cheltenham RFC, even though it was a bud for Gloucester, which presumably means they'll need a county name. Though originally it was a Bristol bid.

I hope the Cov bears get the other spot could walk to games as opposed to driving hours.

Clear as mud
A county name would mean two clubs with the name Gloucestershire, which doesn't make sense to me. I'd love to read more about this as the area is a hotbed of union and it could be a goldmine for rugby league in the future.

Population of Gloucester 118,400.
Population of Cheltenham 115,300.
Cheltenham to Gloucester 6 miles.
Gloucester to Bristol 34 miles.
Bristol to Cheltenham 35 miles.

Although traditionally part of the county, I don't see the point including Bristol in the project due to the distance and the fact that the Sonics are managing fine as they are.

I really would try and avoid regionalising the competition. How would you decide which clubs were promoted to the Championship? One idea is a kind of grand final match between the winners of the two divisions (north and south as you put it). However, the majority of clubs are, at present, northern so how would you work it if northern teams were relegated from the Championship and southern sides promoted for two or three consecutive years? You'd end up with a northern division with more sides than its southern equivalent. I much prefer the idea of the RFL helping out clubs, like Gateshead with travelling costs.

from say Cov/ oxford to m62 where most teams are is a few hours. your talking about Gateshead having to travel for twice as long every other week. This would be great if they were flying but Its a massive ask for fans and players.

Perhaps not have north and south but have teams on the edges of the competition geographically anchored to a division. so the southern teams (may include some m62 sides etc) all play together. This is grassroots RL keeping it as geographic as possible will encourage fans to travel. As someone who follows RL from what most flatcappers would consider off the edge of the world Its really disheartening to get mates etc along to games and there being 20 away fans. Not to mention it stops gate money going to the home side.

Unless the Leagues do a sort of joint income scheme whereby all gate receipts and merchandise sales are put into a pot and divided by the number of teams in the leagues less bonuses for cup appearances etc having teams that are so far apart is never going to benefit those in the outer regions. which lets face it are the frontlines of expansion. Nobody wants to sit in an empty stadium (like my trip to see the crusaders at quins 2 years ago)