Could it be that SmokeyTA follows one of the favoured clubs and will never be in the position of Wakey (cas, salford , hkr, bradford all ground issues as well ).
This 'Im all right Jack' attitude is helping the RFL kill Rugby League as a sport.

SmokeyTA you should be ashamed

What is good for the game as a whole about Wakefield being relegated, another club in a similar position being promoted, and the cycle simply starting over again.

P+R doesnt only stop Wakefield building it stops the clubs around them building aswell. It stops the club promoted building. After 12 years in SL Wakefield have done nothing to address the problems they had when they were first promoted. Franchising gives them the breathing space to do so.

And it isnt people like me who decide we need these 'fantastic' new stadiums, its the paying public. People dont attend Wakefield games because Belle Vue is such a dump, they struggle to get a sustainable level of attendance because people dont want to be standing on a crumbling stand, with rubbish facilities, getting soaked by the rain. If they did, your attendance would be higher, you would have more money, a better team and would be in an all round better position and the stadium issue would be less of an issue.

SmokeyTA speaks sense, what have we done with 9 years in Super League with P&R to strengthen the club off field, and in the 3 years of safety of a licence we've done the same! We've known the rules, just choose to whinge about fairness rather than improve the club.

The RFL didn't invite Pearman into the club. The RFL didn't let Belle Vue become a dump and unwelcoming to new supporters who decent facilities. The RFL didn't stop us looking at a new stadium before we had to sort one out.

In a programme from almost TWENTY YEARS ago, Ted Richardson admitted Belle Vue was not up to scratch. That's the RFL's fault I guess.

Haven't I covered that all ready? You're starting to come across as a bit of a troll now to be honest! For the final time, it means there is something for the bottom teams to play for right until the end of the season and a real incentive to win the Championship! Don't you get that?


Once again sounds a bit like a trolling post...

you are giving yourself up now

What is the 'real incentive' to win the Championship is the same 'real incentive' to win SL. To win. How do you think the RFL are supposed to sell the championships as an important competition when the only importance you place on it is getting the hell out of it?

The teams at the bottom do have something to play for, getting into the play offs. Very very few people want to watch a game to decide which of the two teams has been the test over that season. Why are you so focused on clubs being crap than being good?

Because, at Wakefield, we celebrate the mediocre and make them into heroes. Finishing 11th is a 'great achievement' and we'd rather see players who try but are limited, than, you know, any good.

Would you say they are doing that? I'd say they have chosen which teams they want to focus on and the rest can sod off!



Totally disagree, basement battles are often the most exciting ones of the season. I would put money on the ratings for a Sky match that decides who gets relegated being higher than one that decided who came eigth! It's that that keeps the bottom of the table alive!

I don't understand why you are so focused on developing certain teams and making sure that others can't join the party?

11,000 people wanted to know when Wakey played cas in a last day relegation decider. However I agree that if there is no relegation then nobody would be interested.

You will never change the mindset of any 2 nd tier competition that has previously had yearly P and R and clubs in it that have graced the top flight

On your second point , you seem to be forgetting that for every winner , there is a loser , so yes there will always be a bottom club , always ty teams of varying degrees , nobody ever celebrates it , they never have , don't pretend they have

Very true.

One of the biggest problems of licencing is that its nigh on impossible for a club outside of SL to build the sort of club that the RFL (say that they) are looking for. Realisitically clubs should be self sufficient and the wealth of the owner shouldn't decide how big a club is. Most of the clubs in the Championship cannot afford to run both a reserve team and an academy - some clubs can't afford to run one never mind both. Also the lack of interest in the Championship since they took P+R away has affected attendances and therefore income. The only reason why Widnes are so well placed to apply for a licence is because we are lucky to have an owner who is prepared to fund the organisation until we can get into SL. IMO after the next round of licences, no club in the Champioship will achieve the 2,500 average attendance that is seen as good enough to apply for SL. As far as I am aware, in the last 5 years, Widnes are the only current Championship team who has consistantly managed to average over 2,500. Halifax managed it this year, but only after miraculously acheiving nearly 5,000 for their last home game

.

I think the point that Smokey is not getting, or refuses to take into account, is that without P+R there is very little hope below SL. Smokey and others say that just winning the Championship should be enough to keep fans and clubs motivated, but as Starbug has already said, for clubs who have been there and done it in the past, fans are just not interested in watching their team stuck in a 2nd rate division. This is only going to lead to lower attendances, smaller clubs and probably more clubs getting into financial difficulty. Transport 10 years into the future - how many more clubs are going to the way of Blackpool? Surely a very weak 2nd tier is no good for the game as a whole. How can pressure be kept on SL clubs to keep improving if the threat of relegation is going to be non-existant. We all know that the top 8 or 9 in SL won't be out of SL for a very very long time and even the bottom 5 or 6 sides know they will only ever be out if/when the RFL want to admit an expansion club again. IMO it shouldn't just be Wakey who are scared of going out of SL this time round, Cas and Salford haven't fulfilled their promises of a new stadium and the less said about Crusaders and Harlequins the better. HOWEVER there just aren't the clubs waiting in the wings to take these clubs places in SL and in the future IMO there will be even less potential clubs applying for SL. Licencing is a good idea, but IMO it needs tweaking to make sure the 2nd tier is kept in touch instead of it become ever more distant from SL.

I personally like the idea of a 2 tier SL - 10 in each division. P+R between the 2 divisions with more money to the top division than the 2nd. The RFL could still operate a licencing system for entry into the 2nd tier and maybe strict minimum standards for entry into the top division.