At least one Super League club to lose licence in 2011

[ancientnloyal]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 885900.stm

At least one Super League club is set to lose its place in the top flight when the Rugby Football League (RFL) awards its 14 licences next year.

The RFL has confirmed that, subject to fulfilling their minimum criteria, at least one Championship club will be awarded a Super League spot next March.

The RFL has also confirmed Super League will stay at 14 clubs - leaving the current teams facing an anxious wait.

The next set of licences will run from 2012 to 2014.

The current licensing system saw the abolition of promotion and relegation two seasons ago, with clubs instead applying for one of 14 licences for a three-year stay in Super League.

These licences have one more season to run after this year and the new batch will be awarded next summer.

However, the lucky Championship side will discover their fate before that in March, with a December deadline for application, subject to meeting five criteria laid down by the RFL.

The criteria are:

1 Commercial, marketing, media and community.

2 Facilities.

3 Finance.

4 Governance and business management.

5 Playing strength and player performance strategy.

Before that any Championship side wishing to apply for a place in Super League has to meet the following minimum criteria before being allowed to try to win a place.

GEORGE RILEY BLOG
This news will do little to allay current concerns of fans of Castleford, Wakefield and Salford

They are:

1 Club has reached a Championship final or won the Northern Rail Cup in 2009 or 2010.

2 Club has a stadium with an operational capacity of 10,000.

3 No insolvency event has occurred during the 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons.

4 Club has turnover of at least £1,000,000 in financial year ending 2009 or 2010 (turnover of charitable foundation can be included in this figure).

5 Club has an average attendance of at least 2,500 in 2009 or 2010.

At present, only Widnes meet the criteria.

Current Super League sides Castleford and Wakefield were awarded licences in 2008 after agreeing to plans to move to new stadia, plans that have since stalled.

St Helens and Salford have also had to make plans to move to a bigger ground, to fulfil the licensing criteria for 2012

Wakefield or Castleford it is then.

[Matthew]

Which ever side starts work on the new stadium first is likely to be the one that survives

[bill.inger]

They`ve still not turned a sod at the Stains new ground. The area is covered with derelict building and apparently contaminated with asbestos and chemicals. Will it be ready for 2012 and is now a three-horse race with Cas and Wakey? If and when Widnes are promoted, can the Stains still ground-share?.

[Matthew]

Just realised if Castleford do get a super league license, they had better not let Mathers carry it home from the RFL! He'll drop it!

Looks like he might be playing in NL1 sooner than we thought!

[eccywarrior]

i think widnes will get it but dont be suprised if toulouse get it

[doc]

Think it will be Wakey for the chop.

They are not interested in a groundshare with Cas so Cas are going it alone with a new stadium. Also poor gates for a club in the heartlands.

Quins, Cats and Crusaders are safe as houses as far as the RFL are concerned and Stains and Salford will have new grounds.

[pedro]

Think it will be Wakey for the chop.

They are not interested in a groundshare with Cas so Cas are going it alone with a new stadium. Also poor gates for a club in the heartlands.

Quins, Cats and Crusaders are safe as houses as far as the RFL are concerned and Stains and Salford will have new grounds.

poor gates but have 3 clubs in a small area with Wakey, Cas and Fev, Celtic have no excuse.

[eccywarrior]

i would love see a cumbrian team there. barrow would be favourite up there but they need a new stadium. maybe a new stadium for both football and rugby

[Matthew]

the job kears doing it must be them,they`ll be bottom next season with that tool in charge anyway.

At least then he'll be able to get back to his favourite hobby of watching paint dry!

[weststand-rich]

I think the most likely candidate for going has to be Wakefield. Crusaders, Catalans and Quins are all going to be propped up as part of the RFL expansionist agenda, which leaves realistically Salford, Wakefield and Cas for the drop. Salford have actually started their ground build, and Cas are more advanced than Wakefield.

Wakefield have flat out refused a ground share with Cas, becuase it would likely lead to a merger (ie assimilation) for them in the not too distant future. Madness, when you consider the grounds are within 6 miles of each other. All RL fans are just too tribal to buy it though.

Their crowds are slightly worse than Cas, their finances are a mess and one of their key off field players have had to take out an IVA to keep the creditor wolves at bay. They have an over reliance on overseas players and their academy has no added value.

I'd make them 1/2 favorites for the drop and Widnes 1/2 favorites to come up.