It’s time for our weekly big debate on TotalRL.com – and with the Super 8s getting underway this week, we’re taking a look towards the bottom end of the league structure to get you talking.
League 1 has been in the spotlight perhaps more than ever before this year with the profile Toronto are attracting – but at the bottom end, should the sport consider making a major, major change: opening the trap-door and bringing in relegation from the competition?
With some hungry amateur teams below them, it may certainly shake things up. Here’s our two sides of the coin – what do you think? Tweet us @LeagueExpress and vote below.
Yes – time to reward the amateur sides with ambition
Plenty of lower-end League 1 sides have had enough free rides now – it’s time to shake things up.
There are a plethora of amateur sides with the credentials to succeed in the semi-professional ranks – you only have to look at how Siddal applied themselves against Toronto at the start of the year for proof of that. If the talent is there, then why not give these clubs an opportunity to vie for promotion from the National Conference League’s top-tier?
It may also invigorate life at the bottom end of League 1 too. Sure it wouldn’t be great to see expansion sides drop out of League 1 and into the amateur ranks, but if there are teams below them proving they can live at a higher level, surely they deserve to be given a fair crack of the whip?
No – we need to protect our expansion clubs
The amateur clubs serve a great purpose in rugby league. Of that there is absolutely no question.
But to introduce promotion and relegation into the semi-professional ranks could be a devastating, if not fatal, blow for clubs like Hemel.
Is that what we want? To kill off areas where the sport is trying to grow for the sake of the odd promotion here and there? Surely not. There has to be a better way to spice things up at the bottom of League 1 than potentially destroying all the sport’s hard work in expansion areas.
We have to find a way to protect our expansion clubs more and more. Introductin relegation from the third-tier would be doing the complete opposite.
