There is a decent argument to say that expansion would help the game, albeit it would ultimately relegate our club permanently.

For example, if they created a Birmingham side that attracted 5,000 people a week, that is 5,000 people who don't go to games currently who would then be interested in the game, plus the extra knock on benefits of school and amateur interest. If we drop down a league and the crowds go to 2,000, then game has a 3,000 attendance profit.

The problem we have is that there are a lot of big clubs close by, and so the young players still have big clubs to play for, like Leeds, and smaller local clubs to use as a stepping stone, like us, Fev and Cas. I might be wrong, but I imagine that all that has changed around Fev, for example, or Leigh, is thT the youngsters aspire to play for the bigger clubs, like Leeds and Wigan, as opposed to their real hometown clubs.

I would argue that the actions of the sport (RFL) at this moment in time are causing more disillusion with rugby league than I can remember in my lifetime. I only subscribe to sky to watch the rugby league and I am on the verge of cancelling everything which includes sky HD, multiroom and the full programs package.

I agree with the argument that if the RFL don't want us then we wont get a franchise.

One thing that i don't think has been brought up is the conflict of interest the the RFL has. We all know that they have loaned Crusaders 700k so therefore the RFL have a vested interest in them succeeding meaning there is a conflict of interest when deciding if Crusaders get a franchise or not. Conflict of interest, correct me if i am wrong is illegal under business laws.

That is very true but given the fact we are talking about the RFL, I think it will be fair to say that this issue will have been covered by clever wording in the terms of the agreement for the financial support. They want Crusaders to succeed and will go through hell and high water to make it so. They are not going to be undone by a technicality.

The RFL would love a strong Wakefield side in SL. There are around 330k people in the district, thats a huge market. They would love a club representative of all those people, able to tap into that market at all levels with a Wakefield club at the top of the pyramid. It is a strong amateur area and the RFL would love a club able to take advantage of that strength.

However they arent getting that. What they have at the moment is two clubs in tired stadiums struggling to survive who spend more time fighting each other than fighting for the game. Wakefield and Castleford are the two biggest obstacles to success either face. That is what the RFL want to get rid of. The game can no longer survive as a parish v parish game, with a couple of thousand people keeping pit workers in beer money, that will kill it.

SL needs a strong Wakefield club, at the moment that is neither the Wildcats or the Tigers.

P+R damaged the game, we saw it every year, we saw clubs struggling to put in place the long term plans needed, we saw a game which in some areas bounced from crisis to crisis for years. How can Wakey not have a pop at SL, they are in SL?

Other areas have a right to this game just as much as the heartlands. The games current structure is weighted towards the heartlands, the RFL need and do give a leg up to the expansion sides but all that does is level the playing field.

I think the other leagues should break away from the 'Super' League this would allow them to get back to what Rugby League is all about, it's practically run like two different sports anyway! All the other clubs ought to achnowledge that chances of promotion are very slim anyway and work against the Super League focusing only on their own game and promoting that, they could boycott the Challenge Cup too! It would be interesting then to see how much this franchise system matters and how much the RFL really needs/wants the clubs in the lower divisions. I'd happily watch Wakefield Trinity in a lower division then!

And you would be happy to see them forgo their TV money, Sport England money, Grant money, Challenge Cup money, insurance, loan players, affiliations with amateur clubs, SL clubs, etc?

... this is just the Rovers forum from 2007/2008, we were saying all this back then and got called 'dinosaurs'...

Yep. They aren't doing us any good at the moment are they!?!?
I'd rather watch a game where it comes down to the results, not the location of the club or the colour of the tiles in the toilets.

Welcome to the forum mr Lewis

Actually, he has a point.

They are doing plenty of good. In fact a huge amount. Where do you think all your players come from? the amateur leagues, how happy are they going to be when you look to take their players and directly compete against the very people who give them pretty much all of their money?

You think things are bad now, take away the hundreds of thousands given the championships and the TV exposure, and the insurance, and the million and one unnoticed things the RFL do and being members of the RFL entitles you and think how much worse that would be.