You said a ' final ' , you meant a play offs , if that was the case all the clubs outside the heartlands would go out first round , so youd still be left with Siddal,Leigh East/Miners,East/West Hull,the Cumbrian clubs , or scariest of all Queens from Leeds

2010 - Warrington Wizards 23, Huddersfield Underbank Rangers 18
2009 - Bramley Buffaloes 38 v 22 Huddersfield Underbank Rangers
2008 - Celtic Crusaders Colts 26 v 4 Bramley Buffaloes
2007 - Featherstone Lions 42 v 30 Bramley Buffaloes
2006 - Bramley Buffaloes 30 v 8 Hemel Stags
2005 - Bradford Dudley Hill Demons 28 v 26 Bramley Buffaloes
2004 - Coventry Bears 48 v 24 Warrington Woolston Rovers
2003 - Warrington Woolston Rovers 42 v 6 Teesside Steelers


The obvious exceptions - Crusaders Colts (now the basis of Scorpions), Hemel Stags (been around 20+ years), Cov Bears and Teesside Steelers. All made up of local talent to their area, all bar Crusaders Colts born of organic, local growth.

There will be NO distinction between the amateur and the pro game. Clubs that can afford to pay players will do so, clubs that can't, won't. P&R will be restricted based on criteria at key thresholds (eg, enclosed ground, number of seats, turnover, certain requirements for full-time staff, etc etc), but it will be possible to move all the way from entry level to the edge of Superleague.

The licencing system for SL exists only because the jump from part time to full time and back was killing business planning. That's the fault line, the finance.

It would be simply a waste of time bringing Underbank or Wizards into the game as 'Semi Pro' in the interests of RL expansion unless they played their matches in the non heartland areas which they both are near to. Underbank are near Glossop & Warrington near Northwich.

The game should use its strong amateur teams to expand the game into non heartland areas, instead of developing weak teams in new areas & then trying to make them compete at a high level.

Sadly for the game the non heartland areas are on our doorstep. e.g All of traditional Cheshire, Liverpool, Knowsley, Manchester City, West/East/North Lancs, North Derbyshire, Westmoreland etc

..you're missing the point. Pretty soon there won't be designated 'pro' or 'semi pro' or 'amateur' teams... clubs will pay if they can afford to. They might only pay winning money, or only pay one or two players. Teams will move up or down divisions based on results, albeit with some gateway criteria at key points. Wizards, playing at Wilderspool, might be promoted into the third tier, but then so might Coventry Bears or Teesside Steelers.

The gap between tiers needs to be as smooth as possible with 'doors' at key points enforcing clubs to improve all aspects of a club to move up or down. The bottom of the Chp would be one as well as, obviously SL.
What I dont think teams do enough of is applying for grants or gvt money. Facilities at many amateur league teams are dire whereas cricket teams apply for grants and have some really good facilities.. why.. i dont know but it needs looking into

Er, we got £29.4m from Sport England, behind cricket and football, level with Union, way ahead of anyone else.

We don't own much in the way of facilities compared to those three sports, but in broad terms we are regarded as experts in getting government funding by pretty much everyone else.

Wilderspool ?

Yeah its still there, and in use, my lad played there last season.

Wembley 71: Dont think there is a point to be missed. You're either an Amateur Club or a Professional one. Clubs that pay wages to players are companies & the players employees whereas Amateur Clubs have no employees just in the main members of the club. For either Underbank or Wizards to pay wages they would have to form a Company & become a business. Very different structure.
PS dont tell the residents of Warrington they are paying for another stadium at Wilderspool (which is due to be demolished for houses).

Not really Nik , just that Coventry , Teeside and Hemel arent a patch on any of the Heartland clubs I mentioned as regards playing standards

And I cant really see that changing for quite some time , you might get the odd player or two but team wise , nah

That'll never catch on!

Thats pretty much what I wanted to express.
If you get a club a few tiers down willing to pay even winning money, you'll get the best players in the area, or you would hope. Easily good enough to challenge up to C1 if you have the revenue stream

Exactly. You might even get big business involved when they realise how little money it would take for so much success and exposure.

Think of Formula 1 - teams called Red Bull and (in days gone by) Bennetton, ot even TNS Llansantfryd (sp?) in Welsh footie.

A couple of Million quid from a certain building society and Cheltenham & Gloucester Warriors, or Bristol and West Sonics, could be in SuperLeague getting massive amounts of tv and press coverage every week. Cheaper than a tv ad campaign, that's certain!