The problem for me is we have tried to grow and blatentley stuck two fingers up to the fans who have kept this game alive over the decades. It seems every other six months another club hits administration and is spending a full season getting tonked. The way the game is governed it seems one rule for one and a different one for other people, there is zero modern day forward thinking at Red Hall (could anybody really see Nigel Wood heading a twitter or facebook campaign ?).
If your from France, down south, Wales or any other RL starved area the games top bosses will do everything in there power to fast track you to a SL side. But if your over 100 years old and got a tax bill thrown at you, they really don't want to know.
Clubs like PSG, Sheffield, Crusaders, Toulouse and Catalans (although Cats are a success story) have being chosen to spotlight the sport rather then great clubs like Halifax, Leigh and Featherstone.
They say in this sport we are not afraid to try something new, which is fair enough. But we do seem afraid to think and apply common sense logic, putting Magic Weekend on at the same time as the FA Cup final is another mistake and shows the lack of forward planning at Red Hall. I admire there will to take on Football but we all know out the two events which 50/50 fans will choose.
Everyone knew at the time that Franchising would have a knock on effect to the quality of the league for at least the first ten years, its obvious that was going to happen when you encourage clubs to invest in there own. We haven't even hit ten years yet and already the plug has being pulled.
We as a sport have lost our morals and focused far too much on the £££. What we need to do is put league structure in place which is fair, competitive and allows clubs to progress. Should an outside City wish to join our sport we should welcome them with open arms, but they must start at the bottom like everybody else and find there own identity.
Too much off the field stuff takes the headlines these days and that is where the sport has gone wrong. Nobody cares about the facilities to them as long as what they watch on the pitch is entertaining.
