: Sat May 09, 2009 7:45 pm  

freddies wig wrote:

Never gonna happen, we're not in france, scotland or ireland

I am impressed by the result, very well done.

The problem with this licensing system is that the clubs already in there have an inbuilt advantage, and you are right, it will be very hard for a heartland team to dislodge an existing heartland team from the competition. I hope that at some point the Championship will become an SL2 with annual promotion and relegation on sporting results between SL and SL2. Expansion criteria should only be used for the presence in SL2, but not in SL. Licensing removes something important to the game. And as your brilliant performance have shown today, the top team in the Championship is not that far from lower teams from SL.

: Sat May 09, 2009 7:49 pm  

redwhite&proud wrote:

unfortuantley have to agree with you, at the mo the rl wud rather have a poor supported uncompetitive team full of foreigners from somewhere that has no interest in the game than a club that is one of the backbones of the game

Well that is a bit unfair. The RFL is trying to develop the game and is investing in the future when they back teams like CC or Quins. The Dragons example has shown that this strategy can work. We all agree that SL won't survive as a top competition if it is focussed on the M62.

: Sat May 09, 2009 8:14 pm  

unfortuantley have to agree with you, at the mo the rl wud rather have a poor supported uncompetitive team full of foreigners from somewhere that has no interest in the game than a club that is one of the backbones of the game

its not that i object to teams coming in from outside m62, indeed catalan dragons are a good example of how it can work. what gets to me is introducing teams to SL just cause they are outside m62 . had CC stayed in the nat leagues (and developed some local talent) and got to a grand final I wouldnt have a problem with their promotion to SL,( if toulousse do this i am all for them being in SL) but clubs with no history , no real fanbase and no local talent are being given licencees in favour of the likes of fax and widnes which are clubs that made this game and, in my opinion, are in a much stronger position to compete in SL . if we are to go down the franchise route then lets make it an even playing field , to be considered you must have at least reach a g.f in the chamionship with a squad of which is 50% of that teams nationality . how can celtic, losing week in week out be good for the good of the game?

: Sat May 09, 2009 8:17 pm  

redwhite&proud wrote:

its not that i object to teams coming in from outside m62, indeed catalan dragons are a good example of how it can work. what gets to me is introducing teams to SL just cause they are outside m62 . had CC stayed in the nat leagues (and developed some local talent) and got to a grand final I wouldnt have a problem with their promotion to SL,( if toulousse do this i am all for them being in SL) but clubs with no history , no real fanbase and no local talent are being given licencees in favour of the likes of fax and widnes which are clubs that made this game and, in my opinion, are in a much stronger position to compete in SL . if we are to go down the franchise route then lets make it an even playing field , to be considered you must have at least reach a g.f in the chamionship with a squad of which is 50% of that teams nationality . how can celtic, losing week in week out be good for the good of the game?

It's good for a laugh though!!! i agree with what you say though, expansion is a good think but not by positively discriminating over traditional clubs.

: Sat May 09, 2009 8:34 pm  

redwhite&proud wrote:

its not that i object to teams coming in from outside m62, indeed catalan dragons are a good example of how it can work. what gets to me is introducing teams to SL just cause they are outside m62 . had CC stayed in the nat leagues (and developed some local talent) and got to a grand final I wouldnt have a problem with their promotion to SL,( if toulousse do this i am all for them being in SL) but clubs with no history , no real fanbase and no local talent are being given licencees in favour of the likes of fax and widnes which are clubs that made this game and, in my opinion, are in a much stronger position to compete in SL . if we are to go down the franchise route then lets make it an even playing field , to be considered you must have at least reach a g.f in the chamionship with a squad of which is 50% of that teams nationality . how can celtic, losing week in week out be good for the good of the game?

Well I agree it is problematic. On one hand we may remember that the Dragons did relatively poorly in their first year. Though on the other hand, they had an average of more than 6,000 home supporters the first years and won some games (notably their first game, in France, against Wigan). I think we should give them one year, even if for the moment they keep losing. On the bright side they are not all ridiculous when losing their games.

In any case I hope that with the development of the Championship in a more international and professional competition, the licensing lock on SL will be moved down to the Championship in order to allow for a promotion/ relegation system between the two competitions.

: Sat May 09, 2009 8:41 pm  

Blueboy wrote:

It's good for a laugh though!!! i agree with what you say though, expansion is a good think but not by positively discriminating over traditional clubs.

It`s not good for anyones game how on earth these clubs are going to survive if they put another French side in is beyond me .It`s like turkeys voteing to keep Christmas,they not only have no show opposition fans they cannot sell hospitality or sponsorship for the match either FACT.
I can see in 3yrs giving Tolouse a place so theres London ???? (whatever they are calling themselves next year) Celts , Cats the average crowd attendance for Super League lot has got to be going down it`s a joke.

Today most of the Cass fans thought the best team lost I was not only proud of our team I was proud of our supporters too.Prior to last year we have had a lousy few years but this year has certainly given us something to cheer about.

: Sat May 09, 2009 8:49 pm  

Yep, if the RFL think RL is "expanding" by having ONE team in France, ONE team in Wales, ONE team in Scotland and ONE team in London giving it a national, even an international, flavour is totally absurd. For TRUE expansion you surely have to be looking at several teams in the aforementioned regions, otherwise it's a dead duck penalising those clubs who have an established fan base who are trying their best to get in. I mean ..... if England had one club, say based in Manchester, which was a member of the Scottish Caber Tossing Premier League, do you really think the entire country of England would all of a sudden be interested in caber tossing. Never mind England ... Manchester even? I don't think so!

: Sat May 09, 2009 8:54 pm  

cant we just discuss the heroic fax performance instead of it turning into a franchise thread.

We cant produce that week in week out.

: Sat May 09, 2009 8:58 pm  

Great stuff Halifax, why oh why wasn't this game televised!?

Can't help thinking why the game ended as a Golden Point though, surely 10mins of Extra Time and then more time/replay should have been in order.

: Sat May 09, 2009 8:59 pm  

Exactly.

We would find it hard in super league ourselves even after the showing today. The speed of Cas at the ruck was still a step up from us. They made good yards on their possessions. Plus the super league thing is done and we now have to look at 2011 as the next time we get a chance.

Fax have three things to win this year. First the NRC, then the league and then the Grand Final. Lets just do what we need to do to be in the running for super league and make them have a hard decision.

Well done today fax. Proud of all them. There was no single man of the match for me, it was the whole of HALIFAX RLFC!