The long term goal of expansion: 24 teams in 4 conferences

[Lounge Room Lizard]

As usual PS is on drugs. The French game is buggered to hell, yet PS expects teams in Paris, Lyon, Marseille that are going to have turnover of millions of Euros! Who is going to fund it? Where are the players (SL Quality French players) coming from? Yes 15 years is a long time but not long enough for the French game to change and be able to have 4 French SL Teams.

Gateshead? Gateshead are nothing more than amateurs at the moment and are struggling to even survive. Where is the money and Players coming from to have a SL team?

Sheffield have potential, but I doubt they will be ready for SL for a while, as the crowds are often under 1000 and they have no money. But they have been around for a while and what is important is that a number of amateur clubs are in the near like North Derbyshire, Hillsboro etc

Dublin? Bristol?, N London?, E London? Again where are the players and Money coming from? Who is going to run these teams that have no or next to no amateur presence?

I have no problem with expansion, but please let us be reasonable about it. You cant just set up a Pro club and expect to have success. Any expansion team should build its way up like the South Wales Scorpions. I have no problem that they have 6 or 7 Aussies, but then they must have 10 local players in a squad alongside the odd "Heartlands" player. By having and using the local amateur players as well as experinced Aussies/Heartland players you can build a community club, where locals feel they can relate to it. Hopefully they can get to a point where they can move up to the Championship and then SL. ANY club needs to have a pathway in to the top League. Sticking a club more or less straight in like Crusaders with no solid base is asking for trouble.

The same with a French team they should build from Elite 2 through to Elite 1. Once they are doing well in Elite 1 maybe test themselves in the Championship. But have atleast a stepping stone effect. Rushing a French or Spanish team in to the Championship or SL is not the way for me. Sadly the French game does not have enough Quality for the next 5-10 years to run 2 let alone 4 SL Clubs. Build on and off the field first and see how things are then take the next small step up. Anything more will be too much on and off the field for a club.

[bowes]

Personally, I won't be satisfied with Rugby Leagues expansion until there is a team on the moon.

fervent traditionalist, there should be a conference on the Moon and 10 on the Sun. We should also ban northern teams from playing rugby league as some of their fans are flatcappers who hold the game back