I was thinking the other day, would it be good to have a few localised cup competitions rather than the random extra games when we go down to 12 teams. I only started watching in 2001 so I don't know how it was pre-Murdoch, but we could have:
International Cup - Les Catalans, London, Sheffield, Toulouse, Whitehaven and Workington
Lancashire Cup - Leigh, Salford, St Helens, Widnes, Wigan and Warrington
Yorkshire Elite Cup - Bradford, Huddersfield, Hull FC, Hull KR, Leeds and Wakefield
Central Yorkshire Cup - Batley, Castleford, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Featherstone and Halifax

Play each other once at the start of the year (alternate who's home and who's away, with the remaining round played at Magic instead of a league round. Home games count on your season ticket so you still get 13 home games), top 2 play in a final. Of course the international cup could be a bit of a flop, but there's plenty merit in the other three. Then again having Les Catalans and Toulouse compete in a final most years could be good for French RL, the other 4 at least get a chance to test themselves against two SL clubs (assuming Toulouse come in and London leave before then)

unless they havespent the last couple of weeks on mars, i think most rugby league fans already know its on?

its not lack of marketing, its overpricing combined with apathy

There is a definite malaise in the game at present.

Initially, I feel it comes from the top - their inability to market the game, to generate extra income from TV, to preserve our best players, to reward our go-ahead clubs rather than peg them back with the losers etc, not to mention their failure to spread the word to other regions.

But there other factors too. I used to favour the franchise idea and be opposed to P&R - I was worried that clubs being relegated would struggle desperately to come back up given the financial differential between SL and the Championship, and that we'd finish up with a SL in name only. But now, probably because the RFL have allowed people to keep on getting around the franchise system, thus fatally undermining it, and because so many clubs and fans feel there is nothing to play for from midway through the season, we have still become a SL in name only. I think we now have no choice but to bring back P&R. At the end of the day, there will always be haves and have-nots in any sport. The only way to remove the perennial underachievers from the highest tier is to be absolutely ruthless with them, and the RFL clearly aren't prepared to do that, so I'd rather have a few yoyo clubs than see half the season rendered meaningless.

For the same reason, I now totally agree that the extended play-off format is a disaster. I didn't like it anyway by instinct, but given how so many clubs, including Wigan, are clearly pacing themselves in the league, and how astonishingly boring that is for the fans, I think it's now essential that we cut the play-offs right down. With P&R back, teams would still have to work hard all year - to avoid the drop if not to win a pot.

There would be significantly more on if we had a voucher scheme!

I haven't seen a single TV advert on the BBC regarding the CC

You've missed the last train. The last one left Leigh in 1969.

As is their right. People are free to choose which games they attend. rL must be the only product where the consumer is criticised rather than the product itself. fWIW I'll be there, respecting others' choices either way.

The town hasn't changed much since then though

I really don't get it. We had the first game of the season back in 2007 (I think) down in London and took around 5K. Now weve got a semi final 3 mile down the road and we may not even reach that figure. Doesn't make sense...

Course they do but they shouldn't come up with tedious excuses for not attending such as cost or opponent. The cost is more than reasonable for a major semi final and the opponent should be irrelevant in a semi final.

We've had many a chat on this but if Joe Bloggs knew he couldn't go to Wembley unless he'd been to Leigh then I'd wager he would go to Leigh.

But that isn't the case is it?
Name me 1 final where someone couldn't get a ticket?

Unless we now have to bribe people to go to games for fear of missing out on a ticket for a game that 9/10 doesn't sell out?

There hasn't been one which is why we don't have such a system. That is imo though one of the reasons why we have big games played infront of 3 men and a dog.

Sorry but that is complete horse$hit. Plenty of people are on tight budgets and im guessing 99.9% of people who need to budget what they spend would rather go to a final than a semi-final. I myself am not going to the semi as its on tv and I am possibly going to go to the final so I am saving my cash for that.

To berate people for not attending a game because of the cost is a touch unfair

I didn't mean it in that sense. I meant it towards comments such as "£18 to stand up is a rip off etc etc" when £18 for a supposed major cup semi final whether stood up, sat down or being shot at is incredibly good value.