When the divisions in which promotion and relegation takes place are fully professional then it's an excellent idea. Perhaps this will happen in the long term but many clubs are financially unstable as it is without the disruption of alternating between full time and part time status. This system has only been in place for one year, lets give it time.

I can't I'm afraid. Sport is based on winning and losing, and sides should be judged on this as opposed to the ground/business plan. By getting promoted, crowds will auomatically increase by playing the top sides and generating cash for a new stadium in the process. Look at any sport, clubs have to become succesesful before they move to flash new grounds. Taking away promotion just means to lower clubs have nothing to play for, and who wants to watch a game where there is no winner at the end of it all? In my opinion more lower clubs will go bust because the fans will get bored of watching teams play for nine months with no chance of promotion at the end of it.

Rant over!!!!

Whilst Sport in the UK is used to a promotion and relegation scenario it doesn't mean that is the correct option. The league's need to be able to support such a set up, so that firstly the club promoted can compete without having to overspend and secondly the relegated side can retain most of their current squad without a financial burden.

Unfortunately it seems, there is such a gulf between Superleague and Championship in terms of income that promotion/relegation doesn't seem a viable option. Unless, we continue with the same sides yoyoing between the leagues, with massive overhaul's of their squads or another teams spends above it's means which i don't believe helps anyone.

That said, Franchising hasn't exactely been the saviour many expected. But it must be said it's still at a relatively early stage. What we must do is support the sides outside of Superleague and consolidate what we have currently before expanding in the long term.

That's only my view though

If we don't get the licence next time round, we won't ever be back in my opinion. And with the recent on field 'success' we have had, I don't think thats fair. I can see Rugby League being just one division in the future.

good post!

there will always be the lower leagues how good will depend on them, but like TTD says we should support the lower league teams in some way,
I believe in the next few years the championship teams will reap benefits from the players not reaching super league status teams but having to move backwards because of the reduction in age limits

Good luck to him - good servant for us and nice guy...

yes and just out of interest how long does it take to educate pork, not being funny just making a point

Toulouse would fail it is a very strong RU area

for me it should be 2 divisions with 2 up and 2 down the clubs should be semi pro because the game can not support full time pros and before anybody calls me an idiot the evidence is there for all of us to see
SL clubs are now recording record losers all Barr 2-3 clubs are leaking money it is only a matter of time before we start to lose RL clubs forever and not just the National league teams, unless we address the situation
RL is not a national sport it never will be RU is football is it is time for folk to wake up and smell the coffee we are a little regional sport with a bloody good product before we go throwing money away in South Wales the North East South or bloody France, We should be making sure we do not lose the Dewsbury’s Keighley’s Wakefield’s and Widnes etc
If I was a Widnes fan I would be so Pd off with the whole situation it is a bloody disgrace ref the Crusaders some body at RL/SL HQ should be sacked for this bloody disaster RL in South Wales was always and always will be a dead duck as it will be at Pro level in London
So where will the lunatics try next Leicester, Bristol, and Birmingham Etc

Stop trying to sugar coat it and say it how it is man.

Can't for the life of me see the Crusaders lasting very long even with help/funding from the RFL and in the meantime clubs like the Cougars and Hornets will sadly go under. maybe thats just survival of the fittest but it would be a sad day for rugby league.

Pepignan is a strong RU area but it didn't stop Catalans building a better ground and getting bigger crowds than Wakey within a few years did it?

Most sports clubs are losing money. The combined debt of the Guinness Premiership clubs would probably be enough to bankrupt all the Superleague clubs, all the Championship clubs and the RFL combined. Clubs like Newcastle, Sale and Saracens are pouring millions upon millions into a black hole with little hope of recouping any money. Likewise Premier League clubs are drowning in a sea of debt. Manchester United's debt alone would bankrupt the RFU. Its not just RL, most sports clubs are in debt.

So your solution to the problem is to capitulate, surrender and go back to being the sporting equivalent of curling? I can guarantee that most clubs attendances would halve over night. It was money coming into the game during the professional era that has allowed many clubs fan bases to grow. Try pulling off bullmania with a few grand, impossible. Where will clubs get the money from to entice the local populace to come watch them? They are only going to end up on the losing side with hungry professional Union and Football clubs pinching their fans. In an era where razzmatazz and media exposure is everything making a retrograde step is just asking to be killed off.

Enjoy your semi-professional standing around in a tin shed with two men and a dog future because if it happens Leeds Carnegie will have stolen all your fans within a generation.