Now see i'm not jealous and never have been ,i too watch SL on tv and enjoy it very much and will continue to do so but the fact that the RFL make these changes and get away with it is wrong ,there should be rules and regs in their own backyard ,they have given stipulations to clubs and just before clubs can apply they do this its ridiculous and just for the record i don't think Leigh have the RIGHT to enter SL but what i wanted was for clubs to be able to tick these boxes and then get an explanation as to why they won't be accepted not for them to take away the right to apply which they have done .

I'm not jealous either ive always said i'd prefer us to be the best Championship team than an also ran SL one, but that doesn't stop me having an opinion on all matters concerning Rugby League and has been pointed out to me enough times on here we are all entitled to that opinion and are entitled to have a view on here. But to be dictated at by people who themselves have failed in their previous careers is totally laughable.

The clubs have to or they won't exist for very long (or may exist with funding but will be playing in largely empty stadia)..
For me I think Chamionship based fans will only have so much of this messing around by the RFL before they leave the sport for good (the gates are showing that now in the Chamionships).

If the Championships had been properly branded as a League worth winning in its own right with hardly any talk of SL then we may have seen a great comp that clubs could sell to supporters.
Instead we got Toulouse and Dual Contarcts players, both moves seemed to say "getting ready for SL" and "Feeder clubs for SL" , none of these improvements for the Championships jumped out and said "the Championship is a worthy comp worth winning that we want to remain in" anyone interested in investing would (rightly) have lost turned around there and then.

We then have the Northern Rail Cup competiton turned into worth winning not for getting a trophy and a fantastic day out for the clubs fans but because it "ticked a box for SL giving you a right to apply" (A big play on words leaving out many other factors out as it turned out).
All the above have been taken by fans and press and ran with but the people putting them out for fans and hacks to pick up on have been the RFL , Hardly says the Chamionships are worth anything if the governing body views it as such.

Im with fred on this one.

what does my head in, is you have 3 years to make a team!
1st year widnes goes up they are going to be cannon fodder
2nd year they may recruit some decent players if lucky finish in the lower to middle table!
3rd year possible finally signed a decent team and finish in the lower levels of the top 6
don't get me wrong i think leigh can do that and most championship clubs also
to me its if your face fits.Red hall don't want to destroy any SL clubs by denying a franchise because it will happen so if they do not give a franchise to a SL team red hall will give them such an advantage to stop them from folding that it will make the champ comp a farce again

sad sad time for leigh

i will be there till the end and i feel its not too far away

this is just my own opinion

not a happy bunny hope leigh can survive

i need a

To be fair, don't take this the wrong way because i don't mind Leigh but you shouldn't even be in this division.
Only another clubs misfortune kept you up so even though you have a great stadium the club itself is nowhere near SL, obviously i hope this changes in the future.

Wrong wire yed, we didn't finish in the relegation zone last year. I don't get what Leigh did wrong last year, we finished outside the relegation zone, got relegated because of the RFLs determination to 'expand' and then ironically were saved by an expansion club going pop because the RFL don't know how to expand the game. Nothing in this is Leighs fault, go and have a go at Toulouse, Gateshead or the RFL.

could be wrong here,but the franchise is for three years.that means you get two and a bit years to get it right before they tell you your not worthy.

although they are likely to move the posts again like bringing back P&R for a season, no religation for non heartland clubs knowing all three of them are going to finish in the bottom three,massive parachute payments for the club/s that lose there franchise allowing them to stay professional.its all pretty logical really.

We are in this division because a club cheated, we finished in a relegation spot because Toulouse couldnt be relegated.
RL is corrupt as a sport, let the cream rise and the sheeet fall - the basic rules of British sport for over a century ignored by the penisheads in charge.
If we are sheeet then we fall but when you take away the dream the sport falls.

that club cheated..it got what it deserved.

this debate is not about leigh,its about the direction RL is going outside SLE.

Remember Salford cheated too, they lied about the stadium. They didn't get what they deserved. I don't think for a minute that the RFL 'don't care' about teams outside SL. I think the TV companies and SLE couldn't give a monkeys though and unfortunately they're the ones with the money. We need a TV deal and a big sponsor in the Champ and Champ 1. Get rid of sky and get ITV CH4 or CH5 to broadcast and do the highlights to our games.

Would love to see your evidence of this. Will happily read your apology when you can't produce it.

Still, don't let the truth get in the way of a good rant.

This stadium discussion does my nut in to be fair, as long as it's safe and has a roof that's all i need.

The Watcher gets it right 12 months in advance again.