Good luck to them, they can't make more of a hash of it than we have. They deserve a chance, we should drop down to Champs.

What a choice for the RFL - London or and ex-pit village! Still DH has made a mess of it and if they have the brass, well, good luck to them. This is a direct nudge to Red Hall and show what peril we are in. The next 3 weeks will be interesting!

Brass? The only brass they have is a brass band.

Hughes and all previous encumbrances of the Big Cheeses seat down south have made a complete hash of it since the 1920's. but then that's RL for you. All those beer sponsors the RL have had and none could organise a up in brewery!

The sport will cling on but progress so little in a forward direction we will still be talking about this in 2095 and the two hundredth anniversary. The RFL HAS NEVER HAD ANY COMPETENT MGMT AT CLUB OR RED HALL LEVEL. People hark for the Fallowfield and Oxley era's, I remember my grandparents moaning about the game then.

How many sports do you know that have died?

US Football in UK came and went

Don't be ridiculous.

League Express saying that they've heard that the RFL are prepared to go with thirteen clubs in SL next season if necessary.

"prepared" meaning "planned for" or "we'll accept it if we've no choice"?

There are still plenty of teams still around, if you bothered to check, and the NFL have been coming over here for the past 5 years and have sold out everytime, with the majority of tickets going in 10mins and they have 200k people lodge interest for tickets when every they announce that their will be a game, and there are 2 games this season (end of september, end of october) and far as i know both are sold out.

And the Jacksonvile Jaguars have arranged to play 1 home game at wembley for the next 3 years.

If London go it will be a shame the game needs to branch out, and attract new supporters and interest from teams and people not in the heart lands, hope london can survive in the championship, and maybe get back to the form that they had in the late 90's, heres hoping

Well Basketball and Ice Hockey have struggled recently, and RL could become a 'minor sport' like the above and gridiron.

rugby league may survive in some way or form in years to come, but never the same way the Super League era started with.

All bar four clubs are in a strong position to go on as professional, once again we see a club like Wakefield with a large debt to Inland Revenue, and around 9 county court judgements against them.

But I see the campaign that Featherstone Rovers have started today, announcing they are ready to replace us in Super League next season, a complete disgrace! in a week of The Challenge Cup, if we have a strong dally media covering rugby league, that is what the game should be concentrating on, that is why League games are cancelled, not vultures hanging around to pick up players and take a club's place! Feisal Nahaboo the majority shareholder of the club, seems much similar to Marwan Koukash at Salford, they want to put money in and they want to be ruthless and have what the four tops clubs have had for too long, perhaps that is what we have been missing for years.

David Hughes may not have done everything right the last few years, but I bet he invested more money than nearly every other owner in Super League.

I have always said the game is far to Parochial, no clubs or even anyone in control at Red Hall now looks at the wider picture of the game, or seem interested, is it a wonder that Super League has no major financial sponsor, that the World Cup just a few months away, has had no sponsor announced?

Here's a surprise, jaybs, I'm completely with you on this.

Basketball has a new top level London team this season, playing at the Olympic Park. Ice hockey expects to have a top level team playing at Wembley in 2014. In some ways both seem better positioned than RL down here.

Incidentally the RFL want 14 next year but have contingency plans for 13. Makes sense, the 14 teams including us and Fev scenario isn't totally impossible. Unlikely but not impossible. The sport faces an important month or so.

Not nearly but every !!!

However what has it achieved ?

Dont be ridiculous

Thanks BroncoOnion! As a forum we are all going to agree, all the time, but I wonder at times if some, are glorifying in the current crisis, if so that's sad.

Back to disappearing sports, there is one! and the comparison is so similar, wrestling! and before anyone says that is just an entertainment, it's not, it is a sport! In media I studied the money put in by ITV, the audiences were just unbelievable, Sky invested in Super League, the same, but being non terrestrial, only attracted much smaller viewing figures. To the BBC RL is seen as a minority sport, doubt that will ever change, if it was important to then then they would have broadcast The Super League Show national and at a reasonable time. Sky our main broadcaster was not even interested in the World Cup and they could have been host broadcaster for the world! Wrestling still takes place, but no TV coverage, no media coverage any longer and no sponsors ! So it did virtually die! RL will have to go mainly part time if someone does not get a grip running the game! will anyone take responsibility, doubt it, they will let it just happen.