Careful, now...

I wouldn't. I'd be bearing in mind the previous board who bankrupted the club just in time for it to be the reason why they didn't get a franchise.

And what makes you think that Crusaders got into SL at the expense of Widnes as opposed to any other unsuccessful candidates?

Just because Crusaders have been torpedoed by Samuels and the clowns he put in charge of the club doesn't automatically mean that Widnes would have been a huge success story in their place.

And as disastrous as the situation appears to be now, a great deal of potential good has been done in terms of player and fanbase development in South Wales, if we can only keep a team down there to tap into it.

Celtic or Crusaders or whatever they are called , another RL folly.
When will the RFL learn? Within the UK, professional RL will never expand.

Then we may as well all pack in, because if we don't expand there is no future for the game.

Completly disagree. It can, especially in London and Wales. You just need to look at the Sky sports viewing figures to realise there is the intrest. IMO, a lot of it has to do with business model which must have a really strong marketing stragegy.

100% correct.

Crusaders should have been allowed to grow organically, with a view to applying for a franchise in 2011, RL in Wales will work, but it needs to be based a bit further than 32 miles from a "historical" club (and it's hysterical fans)

That`s why London`s crowds are huge is it ?!
How many million people live in London ? What is Harlequins average attendance ?

Similar to Salfords?

I think Widnes would have and will be a huge success. I'd go so far as to say their rise would mirror that of our friends over the river. More so, because they have the stadium to back it up. As the franchise criteria last time was heavily stacked towards good stadia I bet their bid was strong - financial history being the weak link.

Few clubs have room to be pious about tipping over into bankruptcy, however. If key backers pulled out tomorrow many clubs would go before the year's out. We were almost there a decade or so ago.

Widnes' core fan base is strong. The Welsh one isn't, no matter how much people want expansion there, people just aren't interested, not in South Wales, anyway. Even the iconic players from there are Union born and bred - Billy Boston, Clive Sullivan. They were lured by League's money only, Union was certainly Boston's game and love.

Our game was one of their biggest crowds last year - over half of the 4000 or so were Hull fans. The Welsh fans I spoke to were predominantly Union fans come for a quirky look. They were clueless - we had to keep telling them what was going on. How many do you think persevered through the season?

I am for expansion of the game. I think London is worth sticking with because of the huge interest there now in schools and the development of the youth game. London adults still aren't interested in numbers, though. We'll have to wait another decade or so before those youth learning the game now go to watch as adults for the love of the game. But, as I said, it's taken a while but the persistent sowing of seeds - despite years of them falling on stony ground - has now delivered a fledgling crop of tender green but promisingly dense new shoots.

Catalans success speaks for itself. Expansion has worked because people there already loved the game and were desperate for the opportunity to join in.

I think this is the key to expansion - go where the people want it. I honestly think Paris should be the next venture for that very reason.

But South Wales will be another London - decades of pouring money into it for very little return. Why are the RFL citing Widnes as the potential merger club? Because it will succeed there.

I'd just be angry as a Widnes fan that they were overlooked until it suited.

too near home to reply that one i am afraid , we are guilty of that ourselves arent we in a simialr fashion??

what about the people who thought a weekend in cardiff whilst going down to newport to watch the game would be a good idea.