Championship Meeting #2

[The Blues Ox]

Not sure how much has been mentioned about it but a lot of teams already have season tickets on sale based on the current structure, what happens if the 2 divisions are forced to megre, that in itself is going to cost some teams a lot of money. 

[dkw]

20 minutes ago, Colin James said:

To be clear I have no issue with a merging of the divisions and think it is one of two options we have, the other being we rebalance the divisions by relegating more teams/promoting fewer in 2024 to lead to a more even split in 2025.

My issue is the painting of Championship clubs as the bad guys for looking after their own interests when some clubs may not be in a brilliant position and have earned the right to play in the division as is.

That's fair, and I completely understand championship clubs being self centred, many are on their arris's and can't afford to lose money at all.

It could be short sighted though, its summed up by certain clubs apparently changing their opinion last season once they were safe in the championship. 2 of them are getting relegated this season as it stands, where they will then do a nice 180 once again no doubt. The disparity in funding in the championship is as ridiculous as the mess in L1, that needs fixing also.

[Colin James]

35 minutes ago, dkw said:

So conference leagues is their aim as much as an expanded championship,  why did you miss that part out?

They want a merger. How the fixtures are worked out isn't decided. Would you have preferred me to say 'they want the sporting merit aspect of the divisional split to be replaced by a geographical split'?

I'm not totally against the conferences idea though how the lines are drawn is a massive can of worms. My issue is very clear, Championship clubs have earned the right to play in that division as is in 2024. They've recruited and budgeted for it. They've sold season tickets for it. They've sold sponsorship for it. To paint them as the bad guys for not wanting to put those plans in the shredder is more than a little unfair and the adversarial nature of comments coming from some clubs in that direction is bang out of order.

And to repeat yet again, this shouldn't have ever come to this as the RFL should have taken charge from the off and made clear that it wasn't up to the clubs to decide. Instead they were quiet and allowed this Us v Them thing to kick off.

Edited October 24, 2023 by Colin James

[Midlands hobo]

2 hours ago, Derwent Parker said:

The only one on here that basically asked for money was the Fev supporter who said "we need a sweetener to travel to Cornwall"

Heaven Forbid Cornwall would need the sweetener to afford to travel around the country every week not just a one off like other teams. But of course I'm in danger of the "heartlands, expansion, if it's too expensive they shouldn't be in" 

Central funding should be weighted to accommodate travel. Clubs further away spend more on travel so have less for wages, this handicaps the league in the favour of heartlands clubs and gives moaners like our friend in Fev to bemoan any success any club should dare achieve unless they are within walking distance of Royston Vasey

[Hopie]

I'd imagine any solution announced this week will cover next season before a larger restructure for 2025.

The grading system has a Super League of no fixed size, so therefore the other leagues may also be of no fixed size. The fixture list/structure of the division will therefore have to be adaptable and hopefully somebody has planned for that. 

[The Future is League]

LaLiga style shake up planned

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/24499064/rugby-league-third-tier-reserve-teams/

[Damien]

3 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

LaLiga style shake up planned

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/24499064/rugby-league-third-tier-reserve-teams/

That seems like the easy option to me and offloading the problem. I think it's something that will only be detrimental to League 1 clubs.

[OdsalBull]

If it is a restructuring of leagues why are all 3 leagues not involved?

[The Blues Ox]

Personally think including reserve teams could be a very good move. League 1 fans get to watch future talent and that future talent gets to play at a slightly better level than reserve grade which could aid their development.

[Ovenden Grunt]

13 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Personally think including reserve teams could be a very good move. League 1 fans get to watch future talent and that future talent gets to play at a slightly better level than reserve grade which could aid their development.

Edging ever closer to feeder clubs.

[distantdog]

15 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Personally think including reserve teams could be a very good move. League 1 fans get to watch future talent and that future talent gets to play at a slightly better level than reserve grade which could aid their development.

How you've described it, it would seem to be a good move for the reserve teams. The success or attractiveness of this model depends on the competitiveness of the games. I am not sure how competitive it would be.

[crashmon]

10 minutes ago, Ovenden Grunt said:

Edging ever closer to feeder clubs.

This is going to happen whether we like it or not.  There is not enough money in the game for more than a handful of professional clubs.  You will see the same in Union as well TBH.

[Roughyed Rats]

9 minutes ago, crashmon said:

This is going to happen whether we like it or not.  There is not enough money in the game for more than a handful of professional clubs.  You will see the same in Union as well TBH.

If that's going to happen, keep SL as a summer game and move all the other clubs back to winter seasons. Give's the non-SL clubs the possibility of sorting out their own TV deal and potentially attract SL fans during their off season.

