sanjunien wrote:
Quite agree that the top two should get automatic promotion and the bottom two relegation from C & C1 but i would have a play-off for a third promotion place from C1 versus the third bottom in the C.
Surely the fairest way would be for every team to play each other home and away in the regular season ? ..or is that too sensible ?
I agree that in principle the top team should get automatic promotion but I believe the main reason why this doesn't happen is because we have a ridiculous fixture schedule throughout the season. Unless everyone plays each other at home and away there is going to be a big slice of luck involved in where you finish in the league due to whether you've played the poorer sides at home, or the better sides at home. If the majority of your away games have been against the better sides, you will have been up against it.
There are too many teams in the league for everyone to play each other at home and away - the convoluted play-off system is the RFLs answer to try to correct the problem.
Another issue arises because of the ability differences between the top 8 and bottom 7 teams in the league: there are far too many one-sided games. This detracts from its appeal to supporters in general. The advantage to the league splitting at least means each game will become more of a contest.
I think the season so far has been boring. It stop/starts with too many blank weekends and it has too many one-sided games. The sooner we get to the split the better. Everything should be more exciting from there onwards.
