: Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:32 am  

Dick Jones wrote:

The RFL will bring in the excuse "because of the current climate and the way the country has been finacially it wouldnt be fair to use the Stadia clause so, Wakey , Celtic and Salford will be ok.

Plus Catalans are far too good to go back to their own league and even if they did go back they wouldn't retain many players. Was making Goulding France coach part of these back hand tactics so he gets a bit of practice and will be made England coach before long? God I hope not.

: Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:23 pm  

Dick Jones wrote:

The RFL will bring in the excuse "because of the current climate and the way the country has been finacially it wouldnt be fair to use the Stadia clause so, Wakey , Celtic and Salford will be ok.

Possibly, but what happens if the chairmen of Widnes and Leigh etc have it in writing that if certain clubs don't do x, y or z they will not be given a licence next time round? In practical terms its not realistic to expect clubs to come up with new stadia in the current climate, but we don't know how concrete the re-assurances are that were given to the unsuccessful candidates.

On the day the licences were announced, the RFL were full of defending their choices, saying certain clubs knew they wouldn't get in next time if certain things weren't done. In a legal sense I wonder just how far those comments and reassurances could be taken?

rl : Wed Jun 10, 2009 6:35 pm  

If you want to apply it will be based on the performance of the team.
Should your application come under scrutiny then your ground has to be up to SL crtieria to gain promotion.
When will your stand be finished?
What then will be your ground capacity?
You and Barrow are currently the best teams in the divison and Barrow's ground is nowhere near good enough. Your competition will come from either Widnes or Leigh depending on their league position.
At the moment I would put you as favourites.

Re: rl : Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:38 pm  

Father Ted wrote:

If you want to apply it will be based on the performance of the team.
Should your application come under scrutiny then your ground has to be up to SL crtieria to gain promotion.
When will your stand be finished?
What then will be your ground capacity?
You and Barrow are currently the best teams in the divison and Barrow's ground is nowhere near good enough. Your competition will come from either Widnes or Leigh depending on their league position.
At the moment I would put you as favourites.

In October - capacity 12 to 15 k

: Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:18 pm  

think it is december now.

: Wed Jun 10, 2009 10:39 pm  

Next time round SL will increase its clubs and there will be only one other
DIV apart from SL..
SL will operate with the top 8 clubs at the time playing each other 4 times
and the bottom 8 clubs same sounds mad doesnt it
Over the next two seasons several clubs will go into admin and fold
Thats my thoughts on what will happen in two years

Re: rl : Wed Jun 10, 2009 10:44 pm  

Father Ted wrote:

If you want to apply it will be based on the performance of the team.
Should your application come under scrutiny then your ground has to be up to SL crtieria to gain promotion.
When will your stand be finished?
What then will be your ground capacity?
You and Barrow are currently the best teams in the divison and Barrow's ground is nowhere near good enough. Your competition will come from either Widnes or Leigh depending on their league position.
At the moment I would put you as favourites.

Can I just refer you to the results of this past week:
1st team:
Widnes Vikings 44 - 18 York City Knights
Halifax 54 - 16 Leigh Centurions

Reserves
Barrow Radiers 18 - 30 Widnes Vikings
No reserve team at Fax

Academy
Widnes Vikings 38 - 24 Harlequins RL
No academy at Fax

Foundation Academy
Hull KR 24 - 28 Widnes Vikings
No foundation academy at Fax

On playing performance Halifax are ahead of everyone with only Barrow following close behind, but we all know its not just about that anymore. Apparantly Widnes officials have had recent dialogue with the RFL. I don't know exactly what was said but apparantly the RFL were very happy with the approach Widnes are taking and certainly less than impressed with certain clubs who appear not to be focused on junior development. I mean what do you think is the current difference in spend is between Widnes and Halifax on youth development?

: Wed Jun 10, 2009 10:49 pm  

We are starting out with our Academy/scholarship programme. For the past few years our reserves won the league 2 out of 3yrs (both againts Widnes!) yet there were very few players coming through into our 1st team.

Therefore, the board, wisely imo, decided that they would scrap the reserves this year, yes to use the money for the 1st team, but with a view to sign up promising youngsters for the new academy. These should provide us with players in the future when the licence applications begin.

Re: rl : Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:17 pm  

a.n Other wrote:

In October - capacity 12 to 15 k

I don't think it is quite 15k . . . I thought it was going to be round about 12K...

Re: rl : Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:57 am  

vikings 4 ever wrote:

Can I just refer you to the results of this past week:
1st team:
Widnes Vikings 44 - 18 York City Knights
Halifax 54 - 16 Leigh Centurions

Reserves
Barrow Radiers 18 - 30 Widnes Vikings
No reserve team at Fax

Academy
Widnes Vikings 38 - 24 Harlequins RL
No academy at Fax

Foundation Academy
Hull KR 24 - 28 Widnes Vikings
No foundation academy at Fax

On playing performance Halifax are ahead of everyone with only Barrow following close behind, but we all know its not just about that anymore. Apparantly Widnes officials have had recent dialogue with the RFL. I don't know exactly what was said but apparantly the RFL were very happy with the approach Widnes are taking and certainly less than impressed with certain clubs who appear not to be focused on junior development. I mean what do you think is the current difference in spend is between Widnes and Halifax on youth development?

I'm pretty much reiterating what Griff said, who did your academy keep losing to in the final? Our team was withdrawn because all the other teams weren't up to our standard hence the players weren't getting a good enough run out so there was just no point. We don't have the money to lob around like Barrow and you lot so we have to plan.