In light of Bradford, wakey last season. Clubs like Feth, Fax and Toulouse / the Welsh wanting to come up.............

Australia did it, and now, I am sure it has not had much of a detrimental effect on them.
Will we go down the same path?

Bradford pretty much nabbed Keighley and Fax fans in their glory years. The fan bases in areas exist

I can see it happening. One team in Hull, one team in France, one team in wales etc etc. Not sure which other teams would end up combined.

Do you think it could / will happen?

I see a 12 team merged superleague in 5 years. I hope not, but can see that it might be the only way for our great sport to survive.

No

Said it too many times ! Hull and Rovers should merge , 1 team , 1 City , 1 Stadium - 22,000 average att and World Famous as World Club Challenge winners and regularly playing Aussie teams as we will go to a 6 team challenge soon with only 3 from UK.

I think this is something which will have to start to become a reality. not in a Gateshead Hull or Sheff Giants way but proper mergers. before that though i think it will start with ground sharing. Cas and Wakey both need to grow a pair and realise that NL beckons in 3 yrs if they dont sort their grounds out. Bradford whilst they clearly over spent on average players and Harris had the expense of their ground as a constant milstone.
so i personally see some tough decisions being made and then mergers will occur naturally. wigan. Wire Sts Widnes have the stadia to move forward sadly our side of the Pennines is sadly lacking. something has to give and sadly finances will dictate a few high profile victims thats business reality and sport is not ammune.

Thats why I posted it, imagine that several clubs are twitching at the moment, and reality will end up kicking in.

I would also include our illustrious neighbours in that list. Hudge is already hinting at a move to the KC though there would be little in it for Rovers if they had to merge with us. Over the next 10 years i can see RL in Britain changing dramatically. i would add RU is the same despite the international game. its dying in Scotland and Wasps and Leeds are testimont to how bad it is for them.

I can see the logic in the OP but the reality just doesn't follow. Merging clubs and spreading the game will eventually kill the game. There is no desire to watch RL outside of the heartlands, if a sport that gets the coverage that RU does in the media still can't attract fans who actually turn up then RL has no chance.
The viewing figures touted by sky for none heartland clubs is irrelevant, just because someone turns on the tv doesn;t mean they will turn up and watch it live.

I think the way forward is to actually ditch the international game and as was touted ealier in the year expand the WCC, a thriving international game will be at a detrement to the local game as has been seen in RU.

If a 'champions league' style comp could be sorted out then it would at least generate more interest than a one sided 3 club international scene.

If you merged clubs you couldn't really reduce the numbers as well.

Top post and bang on the money, its not just RL suffering but RU are in many ways even worse, the next 6 months will see a lot of twitchy bums thats for sure, they were talknig about the situation in RU on 5 last week and there are some big names posting massive loses ....... cant go on forever.

As for mergers i think the days of the small clubs are numbered especially those with shocking fan bases , and only time will tell if the RFL react first or wait to be pushed into action on these issues!
Hull and Rovers should merge and would produce the biggest club on the planet with that fans base,,AND would be a force to recon with .
Wakey and cas need to stop bickering and get on with it too
Leeds, Bradford shame for bradford but if they cant hack it alone whats the options?
London just need to be canned full stop, hasnt worked , wont work and who cares
Widnes N Saints etc etc etc

Also heard a rumour Hudds are in dire financial shart presently too, those who understand the companies house stuff can advise better but that came from an ongoing maintainance contractor at the ground.....

never read such claptrap in my life.
Creating a new club which doesn't have the identity of either of the existing clubs ? Whatever.

Sorry, but would never support a combined hull - dobbins franchise. I would expect that with 5 years the attendance of such a ised mongrel would be less than we get alone at the present.

Booger!!!! Double post

Did not kill the game in Aus, and will happen here. Don't get me wrong, I would hate to lose identity. But I would hate to lose the game more.

Can't see Mergers working to be honest.

Hull and Rovers would be the easiest to merge. One City and a ready made stadium. However, assuming the Salary Cap stays the same, could you really improve a combined squad whilst keeping with the cap?

Then woulds the fans embrace it? In Hull I doubt it. You can't assume that a combined crowd of 20,000 fans would turn up to wtach the merged team every week.

Personally, I'd miss having our Noisy Neighbours about. I think having a local rival increases interest and adds to the season as you look to finish above your rivals in addition to trying to win honours.

Therefore, I'd rather Hull and Rovers to stay as they are.