At the end of the day its all very well people sitting on here saying i wont support it but what would happen if town got to a final or semi final would you all stay at home or would you go and support your team because i know which one i would do! What would you do if DP was to hold a round which maybe included for eg Saints Wigan Town Haven etc? Is it not good to see the RFL actually trying to do something to improve our game and not just SL by including lower league teams in it? Or should we just sit here with our 10 league games 2 nrc and hope for atleast 1 challenge cup home draw or away at a sl club and hope that we can make enough money to survive next season?
Which semi-final or final had you in mind? Do you honestly believe that both Wigan and Saints would be sent up to DP for a "9's" competition and if they were how many top players would there be in their teams? No, we shouldn't just sit with our 10 league games, 2 NR Cup games and at least 1 Challenge Cup game. What we should be doing is sitting here with 15 home league games, make the NR Cup a Championship(s) knock-out competition and retain the Challenge Cup as it is.
A knock-out NR Cup would give lower league clubs a chance of at least making the semi-finals by meeting teams of their own strength in early rounds at home, etc. But our bread and butter is the League and we need to have more league fixtures to stop these 4 and 5 week gaps between home matches. The 2011 fixtures are better with less gaps but they could be improved further for the benefit of clubs.
I remember when .............................
"It is impossible not to feel a twinge of sympathy for Workington Town, the fall guys this season for the Super League's determination to retain it's European dimesion, in the shape of Paris. While the French have had every assistance to survive, the importance of having a flagship in a heartland area like West Cumbria has been conveniently forgotten." - Dave hadfield - Independent 25th Augsut 1996.
