I am sure it was stated the clubs had requested the change !

Which sort of begs the question .... why didn't they ask them in the first place.

And if they did, why change.



Personally, I prefer first 4 get promoted.

You know where you are at and it saves a lot of jigger-pokery at the back end of the season.



Lets say you were clearly one of the best sides and had crippling injuries a the play-off end of the season and got knocked out. That is clearly not fair, if you finished high up in the table.

I agree , the fairest way .



COYD

Absolutely agree, and all divisions should be based on top teams up bottom teams relegated, including super league.

Batley will never, ever, ever be in the top division regardless of which system of promotion is used, and I'm pretty sure their fans are fully aware of that.

they were robbed of a place in the top division at the onset of super league. Who would have thought you would have seen Barnsley,Bradford or even Hull city in the premier league. The point is they had the chance and took it- albeit briefly, i am sure the clubs and fans enjoyed it, and there is a chance, however remote, to do it again. In rugby league that chance does not exist. Sky television have a lot to answer for in my opinion.Sure i watch it because im a league fan,but i also enjoyed watching the bbc2 floodlit trophy when the game wasnt so "closed shop"

You are right.

it doesn't matter a jot that some teams in reality will never make Superleague.

It does matter that they have a chance to.

just look at our history how good was the couple of years when we got promoted to the big league! ok what happened after is somthing we all want to forget but at least we tasted the high life so to speak n I for one loved every minute

but now with the franchise system teams like batley donny n many more will never have chance to play in top tier!

The official line is that the clubs are to vote this week, so the Dons Chairman has been a bit premature there.

This makes no sense. Any team with potential to play in Super League has far more chance of making it under the current system. Clubs like Batley wouldn't ever have been promoted regardless of which system was used, just like Hunslet didn't go up when they won the NFP. The majority of current Championship clubs are never, ever going to play in Super League, they accept that fact and incorporating rules to the severe detriment of the game in order to try and maintain the illusion that these clubs will make it some day would just be stupidity. Open your eyes.

sorry but thats just garbage to me. Creating teams with no history is never going to further rugby league. Catalan dragons travel costs must be astronomical, sheffield were swallowed up by hudders who quickly dropped sheffield from their name. gateshead merged with hull and beacame er.......hull. Teams have been put into super league from wales,a hotbed of rugby league, and failed. What gives you the right to say traditional teams should be forevet excluded. It is you my freind who needs to open your eyes.

Well said sir. I suspect you are a man after my own heart. I have been banging this particular drum for ages, if you go on the Virtual Terrace with these views you will executed by the RL Expansionist nut jobs!

It's nice to know that you have the ability to read minds and speak for others.

So you prefer a system that sees Widnes vitually GIVEN the right to be in Superleague over Featherstone that EARNED it?

The disparity in facilities could have been sorted out with a little help from the same people that squander money on Welsh clubs and the like.

Have you been to Cas's ground and Wakey's ground, they are clearly Superleague grounds aren't they?

But they have promised to get better grounds. Fev could probably make a similar promise.

It's balls basically. It's just what suits at the time.

There's no point in talking sense to these expansionists, they don't want to know.

They would rather throw money at places like Bristol, Northampton etc than support heartland RL.

Rochdale, Oldham, Donny etc are expendable but God forbid we let an expansion team go under.

I am certainly what some call a,"traditionalist". If by that they mean someone who thinks every club should be treated equally, and be allowed to aim as high as they want to go without being told " forget it your wasting your time" ,then yes i am. I havnt heard of virtual terrace, i'll have to have a look at that, thanks.

If you click on the board index the VT is at the top of the list. It's full of cranks.

I should slot right in then

You wont like it

might be fun though

dont mind fighting my corner for something i believe in.

Edit that, just been on, what a bunch of muppets.

The licensing criteria is not based on quality of stadia alone. Widnes are a bigger club than Featherstone in every respect. So are Castleford and Wakefield. Featherstone have also promised a better ground, and have made stadium improvements. That doesn't mean they are in any way suitable for Super League. I don't know who you think is 'squandering' money, or why fans like you seem to believe that the sport's governing body should be ploughing money into certain Championship sides because they cannot generate the money themselves, but thankfully views like this are roundly dismissed for the lunacy that they are. I think if certain fans had their way, RL would be an amateur sport played on park fields in a handful of Northern villages along the M62.



What on Earth are you talking about? You are aware that Catalans have over 70 years of history? What relevance do Sheffield and Gateshead have to anything? Or for that matter, any concept of 'history'? How do you think teams gain a 'history'? In the 1950's Doncaster were a 'created team with no history'. If you were around then, would you have been against the club being founded? I don't think you have any concept of reality. No teams are being 'forever excluded', the fact is that most of the heartland Championship clubs cannot ever possibly hope to become big enough to compete in a league such as Super League. What do you think would happen if the previous system had continued and somehow a team like Batley had been promoted? They would be beaten by 60 points every week with an average crowd of 2,000 or less, would be relegated at the end of the season, and in likelihood would probably end up going bust. The whole thing would be an absolute joke from start to finish and would be massively damaging to the club involved as well as the sport as a whole. The funny thing is that people at Batley and other such clubs are fully aware of this, I've spoken to their directors who have stated as much. If you want to cling to bizarre, outdated and fantastical ideas about teams such as Batley one day reaching Super League then you have every right to do so. Just don't be surprised when you are laughed at for being absolutely deluded.

Every respect?





No, sorry ... recent results / performance on the pitch would suggest that not to be the case. Remind me, isn't sport a results-based business.

Should be but other issues eg stadium/finances etc have come into play ! some say quite rightly others say no.



I prefer the top 4 going up from C1 , but there are certain criteria to be met eg capacity & secure tenure .

Huddersfield beat Wigan at the weekend. Does that mean they are a bigger club than Wigan? Wigan Athletic are currently in the Premiership and Leeds United are in the division below, does that mean Wigan Athletic are a bigger club? You could argue that on-field results don't really make too much of a difference in terms of which club is bigger, unless those results are sustained over a number of years. Either way, there are predetermined on-field criteria which must be met in order to apply to Super League, and Widnes met them. They achieved the neccessary results in order to be promoted. So did Featherstone, but they didn't even apply which probably tells you something.

You stated 'every' ... it was an overstatement ... HTH