Why does Rugby League have to be so confusing? It’s a simple sport, it should be simple to follow. The never ending gimmick changes are tiresome. Not only does it piss off the existing fan base, it’s off putting for any potential new fans. Of course corruption with countless regimes is brazen. Never more so apparent with Nigel Wood’s reappointment at the RFL.
The format should be as follows:
12 x SL clubs
12 x Championship clubs
11 x League 1 clubs
The winners of each league after 20/22 rounds are champions.
A top 4/6 play offs could be played at the end of the SL season to determine Grand Finalists.
The teams finishing bottom of SL and Championship are automatically relegated to the division below.
The champions of the Championship and League 1 should be automatically promoted to the division above.
Team finishing in 11th in SL to play team finishing 2nd in the Championship at the end of the season in a play off to determine promotion/relegation (same model for Champ/L1). This gives the incentive for teams at the bottom to stay competitive until the end of the season.
Yes, Widnes profited from franchising in 2011-2014, but it wasn’t really sport was it?
Other than having Nigel pushing their case, what have Bradford really got to offer. A crowd average of about 3,400 in a stadium with a 26,000 capacity, a sub-standard ground and a recent record of financial instability. Is Nigel putting his RFL pay-off into the Club?
The way Rugby League is run has become a total joke with constant changes mainly to accommodate a few Clubs. In any other sport, would they change the rules mid-season to render redundant planned end of season play-offs and no idea how the game is to be run in 2026 below SL. Having said that, I don't believe that RFL has any interest in the game below SL.
Sandgroper is right, any increased SL funding to accommodate the additional two Cubs in SL will come from the Championship and the rest of the game. My guess is that the next change will come when Clubs in the Championship and SL go bust.
Having promoted SL as a European League, with one French team, this seems to be now changing, with a move to keep Toulouse out even if they win the Championship play-offs. How long will Catalans last? This possibly to accommodate a team with a history of failure and crowds of a few hundred.
Having adopted the IMG grading system, which to be fair does encourage clubs to aim to meet minimum standards, the RFL in their wisdom are now abandoning that to pick the additional two Clubs to join SL in 2026. This does have a stench of corruption about it. They should either stick to the grading system for 2025 or revert to a play-off system to determine which Clubs go into SL.
Of course, Widnes have to make a bid for a SL place, but the way the game is going it could be a poison chalice with another financial meltdown coming in the short-term.
The game has become a total farce.
Maybe Widnes would have buggered up the Masterplan, as of now they are extremely close to the top 14 clubs under IMG ratings. I won't say exactly where in case the Club haven't mentioned it to the general public, though it may have been mentioned at Viking Voice last night. That may have engineered the change of tact by Nigel 'Wide Pipe' yesterday, to enable his beloved Bulls, York & Salford to remain. Also why have Wigan abstained from the vote? It appears they are running with the hare and the hounds.
Paulie xx
How do Widnes know they are close to the top 14? And how? I get that Widnes will improve on their score from last year by more than others, but hard to see just how they can make up the 4 points they were behind London (14th and above York and Bradford!), 5 clear points they were behind Toulouse (who were 13th).
@mikeparsons will explain it to you, if you don't already know. It's all in comparison to other teams score last Oct. Some may go down, some may be 'fudged up'. Widnes have not cheated, as they can't really. The all-seater stadium means they can't 'big up'/falsify attendances, and where they failed last year, they have righted a lot of those wrongs. They now have the youth programme etc. So it's a massive improvement overall. No doubt there will be skulduggery at other Clubs, but we can't do anything about that.
Paulie xx
It's a pity the grading was so bad last year and you can see that the directors have grasped the nettle more and off pitch seems better.
What we really need to do is go deep in the Play-Offs next year under whichever guise they take....surely we have got to have a chance!
Other than having Nigel pushing their case, what have Bradford really got to offer. A crowd average of about 3,400 in a stadium with a 26,000 capacity, a sub-standard ground and a recent record of financial instability. Is Nigel putting his RFL pay-off into the Club?
The way Rugby League is run has become a total joke with constant changes mainly to accommodate a few Clubs. In any other sport, would they change the rules mid-season to render redundant planned end of season play-offs and no idea how the game is to be run in 2026 below SL. Having said that, I don't believe that RFL has any interest in the game below SL.
Sandgroper is right, any increased SL funding to accommodate the additional two Cubs in SL will come from the Championship and the rest of the game. My guess is that the next change will come when Clubs in the Championship and SL go bust.
Having promoted SL as a European League, with one French team, this seems to be now changing, with a move to keep Toulouse out even if they win the Championship play-offs. How long will Catalans last? This possibly to accommodate a team with a history of failure and crowds of a few hundred.
Having adopted the IMG grading system, which to be fair does encourage clubs to aim to meet minimum standards, the RFL in their wisdom are now abandoning that to pick the additional two Clubs to join SL in 2026. This does have a stench of corruption about it. They should either stick to the grading system for 2025 or revert to a play-off system to determine which Clubs go into SL.
Of course, Widnes have to make a bid for a SL place, but the way the game is going it could be a poison chalice with another financial meltdown coming in the short-term.
The game has become a total farce.
Maybe Widnes would have buggered up the Masterplan, as of now they are extremely close to the top 14 clubs under IMG ratings. I won't say exactly where in case the Club haven't mentioned it to the general public, though it may have been mentioned at Viking Voice last night. That may have engineered the change of tact by Nigel 'Wide Pipe' yesterday, to enable his beloved Bulls, York & Salford to remain. Also why have Wigan abstained from the vote? It appears they are running with the hare and the hounds.
