Quote: TFC "I'd be quite happy (as can be) to see Wakey go down to the national leagues, and if we get our house in order, we would have a good chance of returning to Super League. That has got to be every national league clubs hopes of course. However with the current regime that is in place at the RFL I don't see where tired old clubs like Wakey, Halifax and Featherstone fit in to the master plan that the RFL (I have come to believe) have in mind.
Obviously there may come a time when someone will take the reigns of the RFL and see a different vision, where clubs promotion and relegation will come back. I've opposed the franchising system since it came in, to me it's just a way for the RFL to cherry pick teams that get Super League status by setting their own guidelines.
But right now, after many conversations with my pro football friends, with me defending the sport and the way it is run, I have completely admitted defeat. The sport as a game is IMO one of the best and most exciting in the world, but my attitude towards the sport has dwindled since franchising came to fruition. It has taken away that competitiveness that promotion and relegation provided, and took away the chance for clubs like Wakey, Halifax, Leigh and the rest a chance for a pop at Super League.
Hull KR got in at the right time, and they are proof that a club can rise from the national leagues and be successful in Super League, had they not been promoted when they were, they may be in a similar position to that of many championship clubs at the moment. It angers me that it now requires not a competitive playing squad and a good coach to get promotion, but money and investment. For me it has taken away all that I love about professional sport.
I really don't care if we don't get a franchise, it's our own fault at the end of the day, we have had years and years to address the issue of having a decent ground to play out of, and I think most Trinity fans agree with me. To see our board begging us for money, and moaning how they would like to just watch from the sidelines is just not good enough, and just goes to show how badly our club is being run. As such I have zero sympathy for our current situation.
However this doesn't mean to say that I will walk away from the club if we are rightly relegated. I would just like to feel as though we are on an even playing field. But I fear that we are not and could easily be brushed aside in the wake of the RFL's new love child, may that be in the form of another Welsh, French or Southern club. I would much rather the RFL be honest about their plans for the sport, but I doubt that this will ever happen and we will always be kept in the dark.'"
