12 teams

[jobo]

Saying on Sky that the league is being reduced to 12 teams, with promotion and relegation from 2015.

[josie andrews]

Super League to become a 12 team competition from 2015

Super League will become a 12-team competition from 2015 after the 14 member clubs today backed plans to introduce an innovative new league structure.

From next year, Rugby League’s elite competition will feature 12 clubs alongside a 12-team Championship that splits into three groups of eight.

At a meeting in St Helens, the clubs voted unanimously to return promotion and relegation and pledged their support to the proposed structure which is a central tenet of the RFL’s Policy Review.

Super League (Europe) Chairman Brian Barwick said: “I would like to thank the clubs for their contribution to what was a very fruitful and positive meeting.

“The clubs were unanimous in their view that Super League should become a 12-team competition from 2015 and that there should be meaningful movement between Super League and the Championships.

“There was a full and frank debate about the competition structures and a commitment to support the proposed format.

“The Super League clubs’ decision will now go before the RFL’s independent Board of Directors for ratification next week.”

Full details of the new structures will be announced later this month.

http://www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/29 ... o-become-a

[East Stand Faithful]

So what happened to the rebel forces led by Darth Lenegan?

[cow yeds]

They all fall under Hetheringtons spell.

[Shaun1967]

So what happened to the rebel forces led by Darth Lenegan?

They were never against a restructuring of the league. They are against the current management set up of Super League which has no club representatives on its board.

[josie andrews]

Super League will be reduced from 14 to 12 teams at the end of this season.

There will also be 12 teams in the Championship and next season will see the two twelves split in to three groups of eight after the 23 regular rounds.

The eights will then play off against each other to decide the Super League champions, who is relegated and who is promoted between divisions.

The new structure has been agreed by the existing Super League clubs and will be ratified at an RFL board meeting next week.

Super League scrapped promotion and relegation back in 2008, and the new structure would see smaller clubs given the chance of gaining promotion to the top flight.

The top eight in Super League will then play off as normal for a place in the Grand Final, with the bottom four joining the top four from the Championship to play each other for the right to compete in the top flight in 2016.

Uncertainty

Friday's decision, at a meeting chaired by RFL chairman Brian Barwick, brings to an end months of uncertainty and bitter wrangling, although it will need to be ratified by the RFL board of directors next week.

Barwick, who is also chairman of Super League (Europe), said: "I would like to thank the clubs for their contribution to what was a very fruitful and positive meeting.

"The clubs were unanimous in their view that Super League should become a 12-team competition from 2015 and that there should be meaningful movement between Super League and the Championships.

"There was a full and frank debate about the competition structures and a commitment to support the proposed format.

"The Super League clubs' decision will now go before the RFL's independent board of directors for ratification next week."

The League say full details of the new structure will be announced later this month but news of the agreement will come as a big relief to all officials in the game, with the 2014 season kicking off in just three weeks' time.

The RFL was forced to put its proposals on the back-burner in October when six Super League clubs, led by Wigan's Ian Lenagan, walked out of a meeting, preventing a vote from being taken.

Rebels

The so-called rebels were angry over plans to increase the Championship clubs' allocation of funds and called for a greater say in the governance of the game.

The 14 Super League clubs met to discuss governance on Tuesday but the meeting broke up without any agreement and they are set to reconvene later this month.

The RFL proposals already had the backing of the Championship clubs, even though under the new format four of them will be relegated to Championship One at the end of this season to create a 12-team division.


http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... /9120746/?

[Shaun1967]

There are many other unresolved issues which were not voted on today such as:
Cutting the number of academies
Increasing the overseas quota
Increasing the cut of Sky money to Championship sides
The lack of Super League representation on the Super League board of directors
The lack of marketing of the sport.

It's interesting that no announcement has been made regarding this years sponsor when the clubs voted on the proposals several weeks ago. Maybe Super League was undervaluing the sport again and so it was overturned? Things are not rosy despite a unanimous agreement today.

[DaveO]

It's a really stupid idea.

It results in 30 games (inc magic) before the play offs or CC are taken into account.

The playing each other once when it goes to an 8 is going to mean the clubs play teams who end up in the same 8 as them 3 times in the league format, they will potentially play one club 4 times if they are drawn against them at the Magic Weekend and possibly again in the playoffs.

Add in the CC we could end up playing, say Saints, 6 times in one season under this format. How stupid is that?

There are also players livelihoods at stake here as there always is when you have relegation from a pro league to a semi-pro one.

It's bonkers IMO.

[Shaun1967]

Be interesting to see how season tickets work. Will this just run for the first 22 games before the league splits? We won't know if we have have 3 or 4 home games after the split. We've seen poor crowds for play offs regularly. If season tickets don't cover the last part of the season then these crowds could be down as well.

[DaveO]

Be interesting to see how season tickets work. Will this just run for the first 22 games before the league splits? We won't know if we have have 3 or 4 home games after the split. We've seen poor crowds for play offs regularly. If season tickets don't cover the last part of the season then these crowds could be down as well.

Just made the same point on rlfans.

I agree without season ticket coverage crwds will be down as people will save their cash for the playoffs in case their team gets in.

I would expect coverage as the new format results in 14 or 15 games instead of 13 now.

If prices go up to cover potentially two extra games and you only get one I can't see people being happy.