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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 556801.stm

The super league clubs are finally deciding whether to extend the league from 12 to 14 teams, but if it does happen it will not be in time to save the 2 teams that will face the drop this year.

The results of the discussion should be out on Thurs

:hmmm: It's about time the league showed a bit of sense. lets hope all the oter clubs support the matter and everybody is on a level playing field.

Just one worry, we can't find enough competent refs to oversee 6 games each week let alone 7 :exc:

Boots 'n' all is supposedly featuring this, and other revolutionary, ground-breaking initiatives from the RFL!
http://msn.skysports.com/skysports/arti ... 11,00.html

GeoffN posted:
Boots 'n' all is supposedly featuring this, and other revolutionary, ground-breaking initiatives from the RFL!
http://msn.skysports.com/skysports/arti ... 11,00.html

If they allow two more teams into SL maybe they could have a top 8 play off! That would be revolutionary!

Doveoverdave posted:

GeoffN posted:
Boots 'n' all is supposedly featuring this, and other revolutionary, ground-breaking initiatives from the RFL!
http://msn.skysports.com/skysports/arti ... 11,00.html

If they allow two more teams into SL maybe they could have a top 8 play off! That would be revolutionary!

I wouldn't put it past them and then a few years later that will be scrapped for the equally revolutionary idea of the champions being the team who finishes top of the league.

What is the betting that to expand to 14 it will be one up from NL 1 and another French side admitted?

It won't be next season but the season after which is going to make it even more annoying for the two going down this time.

Dave

I hope not. If anyones going to be admitted into superleague we should stick to british sides for now, we've not expanded enough in this country to be bringing in anymore french teams. I'm still not happy about the arrival of "Perpignan" next year

MrsLam posted:
I hope not. If anyones going to be admitted into superleague we should stick to british sides for now, we've not expanded enough in this country to be bringing in anymore french teams. I'm still not happy about the arrival of "Perpignan" next year

As someone pointed out earlier this week, Leigh are in SL with crowds around 4000, and London only get about 3000. When we went to UTC in 2002 there was apparently 8500 there, with only about 150 Wiganers. Looking at figures like that, it's a bit of a no-brainer: you bring in the clubs where there are people who want to watch the sport. There's only Castleford outside the SL in the UK with any kind of decent fanbase, it would be wrong to bring in, say, Dewsbury with however many couple of hundred fans, yet deny a French team with a very respectable fanbase.

What's wrong with a long weekend around the Franco-Spanish border anyway MrsLam? A couple of days in Barcalona with a day out at a lovely little town in south-west France.... I can't wait to go back again.

Fraggle posted:

MrsLam posted:
I hope not. If anyones going to be admitted into superleague we should stick to british sides for now, we've not expanded enough in this country to be bringing in anymore french teams. I'm still not happy about the arrival of "Perpignan" next year

As someone pointed out earlier this week, Leigh are in SL with crowds around 4000, and London only get about 3000. When we went to UTC in 2002 there was apparently 8500 there, with only about 150 Wiganers. Looking at figures like that, it's a bit of a no-brainer: you bring in the clubs where there are people who want to watch the sport. There's only Castleford outside the SL in the UK with any kind of decent fanbase, it would be wrong to bring in, say, Dewsbury with however many couple of hundred fans, yet deny a French team with a very respectable fanbase.

What's wrong with a long weekend around the Franco-Spanish border anyway MrsLam? A couple of days in Barcalona with a day out at a lovely little town in south-west France.... I can't wait to go back again.

IMO the RFL missed the boat in South Wales. RU was going nowhere for quite a few years and the time was right to go for a club in South Wales. Now they have won the Grand Slam RU will be back up in the popularity stakes.

A sucessful SL side while the Welsh national team was in the doldrums would have had a good chance of establishing itself but now it would be that much harder.

The French experiment is a risk as it was with Paris.

I really do hope they don't go for a top 8 playoff system if we get 14 teams. That would further dilute the regular season IMO.

I have never been a fan of the playoff system at all but if you are going to have won the best system was the top 5 we had originally. If you look how that actually worked each position higher up the league you finished gained you some reward. Either home advatage or a second chance if you lost a game. That is not true of the current system and would not be for a top 8 system either.

Dave

DaveO posted:

IMO the RFL missed the boat in South Wales. RU was going nowhere for quite a few years and the time was right to go for a club in South Wales. Now they have won the Grand Slam RU will be back up in the popularity stakes.

A sucessful SL side while the Welsh national team was in the doldrums would have had a good chance of establishing itself but now it would be that much harder.

The French experiment is a risk as it was with Paris.

Dave

Agreed DaveO. There's a thriving amateur RL setup in S Wales; we were privileged to be guests of one of the clubs when we went down for the cup final last year, and they were massively enthusiastic (and knpwledgeable) about the game.
More likely to come up through the NL divisions than straight into SL, though, I feel.