Cougars in Super League 2 ? : Fri Oct 26, 2012 11:05 am  

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viewtopic.php?f=2&t=539609&tsmp=1351249432

Re: Cougars in Super League 2 ? : Fri Oct 26, 2012 4:19 pm  

If this goes ahead. I would imagine there will be at least, 2 maybe 3 French teams in the mix.
If that happens then teams wanting to be in SL2 will not find it as easy as they may think.

Something else. To many clubs that would be in SL2, do not have grounds good enough for SL1. Ours for example.

So unless the RFL completely scarp the whole franchise structure, then its a non starter.

Re: Cougars in Super League 2 ? : Fri Oct 26, 2012 5:04 pm  

Sky money has made the gulf between SL and the "rest" almost insurmountable.

A properly devised and funded SL2 would make something worth playing for for clubs like ours and would make the transition from part time to full time much easier to cope with.

As it stands at the moment, Keighley would be hard pushed to be in an SL division 2 and I could see the RFL finding all sorts of reasons to experiment with half arsed expansion clubs.

Re: Cougars in Super League 2 ? : Fri Oct 26, 2012 5:50 pm  

Would this work better for teams that are amalgamated?

Re: Cougars in Super League 2 ? : Sat Oct 27, 2012 6:48 am  

Is support building?

Is support building?

Re: Cougars in Super League 2 ? : Sat Oct 27, 2012 10:26 am  

guess who wrote:

Would this work better for teams that are amalgamated?

I’m not sure what you mean by “amalgamated”:

Do you mean “merged” or an “SL partnership”?

Mergers appear to be a non starter for a whole host of reasons and I just find myself confused by the supposed benefits of “partnering” an SL club.

JD made some comments at one of the supporters meetings that I found a bit alarming. He said that under the new system, lower division clubs could continue to loan players from SL however, they would have to be youngsters (he did mention an age limit but I can’t recall what.) He went on to say that if you were “partnered” to an SL side the age range you could loan would be raised. He posed a scenario where “partnered” clubs could bring in fringe SL players like Richard Moore for key games.

The implication was that SL clubs are trying to stack the deck in favour of partnerships. I have since heard that this will not be the case but to be honest have not read the proposals in detail. I have no faith in SL to do the “right thing for rugby”, they are simply looking at making life easier for themselves.

JD said something along the lines of “they have no original ideas themselves so they are trying to copy Australia and making a half arsed job of it”

Re: Cougars in Super League 2 ? : Sat Oct 27, 2012 10:36 am  

guess who wrote: Is support building? SL have had time and millions of pounds to get things right and have failed. Something has to be done. There is only one well run SL club and that's Leeds. At least half of those in SL are on the verge of meltdown. I have always believed that this is the way forward; problem is there is too much vested interest in SL (as it is now) to allow it to work. It will either take strong leadership or an ultimatum from Sky. I can’t see Sky being bothered either way unless a compelling argument persuades them otherwise. When SL/summer rugby was sold to sky the compelling argument was “framing the future”. As I understand it, “framing the future” was essentially written by Mike Smith and adapted by uncle Mo and co for their own purposes. RL needs someone with vision and leadership, not someone who will fawn at the feet of the big boys.

guess who wrote: Is support building? SL have had time and millions of pounds to get things right and have failed. Something has to be done. There is only one well run SL club and that's Leeds. At least half of those in SL are on the verge of meltdown. I have always believed that this is the way forward; problem is there is too much vested interest in SL (as it is now) to allow it to work. It will either take strong leadership or an ultimatum from Sky. I can’t see Sky being bothered either way unless a compelling argument persuades them otherwise. When SL/summer rugby was sold to sky the compelling argument was “framing the future”. As I understand it, “framing the future” was essentially written by Mike Smith and adapted by uncle Mo and co for their own purposes. RL needs someone with vision and leadership, not someone who will fawn at the feet of the big boys.

Re: Cougars in Super League 2 ? : Sun Oct 28, 2012 12:13 pm  

If it was based on current performances we'd sneak in as the 20th best team.

However, outside of that 20, Doncaster, Rochdale , North Wales and Gateshead have grounds i'd consider a decent enough standard for the next level.

I reckon Toulouse would be a shoe in for it as well.
The biggest problem I see is funding. Is it possible to get enough tv money to fund it? How do you restructure the competitions to make up for the shortfall in games and the revenue it generates?

Re: Cougars in Super League 2 ? : Sun Oct 28, 2012 7:50 pm  

Stealth Comic wrote:

The biggest problem I see is funding. Is it possible to get enough tv money to fund it? How do you restructure the competitions to make up for the shortfall in games and the revenue it generates?

Funding would be from existing sky funding:

At the moment 14 clubs get £1.2 million each

10 SL1 clubs would still get £1.2 mil each

10 SL2 clubs would get the rest
= (1.2 x 4) / 10 each
= £480,00 (+ the £90,000 they already get) = £570,00

That should be enough to fund the core of a team on full time, the rest part time as is now.

TV coverage would be two SL1 and one SL2 games per week.

As for number of games; SL1 play each other twice then play SL2 once or you have a pooled start of season competition like we have now.

None of this will work unless Sky wants it to; it’s up to RL to find someone with vision and leadership to sell it to them. Doooohhhhh, that’s where it falls down

Re: Cougars in Super League 2 ? : Fri Nov 09, 2012 9:49 am  

Return of Promotion and Relegation to / from Super League back on the cards:- http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/sport/h ... -1-5108577

Return of Promotion and Relegation to / from Super League back on the cards:- http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/sport/h ... -1-5108577