It all comes across as being reminiscent of the 60s film "This Sporting Life" where the clubs were all about the chairmen/owners of clubs & their cronies while the players & spectators were seen as the plebs. But it isn't unique to Rugby League.


"A" teams in the Championship sounds a great idea where youngsters can be brought through alongside fringe first teamers or older more experienced players coming back from injury. It would be so much better than the present system of relying on under developed youngsters to slot straight in to fill first team gaps.


One of the biggest problems though is the lack of works & colliery etc teams these days , teams made up of lads who got plenty of bulking up doing physical work & enjoyed the rough & tumble playing for the works team at the weekend. Many of these teams provided ideal recruits  to bolster "A" teams & many made it to first team rugby.
And ,one of the worst days for RL was when Union turned professional ,especially where the Welsh lads were concerned.

If the NRL were interested and ready to invest in English RL. I’d hope the top teams would be looking to break off from the SL and join a new league under the NRL banner. It would be leaving teams behind but to be free of the incompetence of the RFL would be worth it 

I've always liked the A team idea.  You could easily get around the worries on size, by allowing teams to sign x amount of players who can train with the 1st team, but can only play in A team/championship fixtures. 


The Champ is full of either ex SL stars who don't want to retire, or young lads (like Hirst) who clubs would love to get a look at.  Harrison Hansen is too old now, but 5 years ago he'd have been a perfect example. Done at the SL level, but didn't want to retire. An A team contract, playing is the champ would have benefited everyone.

the increase in the quota is really a backwards step, was brought in to encourage home grown and make the home nations stronger.


If these additional teams to SL cannot immediately be competitive, give them a dispensation to have more quota for 2-3 years, not give everyone an increased quota....

More sensible ideas on this thread than that daft plan. With Wood in charge, it seems we get the worst of all worlds.

Great - another Yorkshire team to up their game for us only to then get whalloped by Hull KR a week or so later.

Just been confirmed for '26 season

The 12 existing Betfred Super League clubs have today voted to extend the competition to 14 teams for the 2026 season, subject to conditions. This would be done by combining the Club Grading System introduced to determine Super League membership as part of the sport’s long-term strategic partnership with IMG in 2022, with an independent panel to be chaired by Lord Jonathan Caine, who was recently elected as a member of the Rugby Football League Board, and the Strategic Review Sub-Committee. The top 12 clubs under grading at the conclusion of the 2025 domestic season will therefore be joined by two clubs recommended by that panel – provided the panel judges there are two applications of sufficient merit against the set criteria. Further details of the composition of the panel and the timing of the process will be confirmed in due course.


Which is a long long-winded way of saying, 'It's not Toulouse, but it is Bradford + 1'

Bradford should be nowhere near the superleague until their pitch is sorted.I have seen bigger school pitches and its a disgrace they are allowed to play on a pitch 55 metres wide.
No point playing wingers as the centres are stood nearly on the touchline.
May as well play 11 per side.

They won't want Toulouse, surely?

Looks like I’m in the minority that feel this is a positive move. The 14 teams structure needed to happen eventually and when it did there was always going to be a year or 2 of pain to go with it for the clubs coming in so why delay it. Delaying it simply delays the timeline of getting them up to speed. 


We will now have an extra game to show on Sky ahead of the TV deal renewal in 2027 which will assist our negotiations.


Yes there are concerns over player quality and development but it’s a chicken and egg scenario and if the clubs that come up don’t move quickly to put the structures in place then their stay in SL will be short lived until we find a club that does. 


If I’m honest I expect 1 club to come up abd potentially go back down for a year maybe 2 until we get the right balance. 


The awarding criteria is open to interpretation though for the 13th & 14th clubs picked by a panel rather than IMG rating and that doesn’t sit comfortably with me, I think that leaves us open to a legal can of worms. 


If I were I betting man I think York and Toulouse are nailed on.


I also expect Salford to drop out with one of London or Bradford to replace them.