Paulie xx
How do Widnes know they are close to the top 14? And how? I get that Widnes will improve on their score from last year by more than others, but hard to see just how they can make up the 4 points they were behind London (14th and above York and Bradford!), 5 clear points they were behind Toulouse (who were 13th).
Yes as I posted on another forum the last ratings are
shudds 14.98 - probably going down a bit due to small crowds and league position
salfraud 13.97 - bound to go down a lot due to financial issues and league position
Toulouse 13.58-probably a small gain
London 12.65 - probably small loss due to league position
york 12.42- probably a big plus
bradfraud 12.15 - cannot see how they can improve that
barrow 11.22 - deffo less
fev 10.75 - probably a small plus
Widnes 8.6 - a massive plus about 3 but still way short
so I reckon Toulouse and York may well make the top 12
widnes about 16
and the X factor picks ?
bradfraud and Londonthoughts
The only way we would make it in would be if we made top 12 which we patently can't now.
As I see it, we should be in a band of clubs like Oldham, Halifax and Featherstone who you would imagine will be the leading group in the new non-SL Leagues and we should be building towards winning whatever league they come up with.
Sport England are now getting involved according to the Guardian after the shenanigans lately so as much as I would love us to be playing Wire and Saints regularly- for the moment we need to get a team on the park that qualifies for Play-Offs year in year out- and be ready and stable for when the inevitable chaos from SL causes it to crumble.
For me, the various responses to this subject on here show how fractured the administration of the sport really is.
I am fortunate enough to be of an age where the sport seemed to be operated successfully with just two men at the helm - David Howes and David Oxley.
They were honest and pragmatic and never tried to portray the sport as something it wasn't.
They managed to fill Wembley every year, had more than a handful of sponsored cup competitions throughout the season, hosted a successful Ashes Tour every four years, as well as hosting a successful top eight Premiership play-off competition which concluded at Old Trafford. More importantly, the game was exciting and rarely disappointed.
Sure, I may be looking through rose tinted spectacles, but the reality was that I would happily go hunting for any kind of rugby league match to watch whoever was playing. I think our record was watching three pro games in one day.
Today, we don't go at all ☹️
And if any further evidence was needed about the current farce that is Super League, then check out tonight's result at Salford.
It matters not to them as they are in SL next seasonAnd if any further evidence was needed about the current farce that is Super League, then check out tonight's result at Salford.
If I was in charge of SL, I'd send Catalans back to France, keep Salford, ignore Toulouse and London and send up 3 Northern clubs from the Championship. Time to get back to basics and make RL the 2nd biggest sport in the North. And you'd have to base it on this season's performances, not IMG. So, York, Bradford and Oldham probs.
There'd be 19 teams in the Championship/L1 then, sort that out and get back to 1 up 1 down from SL.
@gpo1971 Come on, this is Rugby League. Promotion and relegation based on results!! That is just ridiculous!
I have no issue with French teams, but shouldn't the long-term aim for Catalan and Toulouse to be in a strengthened French League, with perhaps an Anglo-French Tournament held at the end of the season for European Championship
Promote whichever team finishes top of the Championship and then a four team knock-out tournament, including Salford and next 3 in Championship.
There can be no place for London other than based on performance on the pitch, not based on wishful thinking.
And let Nige fulfill his dream if they earn it on the pitch, even if their pitch is sub-standard.
What will override any clever numbers game will be the lack of a major funding pool to adequately finance all clubs.
Some have wealthy backers and look good within their category but, as it was in the SOC era, to skip between SL and Championship is financially impossible atm without substantial additional cash and it will worsen yet.
We are struggling, as are many clubs, with minimal staff, to keep our show on the road but if, by a Nigel edict, we were to be promoted we would be struggling to step up and be competitive.
The same might yet be true for the likely Championship high flyers and without an extended growth period after promotion whoever is promoted will be hard pressed to remain.
The French clubs offer less of a financial cost to SL and that is their advantage and benefit to SL but the competition, for them, is not 'fair' at all!
Nigel may have a plan of course but it looks very much like our programme of quiet club improvement is the best option. We were the hated guinea pigs last time because we had a clever wealthy backer who could play the game under Lewis's rules.
The rules today won't be as crisp and tightly supervised and Nigel's adjudicating panel will prove that to be true!
Lets hope these guys see through the potential corruption.
Well if the rfl May potentially lose money that may focus their minds - but they are not bothered about grass roots at all, they are just concerned keeping the big boys happy
it is such an unbelievable sham
Once Nige has secured Bradford's place in SL, I have no doubt he will then say that RL now needs a period of stability and there will be no relegation from SL.
Nige really needs to explain his "strategic" thinking for the future of the game outside SL.
Will Nige and his team have any interest in the rest of the game once he has secured Bradford's place in SL? Will he ensure that clubs outside SL are provided with adequate central funding? Will Nige and Leopard Man be happy to forego central funding and continue to fork out £1-2m to keep SL Clubs afloat? Will they do this to ensure grass roots RL is supported to develop home grown talent?
I believe that the best thing that could happen for the game as a whole, would be for Bradford NOT to be promoted as long as Nige heads RFL. This would at least ensure he has an interest in the Championship and below.
The sooner we drop all the gimmicks and have two competitive leagues, with promotion and relegation based on performance on the pitch, the better. This would not preclude a requirement for Clubs to meet minimum standards or to look to expand the game in the future.
What does matter though, is the reputation and credibility of the sport.
It makes the game look ridiculous.
As soon as it was murmured that Salford were in financial difficulties (so soon after the IMG gradings too), they should have been suspended/demoted/relegated from Super League.
Can nobody at HQ see the long term damage that these headlines do for the brand?
The sport is a mere shadow of its former self.