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All the supposed 'excitement' doesn't translate into bigger crowds or much else. But its great for Leigh and Widnes. Apparently.

A better kind of franchising system doesn’t deny Championship clubs the right to get into SL. In fact it’s safer because you can’t just sneak it by one successful run in a season. And then - you spend the next year looking over your shoulder because you’re likely to be in the mix to go straight back down again.

Franchising also allows new entrants with ambition and cash a fast track in. The game needs money to survive; yes the grass roots are really important; but I just don’t believe we will thrive by looking with rose tinted glasses to the past.

For the standard to go up we need better infrastructure, better players and better coaches and officials. That all takes money. I’m not sure where that comes from for the English game but we can’t afford to lose clubs like Bradford/Leeds from the top flight.

The game needs a vision and consistent strategy for the future rather than being so reactive and held to ransom by vested interests IMO.

This is really an argument about who runs the game. If it’s run by the clubs they will always promote their own interests not that of the wider game, whereas if it’s run by a central body (and we can debate if the RFL is fit for purpose) then the clubs would have to fall I. Line or breakaway and start a new competition, which without TV money wouldn’t be viable.

In my view it should be centrally run, with franchising, and any club that meets the requirements is in.

I’ve said this before but I would favour an amalgamation of NRL and RFL (i.e. the NRL buys in). There could be benefits in economies of scale and shared expertise etc. Unify the judiciary and refereeing. I don’t know - the game in England won’t die but I feel it is falling behind its richer cousins year by year.

This

Correct. Something needs doing about it pronto. Its dragging too many teams down. It's very very bad for the future of the game. The idiots in charge need to wake up and stop relegation.

I wouldn't want the NRL anywhere near running our game. They are so Sydney-centric and international-phobic it would be a disaster for the game in our country. They have absolutely no experience of running a highly localised sport with a limited media footprint. It's much harder to run the RFL than it is the NRL.

Well what's clear is the SL is shambolic compared to the NRL in every way. Now the NRL is not perfect nor is it totally suited to the game over here but we need to adopt some elements of it. The game here needs to adapt and start being forward thinking.. starting with abolition of relegation and returning to a form of franchise system.

The RFL is a shambles. They don't deserve the game that they have.

If you gave RL the marketing power and finance of RFU it would be massive. But unfortunately it's run by idiots

In your statement lies the crux of the problem, finance. RL here does not have the money of Union or NRL and has to make do within it's finances. It's a little bit of a chicken and egg scenario