What should the RFL do with regard to the restructure ? : Mon Dec 02, 2013 10:13 am  

With the successful world cup done and dusted now it is time to try to sort out the mess of the restructure the Championship season starts in just 76 days and it would be nice to get this sorted before the start of the season.

On one hand we have the RFL who want to introduce a new structure 2x12 3x8 which nobody really wants and will make it difficult for any Championship side to get promoted and there would be no Grand Final just group play for the middle 8, the only positives are you are playing new teams and larger away supports could help attendances.

On the other hand you have the majority of the Super League Clubs who want more power and more of the TV Money basically they are blackmailing the RFL.

the RFL needs the Superleague teams and The Superleague teams need the RFL who have the contract with Sky Sports. So could the Superleague teams breakaway and form their own league ? Possibly it has happened in Football but without a TV Contract this would make things difficult for the smaller superleague clubs so unless sky cancels their contract with RFL and signs a new Contract with the new league I cant see this happening for now.

So how should the RFL stop the rebellion ? To slightly increase the salary cap and have one "star" player not included in the cap may do it but i feel the top clubs want an independent Superleague committee and Chief Exec which is not run by the RFL whether that will happen i am not so sure.

Whatever happens for a club like Sheffield at least from 2015 we have the "dream" of winning promotion to Superleague but in reality the funding at our level is unlikely to increase much so we will not be in a position to go full time therefore the "dream" could turn into a nightmare if we ever performed above expectations and won promotion

Re: What should the RFL do with regard to the restructure ? : Mon Dec 02, 2013 1:44 pm  

I dunno that nobody wants "twelves and eights". There seems to be a huge demand for it on the various fora. I think it's rubbish, mind you.

What we need is divisions of twelve. Fourteen is too many.

Re: What should the RFL do with regard to the restructure ? : Thu Dec 05, 2013 10:06 pm  

griff1998 wrote:

What we need is divisions of twelve. Fourteen is too many.

I think Fourteen is too many at Full time/Superleague level there simply isn't enough money to prop up Fourteen clubs

At championship level i like having Fourteen clubs I think the 2013 season has been a really good one though it has been a tiring year for our players in particular with the cup exploits, with no NRC next season i see a Fourteen team championship working much better.
However if we are talking of having promo/rele to and from Superleague from 2015 I would go with 4 leagues of 10 so there is enough money to properly maintain all the clubs in the top flight while also having enough money to properly fund the second tier to make Promo/rele viable to and from the top table. After every 3 years I would look at extending the top flight by two and filling the void from the Fourth league with Two new/development/expansion clubs but it would only be extended if in and by the end of the 3 year period more finances are going into the central funding pot ie decent sponsorship and/or an improved tv deal meaning there would be no loss of central funding for any other club.

Re: What should the RFL do with regard to the restructure ? : Fri Dec 06, 2013 9:02 am  

Even with a February to September season (which starts too early imho), there are only 35 weeks.

Allocate 4 weeks for the play-offs, an absolute minimum of three for the Challenge Cup (rounds 3, 4 and the final), you're already down to 28. Personally, I'd rather see the Rail Cup come back as a knock-out comp than have an extra four league games.

Re: What should the RFL do with regard to the restructure ? : Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:55 am  

Duckzilla, I quite like the idea of divisions of 10 presumably teams would play 3 times a season plus playoffs with 1 up 1 down. I would expect the bigger teams would also prefer this option because it means more big matches in a season which equals more money !! However it would mean 4 teams being relegated so in our division could look like Castleford Widnes Wakefield London Toulouse Featherstone Sheffield Halifax Leigh Batley a very competitive division

Re: What should the RFL do with regard to the restructure ? : Mon Dec 09, 2013 11:34 pm  

duggs413 wrote:

Castleford Widnes Wakefield London Toulouse Featherstone Sheffield Halifax Leigh Batley a very competitive division

That would be one hell of a division it would be superb, just a shame we won't get it

Re: What should the RFL do with regard to the restructure ? : Tue Dec 10, 2013 12:00 am  

I agree but we will probably get a mini version of this if the rfl proposal of the split of 3 groups of 8's goes ahead

Re: What should the RFL do with regard to the restructure ? : Wed Dec 11, 2013 8:42 am  

There'll be no twelves and eights. People are starting to think the practicalities of the idea through.

Re: What should the RFL do with regard to the restructure ? : Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:29 am  

Yes most likely leagues of twelve's where the majority of superleague clubs will still struggle to be fulltime and the championship will still be desperately under funded

Great

Re: What should the RFL do with regard to the restructure ? : Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:32 am  

Will twelves and eights solve that ?

No. It'll make it worse.