Uncle Mo started this almost 20 years ago Dickie as followed in his footsteps !

God I really wish Sky would pull the plug on it NOW !!

It ( Championship etc) needs a total split from the RFL ........but it won't happen.

Clubs cannot survive on a thin diet of glorified friendlies like we have at present , there's more chance of Atherton Laburnham Rovers getting into the Premier League than Leigh, Featherstone etc getting into Super League.

This league is in effect now on a par with the Co-op Summer Conference and the like's of Warrington Wizards .........no matter what happens on or off the pitch ....your going nowhere !!

Results like Sunday's are still but in the big picture it's as important as the PSF's in January....

All clubs now outside SL need to break away or die, Red Hall continue to make the rules up as they go along ,Darts did it in 80's why cant Rugby league ,not done them any harm has it.
It was always going to be for ever more a closed shop only Widnes to make the grade and that is it. With out promotion and relegation that is the biggest clearest message yet, be a good idea for all fans outside SL run up a petition to number 10 and get this sorted once and for all.
Or protest outside major SL games now that would get noticed cant fine the fans can they,we are being starved until we all die we need to wake up big time before its to late then again it may already be the case.

I have been following rugby for 25 of my 32 years of being around. For the last ten years I have been a season ticket holder at Leigh. And upto the last two years myself and my partener used to go to the away matches as well. I have been to grand finals even when my club isnt playing. We have been to Challenge cup finals. We have been to internationals/four nations matches. We have both bought Leigh merchandise each buying a top every season and now we have two little lads we kit them out as well.

Next season I wont be doing any of this. This isnt a knee jerk reaction to last Sundays result, no it is a gradual erosion of interest in the pro game and a growing hatred of the RFL. I have spent all day thinking about how short sighted the rfl are being and how they are destroying our game at every level.

I have spoke to fans of super league clubs and they are in agreement with me. I have spoken to people who have no real interest in rugby and they just shake their heads in disbelief. I honestly have never felt so down about the sport in general. I think back to the eighties when international matches used to be played in front of decent crowds at Wembley/Old Trafford. I remember back in the eighties when cup semis used to be played in front of decent crowds at places like Maine road. Now we struggle to get anywhere near filling stadia like the jjb for internationals and the rfl have decided that the semi on Saturday at Huddersfield will only have three sides open due to the low ticket sales.

I am totally sick at what the rfl have done to our game. So much that until drastic changes are made I will not be spending anymore of my brass on anything rugby related whatsoever. I have just bought myself a caravan and the money I would have spent on rugby is going on family holidays away with the kids. I know that this affects my club but unfortunatley on a value for money basis playing glorified friendlies in a near empty stadium just doesnt compare.

I am sorry if this goes against the grain and I am gutted that it has come to this but I see no future in RFL. The scary thing is I that I think that there a lot more like me feeling exactly the same way.

Phil

Then by doing this the Boffers at Red Hall win only the club you have supported all your life suffer,do you honestly think by doing what you say your going to do will effect those at the top ''NOT A CHANCE''

Its the RFL that need punishing not Leigh. Give up the GFs/CC final/Internationals before you give up on your club

Who gives a f*** about SL. We are not ready for SL. Fluking a place in SL now would just give us 2005 all over again but for 3 years. We aren't even successful at the level we are at now at the moment. We are in a great comp that is unpredictable and all some people can post are SL this and SL that, with the usual suspects starting it off with their opinions.
I really want us to make the GF, but there is a small part of me kind of hoping we don't so we can't apply.

If you want to destroy the club instead of just plain getting used to it and getting on with it then keep talking and posting such negativity to ensure more don't watch us.

Unfortunatley , that is exactly the point , we were told 2 years ago that if we made a GF we could apply [ pointless I know , but at least we knew the rules ] now we know that even if we do win the GF we still cannot apply

Now if you were the person who had been tipping 100's of 1,000's of pounds in those 2/3 years tp allow you to apply , how would you feel about it ?

If it was your job to go out and try to entice somebody to come in and support your club financially , you had done this by pointing out that if you made a GF you could apply , and then with 6 months of the qualifying period left the criteria was changed , what would your answer be to that person ?

I like you dont want us in SL till we are ready , but this is simply becoming a farce

I wonder, Steve, if the person you are talking about, (and his Board) and those like him at other Championship clubs, will get together and consider taking our excellent Competition away from the suffocating dictatorship of Red Hall and the so-called 'Super' League?

This is a serious question - I'm not knocking anything you say, as I agree 100%. Not knocking Widnes either - in all truth I believe they are probably the best equipped Championship club, (currently) to be offered a 'franchise'. Yet I still have a nagging doubt about whether they will be the 'chosen one'.

I have to say I feel very annoyed about the way Richard Lewis is running the game.
This man and his ilk have totally reinvented the saying of moving the goalposts, he has them on a conveyer belt.

RL has lost its 'family' tag under Lewis IMO which is a real shame.

I'd like to here what our club leaders think about this , equally I'm sorry to say it but I do feel its time our club started talking independently to others in the Championships about the potential for forming a seperate Semi pro league that is more focussed on what each club requires without favouring one over another.
Yes it would be one up from the Amateur league but if it meant going back to basic values of RL being a sport to enjoy then frankly I'd take that anyday, the alternate which looks like feeder club until extinction is a lot worse IMO.

Edited for accuracy

Its nothing to do with us being or not being ready for SLE it is to do with the RFL taking away what little chance teams like us, Halifax and Barrow (and now Batley) had of actually being in a position to reach SL.
And contrary to what some on here think we are as equipped as any other club in this division off the field, notice I haven't said we are ready I'm saying we are as ready.

Where is this press release or whatever that states we can't apply should we get to a GF? (or is it reading between the lines stuff again)
The reason part of me doesn't want us to reach a GF (also known as a tick to some for SL) is tho most of us know we would struggle big time in SL, certain people will belly ache about being refused (which we knew would happen a couple of seasons ago). Then it will be splashed over website, local papers about how everything is unfair and nowt is the clubs fault. Then queue crowds falling further.......I will say it again, its not the system that is killing us its the fact we can't adapt to something new.

I admire your consistency in winding folk up, some even think you are being serious. Great wind up.

Franchising for any sport in the UK willl never be accepted.





RL after the new criteria is as good as ended pro RL so quickly it was inevitable.