Fri 17th-Sun 19th Feb: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

[Fevrover]

4 hours ago, Michael Bates said:

Why isn't it fair for Toulouse? Full time aren't they? What difference does it make to them when they play?

They want to be in a European league so should have to abide with every other teams 'wishes'.

[kiggy]

4 hours ago, Michael Bates said:

Why isn't it fair for Toulouse? Full time aren't they? What difference does it make to them when they play?

Could be schedules. Coming back may not be a problem but if they have to fly out Wednesday for a Friday evening match and not get back until Monday, or Saturday for a Sunday match and then back on Tuesday, then it doesn't give them time to train...professional or not. Plus, player safety does play a part. Players getting injured and having to wait for 2 or 3 days to see/get a scan etc. could be an issue. 

I don't see an issue for the English teams, they get a full 7 days before their next match rather than 6....and I do agree that York had drawn a very short straw with their schedules. TO do benefit though, getting into a rhythm when you travel away is a good idea.

[The Phantom Horseman]

2 minutes ago, Gav Wilson said:

Presumably down to flight schedules mate. You say this wasn't the case previously but York have only ever played Toulouse on a Saturday - Home and away.

Yes, that's what I was thinking. In 2021 they played most of their away games (which were the only ones they played of course) on Sundays though, York were one of just a couple played on Saturdays.

It may be that they were chartering planes prior to this season but are now using scheduled flights, but that's just a guess.

[ivans82]

3 hours ago, Griff said:

Is your plan to promote Fev and Toulouse to a 14 team league? What happens at the end of the season? A strong team comes down and is replaced by a weak team?

We're actually going in the right direction. An under comp with a couple of clubs who could at least make a decent fist of staying up. Maybe in a few years there'll be four or five such Championship clubs.

But your plan's great if you want to return to no p+r.

My main point being at the moment , unless Fev can break through , we are just having Leigh and Toulouse swapping places every 12 months  , which is far from ideal .

[kiggy]

14 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Yes, that's what I was thinking. In 2021 they played most of their away games (which were the only ones they played of course) on Sundays though, York were one of just a couple played on Saturdays.

It may be that they were chartering planes prior to this season but are now using scheduled flights, but that's just a guess.

Yes, no private jets anymore at 30k a pop, back to normal scheduled scutter air now.

[Griff]

1 hour ago, ivans82 said:

My main point being at the moment , unless Fev can break through , we are just having Leigh and Toulouse swapping places every 12 months  , which is far from ideal .

Happen. But how is that better if Fev swap places with Halifax or  Widnes or whoever every year? You're just moving the line two places down.

My point is thst we need more than just two Championship clubs capable of competing in Superleague.

But nothing will happen until IMG start making their changes.

[Ovenden Grunt]

5 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

I like Wakey as a club but lets not pretend they are forward thinking. They have been peeing the sky money up against a wall year on year without making any progress and you could have put maybe 5 or 6 of the current Championship teams that already have decent grounds in SL and I imagine they would have faired as well if not better than Wakey. Its great they are doing something but lets not pretend it hasn't needed doing for nearly 20 years.

Spot on️

[Harry Stottle]

21 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

Can we not have fev turn into this years Leigh where every thread gets hijacked by them? Big wins for Swinton and Sheffield. 

We just need SL to go to a 13-14 team league so we can have a competitive league from top to bottom 

As I pointed out previously Salop, it was not Leigh fan's who hijacked a lot of threads, but we most certainly responded to posts in which people included them.