Future of RL below Super League

[nec]

Already posted this on the main forum but I know a lot of people stick to their own forum

My question is as follows; we have heard plenty of discussion about policies that don't work, what do you want the RFL to do from now to help your club. I will put some ideas below to provoke discussion, but they are not exclusive and I would welcome any additional ideas. I think it would be useful to avoid 'I wouldn't start from here' posts and concentrate on what can be done in the future rather than perceived errors of the past.

Potential ideas;

a) Restore automatic promotion/relegation to SL at the end of the current round of licenses

Bring in promotion/relegation to SL with strict criteria over finances and facilities at the end of the current round of licenses

c) Bring in promotion to SL given strict criteria at the end of the current round of licenses with a 3 year window for clubs to bed in, without any necessity for clubs to be relegated for a promotion

d) Increase funding to Championship & C1 clubs (on sliding scale?) without any strings attached

e) Increase funding to Championship & Championship 1 clubs with a pre-requisite that the money goes towards specific long-term objectives such as stadia, youth development and crowd growth

f) Re-organise the leagues below SL to provide for a larger Championship & for some clubs to go to RLCN or a summer NCL

g) Get rid of the Northern Rail Cup completely

h) Move the NRC to a pre-season competition

i) Make the NR 9's a pre-season competition or a competition to run on the same weekend as the Play-Off finals (obviously excluding the 4 finalists)

j) Encourage dual registration and the use of feeder teams by SL clubs

k) Remove Toulouse, Skolars, Skorpions & Gateshead to reduce travel costs

l) Encourage further applications from clubs in new areas, allowing for the fact that in most cases this would mean few away fans travelling

m) Remove restrictions to clubs running sides at every level

n) Move back to winter season

I put these forward without any agenda whatsoever, I have my own thoughts but I am not a fan of a current club outside SL and will try to keep them to myself for a while. It would be nice to get some ideas of how the sport outside SL can best move forward from where we are at the moment without the rancour that some of these discussions can spawn.

[Grey Beard]

For me a return to winter is a non-starter. This current season started at least 4 weeks too early. Maybe start 1st week in March and end in October.

Improve fixture planning - Eagles will go from 6th June to 1st August with only 1 home game which must be financially quite difficult for the club.

Travel to Gateshead , London or Bridgend is, for us at least, no worse than travelling to Barrow, Whitehaven or Workington.

Expand the number of clubs in the lower divisions to areas not too far removed from the traditional RL areas. I have in mind Beverly, Barnsley, Chesterfield, Worksop/Mansfield and several others, but do it gradually so that a proper infrastructure can be established.

Increase funding - yes but will it happen whilst Red Hall are bowing and kowtowing to Super League and Sky? I think not.

Tell Sky to stuff their Thursday night televised matches.

Approach the BBC to televise matches on a Saturday/Sunday afternoon. They were quite happy to do this in the good old days of Eddie "Oop and Under" Waring so why not now?

Finally -the RL should invest in referee recruiting and training. We have had some dismal ones over the years.

Let under 16s in for a nominal fee - this is where future players and crowds come from.

[wings beneath my feet]

While we are into wish lists lets get rid of the welsh and use thier super league money to support the championship.

They had another cracking day today watched by another stunning crowd of approx 1400 lower than most championship sides all season - be interesting to see how thier wage bill compares with gate receipts!! :lol:

[Griff]

What about the game? Could it be more spectacular with a rule change or two ?

Edited July 26, 2010 by Griff

[Basil Exposition]

Ideas to improve the game below Super League:

Dont scrap the Northern Rail Cup, however make the competition a bit more interesting by making it a straight knockout format but ties over two legs.

The Game On magazine, scrap this lump of garbage completely. No one likes it and teams are losing important advertising revenue by not being able to have programme adverts as well as it being full of things that have no relevance to the game you are at. Make it a monthly league review magazine instead.

Re-introduce promotion and relegation to Super League, on a champions only basis. Squad quality shouldnt be the be all and end all here, theyve won the league and thus deserve a crack at SL, isnt that what every player strives for? We all know that "licencing" was just a cover to fast-track the Celtic Cheaters into SL without them winning NL1 so maybe the RFL will now give up the charade and make it fair.

Eleven teams in NL1 and ten in NL2 is a bit low. Make it 12 in each by introducing a team from Edinbugh to NL2 as well as a Conference National team who is ready to make the step up. Introduce a team from Paris into the Championship (ideal now Paris is 2/3hrs from London by Eurostar). Abolish the relegtaion exempt rule for the frenchies, you want to join the english league you have to play by the same rules as the rest of us.

Abolish the dual-reistration system, utter tosh and has been shown not to work effectively. Instead encourage SL teams to loan for a season youth and reserve players to NL1/2 get match experience at a higher level that SL reserve grade. This will surely only benefit their development and thus England in years to come.

Rule changes:

Give the referee authority to determine when a team has or has not gained an advantage from an opponent error by allowing them to shout "advantage" and "advantage over" union style, this would avoid the confusing mess we often get in games.

Video referees at all matches.

Sky must show at least one home game from each team per season in NL1/2 to allow a more even distribution of TV cash.

Opinions?

[Griff]

Ideas to improve the game below Super League:

Dont scrap the Northern Rail Cup, however make the competition a bit more interesting by making it a straight knockout format but ties over two legs.

Too many fixture dates taken up and too many blank weeks for teams knocked out.

The Game On magazine, scrap this lump of garbage completely. No one likes it and teams are losing important advertising revenue by not being able to have programme adverts as well as it being full of things that have no relevance to the game you are at. Make it a monthly league review magazine instead.

Most clubs barely break even on programmes.

Re-introduce promotion and relegation to Super League, on a champions only basis. Squad quality shouldnt be the be all and end all here, theyve won the league and thus deserve a crack at SL, isnt that what every player strives for? We all know that "licencing" was just a cover to fast-track the Celtic Cheaters into SL without them winning NL1 so maybe the RFL will now give up the charade and make it fair.

Not going to happen, for a number of reasons.

Eleven teams in NL1 and ten in NL2 is a bit low. Make it 12 in each by introducing a team from Edinbugh to NL2 as well as a Conference National team who is ready to make the step up. Introduce a team from Paris into the Championship (ideal now Paris is 2/3hrs from London by Eurostar). Abolish the relegtaion exempt rule for the frenchies, you want to join the english league you have to play by the same rules as the rest of us.

I'd prefer a team from the Seychelles, myself. Personally, I don't care what division Toulouse are in as long as it's ours.

Ten in NL2 (or division 3 as I prefer to call it) is lower than it is at the moment. Who are you expecting to drop out?

Abolish the dual-registration system, utter tosh and has been shown not to work effectively. Instead encourage SL teams to loan for a season youth and reserve players to NL1/2 get match experience at a higher level that SL reserve grade. This will surely only benefit their development and thus England in years to come.

Absolutely.

Rule changes:

Give the referee authority to determine when a team has or has not gained an advantage from an opponent error by allowing them to shout "advantage" and "advantage over" union style, this would avoid the confusing mess we often get in games.

Yes the players should know what's happening.

That wouldn't necessarily make the game more attractive, though. It'd have little effect for the spectator.

Video referees at all matches.

No. You need all the cameras, not just a bloke at the back of the stand. It just won't be conclusive either way.

Sky must show at least one home game from each team per season in NL1/2 to allow a more even distribution of TV cash.

That would be exactly one game each, then. Plus the Rail Cup. Sky won't agree to that.