Tubby

And this is absolutely the issue with stating figures. They're always based on what's rumoured and what someone said about a club other than their own. I appreciate that the forum would be a pretty boring place without these type of discussions, but I think we must all accept that it's all conjecture and guesswork. It's difficult to see how Featherstone with only a couple of full time players are spending more than Bradford with 20. But they may well be, no-one has a clue in reality.

Is this fact? Do you have some kind of inside knowledge about the running of most championship clubs and indeed Bradford? If not, then this is pointless conjecture. If, on the other hand, you are privvy to this kind of information I can't imagine the clubs involved would be happy to have it bandied around on a public forum.

Or perhaps it highlights the benefits of a David and Goliath battle, or perhaps it was due to the number of perceived Leeds players, or perhaps Jupiter was retrograde in Halley’s Comet... perhaps, perhaps , perhaps.

And there were two teams playing as I remember it.

Weren’t they watching Toulouse v Featherstone?

I’m pretty sure they were from Hunslet.

Unless it’s at the expense of your own club. I think it’s fair to say that the vast majority of rugby league fans welcome the idea of expansion, but we all have different views of how it should be done. I think most fans would prefer to see their own team succeed rather than any expansion team. Apart from the truly altruistic amongst us.

I'd disagree that it's a form of politeness to simply preface something disrespectful with the 'all due respect' epithet. Much the same as saying 'no offence intended' before telling someone they're fat is no less offensive. As ever, it is the intangibles that are used to support the fact that Toronto 'offer more' to SL than any other club from the Championship. Are they of more value to Sky? Have Sky said so? Will they necessarily bring in more viewers? I think we at least agree that the team which deserves to be in SL is the one who qualifies on the field. That said, I believe the team who finishes top at the end of the season is the one which should be promoted. As last year, a dominant team can have a bad playoff game and miss out on promotion, which I think wrong.

Oh the ubiquitous patronisation. I love the use of 'with all due respect' as a precurser to showing maximum disrespect.

First of all, I think the team that finishes top at the end of the regular season should be considered champions and in the Championship and League one, should be promoted. Since the rules are that the winners of the play-off are the champions, then I hope Featherstone win and are promoted, because 'them's the rules'. I also think SL would be more hacked off with Featherstone than with Toronto, but that's by-the-by. I appreciate that I come form the position of a luddite as I believe in league leaders beiong the consistantly best team and therefore champions, but ew all have our opinions. As regards the original SL contract, I haven't a clue, any more than I have any clue about the contractual situation with promotion or funding or any other criteria, since none of that is ever in the public domain. We're all just guessing.

But you believe the high-flying metropolises of Wigan, St Helens, Warrington & Hull (for example) are a draw because they’re towns in the north with a higher immediate population? the whole ‘pit village’ argument is nothing more than distraction. There are very few big city teams in UK rugby league and the more successful ones are often the traditional community clubs. When Wigan were dominating the sport in the ‘80s an ‘90s, I don’t remember anyone whining about their geographical location, or marketability as a weekend destination. if you want to travel to exotic places., feel free, just don’t expect the sport we all love to restructure to give you an excuse to go. Otherwise there’s no hop for any of the current SL clubs apart from Leeds and Catalan. Will all you SL fans still be championing favouring expansion teams when its at the expense of your clubs? I know your natural altruism will mean you’re happy to see your clubs playing second tier for eternity with no hope of promotion as long as SL has New York & Johannesburg.

I’m fairly sure Deryck Fox’s birthday is today too. I only know because it’s mine as well.

That's pretty much my point, catchment areas aren't quite as clear cut as some would suggest. My mother lives in Selby too and she's a Featherstone fan. Her husband (originally from York) is a York fan. Although since they're both elderly, neither attend games any more.