LAST year the Super League clubs made a potentially momentous choice. 

They decided that from the 2026 season there would be two additional clubs in Super League, bringing the total in the elite competition to 14 teams.

The decision to expand the Super League competition wasn’t taken unanimously, however.

Wigan were opposed to the move and the two Hull clubs both voted for 14 clubs to be introduced in 2027, rather than 2026.

As I understand it, Wigan felt that there would be insufficient depth in the player pool to support 14 teams, while the Hull clubs felt that the teams being elevated into Super League needed more time to plan for their impending status.

The other clubs, however, were in favour of the move and the vote was carried democratically.

So we now have 14 clubs in Super League and after six rounds of the competition it is legitimate to ask how the expansion of the competition is working out.

In my view, even the most sceptical observer would have to agree that so far it isn’t working out too badly.

The three promoted clubs have won seven games between them and Bradford Bulls drew an attendance of more than 10,000 to see them hosting Huddersfield Giants for their last home game.

Bradford have a proud record in Super League, although they have been in the wilderness for more than ten years. Nonetheless their fans have come flocking back and the atmosphere at Odsal is reminiscent of the early days of Super League.

I was one of those who feared that the new clubs would experience some blowout scores.

One game that I feared might fall into this category was last week’s game between Wigan and York.

Before the season had begun I would have predicted Wigan winning that game by anything up to 50 points. But in the event, Wigan won by just one point.

I know that Wigan were missing Bevan French and Jai Field, but it was still a remarkable result for York and does them great credit.

So far we have had 41 games in Super League after six rounds.

If we define a blowout scoreline as having a final margin of 40 points or more, we see that four games fall into that category.

Leeds beating Hull KR 58-6.

Wigan beating Leigh 54-0.

Warrington beating Castleford 72-6.

Hull KR beating St Helens 52-10.

None of those scorelines has involved one of the three newly promoted clubs.

And it’s interesting to check out those games that were decided by margins of six points or less, which is easy to do if you head to the ‘Match Zone’ section of the Totalrl.com website.

After Sunday’s two Super League games you’ll find that 14 out of 41 games fell into that category.

And of those 14 games, York featured in three of them, Toulouse in two and Bradford in one.

So almost half of the all the close games in Super League this season have involved one of the three clubs that were elevated to the top-flight before the start of the season.

I’m not sure we would have anticipated such an outcome.

Of course things may change in the coming weeks.

But I think that we can be happy so far with the decision to expand Super League to 14 clubs.

I hope I can still say that at the end of the season.

How about the Championship?

THE Super League competition may be doing well, but there are some pundits who suggest that taking three clubs out of the Championship and elevating them to Super League has damaged that competition by reducing its overall quality.

That has been magnified by the troubles affecting three clubs that should have been strong members of the Championship this year.

Featherstone’s liquidation means that they are missing from the competition, while Salford and Halifax have both been seriously weakened by going into liquidation and having to be re-formed as weaker entities.

So that means that six significant clubs with good followings have effectively been taken out of the Championship, even though Salford and Halifax are nominally still in the competition.

Halifax have suffered a twelve-point deduction and they are therefore at the bottom of the league.

But on Friday night they took plenty of support to Salford for a fine game which they won narrowly in front of an attendance of 3,125 at the CorpAcq Stadium.

The only one-sided scorelines have been registered by London Broncos, who are clearly a Super League club in waiting.

It was surely the right decision to merge the Championship and League One from last season and I hope that as we enter British Summer Time we will see attendances on the rise.

The RFL Council Vote

LAST week the RFL Council voted to give its backing to Nigel Wood and his fellow proposed directors of the RFL to run the governing body for at least the next twelve months.

I had assumed that the vote might be unanimous, but in fact some clubs voted against Nigel, including Wigan, Hull FC, York, Newcastle and Widnes, with Castleford abstaining.

At a time when a united front would have been useful, it seemed odd that it shouldn’t be attained.

I understand that Wigan voted against Nigel because they don’t think he will agree to do a deal with the NRL and that body’s much publicised desire to take a stake in the game in the northern hemisphere.

I suspect that if the NRL offer a strong financial deal Nigel will be only too keen to reach agreement with them.

And it seemed very strange to reflect on that vote when only a month earlier at a Super League clubs meeting both Wigan and Hull had been effusive in their praise for the RFL’s improved financial performance since the change in directors a year ago.

Incidentally, it was interesting to see NRL Chairman Peter V’landys saying of Willie Peters: “He deserves his chance in the big time,” when talking about his appointment as the inaugural head coach of the PNG Chiefs.

His comment suggests that Super League isn’t part of “the big time” in his view.

Sky’s archive could be lost

SKY SPORTS have done a fine job celebrating the 30th anniversary of Super League, with plenty of footage of memorable moments from the history of the competition, which you can also find in the April edition of Rugby League World magazine.

But it’s worth bearing in mind that if Super League were to move away from Sky, much of that footage would presumably not be available to another broadcaster.

It’s just a thought!