Edited October 25, 2023 by Roughyed Rats

[Harry Stottle]

13 hours ago, Colin James said:

To be clear I have no issue with a merging of the divisions and think it is one of two options we have, the other being we rebalance the divisions by relegating more teams/promoting fewer in 2024 to lead to a more even split in 2025.

My issue is the painting of Championship clubs as the bad guys for looking after their own interests when some clubs may not be in a brilliant position and have earned the right to play in the division as is.

In 2018 League 1 was a 14 team competition and the Championship was 12 teams, the RFL decided to reverse those numbers for 2019, even when it was obvious that some teams in L1 were struggling to keep their heads above water and it would only be a matter of time before they were lost reducing the number of participating clubs in L1 even further, eventuating in the problem we are experiencing now.

But this should not surprise anyone with how the sport has been run by those in charge for a long time having no foresight or even any contingency plans should it not work out.

So much so, realising how inept they are at running the sport, the RFL have brought in IMG, I am convinced that this 12 year partnership will not see through to its conclusion, and if it does there will be two bodies running the game an independent Full Time SL and the rest. 

Apologies if some think this is a diversion of the thread but I don't, it all comes down to the total ineptitude of our governing body.

[sheddingswasus]

36 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Personally think including reserve teams could be a very good move. League 1 fans get to watch future talent and that future talent gets to play at a slightly better level than reserve grade which could aid their development.

Complete rubbish - would you pay £15 to watch reserves??

[Roughyed Rats]

Just now, sheddingswasus said:

Complete rubbish - would you pay £15 to watch reserves??

Correct - I certainly wouldn't. 

[sheddingswasus]

44 minutes ago, OdsalBull said:

If it is a restructuring of leagues why are all 3 leagues not involved?

Because the Championship clubs cannot see to beyond themselves. They are so wrapped up in their handout from the league that they cannot see that if 4 go down this year to next years L1 then they will be in a mess.

[BD20Cougar]

Apologies if it has been mentioned somewhere but one major problem I see with reserve teams being added into the league that I haven't seen brought up is the potentially huge variation in the quality of lineup they'll be able to name from week to week, and the effect this will have on the integrity of the competition.

For example a Wigan Warriors reserves at full strength, perhaps with a couple of first teamers playing to gain match fitness is a completely different entity to a Wigan reserves side at a point in time where the first team is having an injury crisis and have called up the better reserve players to the first team or prevented them from playing so as not to risk more injuries.

In short, I believe the gap in quality between how a SL reserve team could look at their best versus at their worst is just too great for them to be a part of a league where teams are competing for real rewards. Automatic promotion or the race for the last play off spot should not be decided by who got lucky with the reserve sides they played against.

[Harry Stottle]

46 minutes ago, OdsalBull said:

If it is a restructuring of leagues why are all 3 leagues not involved?

How do you suggest the say the 12 most well off or best attended, followed by the next 14, and finally the remaining 9?

[OdsalBull]

1 minute ago, Harry Stottle said:

How do you suggest the say the 12 most well off or best attended, followed by the next 14, and finally the remaining 9?

I can't make head nor tail of what you're on about?

[Harry Stottle]

13 minutes ago, OdsalBull said:

I can't make head nor tail of what you're on about?

Sorry it wasn't very clear, you said why not re structure the 3 leagues, I was being a tad facetious in saying how?

Perhaps have the wealthiest or best attended 12 clubs in the first division, followed by the next 14 in the second division, and the remaining 9 in a third division.

So I was as I say being silly or maybe just stating the obvious, but seriously how would you approach your suggestion to restructure the game as a whole?

[OdsalBull]

1 minute ago, Harry Stottle said:

Sorry it wasn't very clear, you said why not re structure the 3 leagues, I was being a tad facetious in saying how?

Perhaps have the wealthiest or best attended 12 clubs in the first division, followed by the next 14 in the second division, and the remaining 9 in a third division.

So I was as I say being silly or maybe just stating the obvious, but seriously how would you approach your suggestion to restructure the game as a whole?

Fair enough. I don't have the answers I just feel like a whole game solution is needed as splitting the two leagues seems impossible right now 

[Harry Stottle]

24 minutes ago, BD20Cougar said:

Automatic promotion or the race for the last play off spot should not be decided by who got lucky with the reserve sides they played against.

That reminds me of all those numpties who suggested that certain teams should have been locked in SL avoiding relegation whilst all the rest could be subject to jeopardy.

[David Shepherd]

30 minutes ago, BD20Cougar said:

Apologies if it has been mentioned somewhere but one major problem I see with reserve teams being added into the league that I haven't seen brought up is the potentially huge variation in the quality of lineup they'll be able to name from week to week, and the effect this will have on the integrity of the competition.

For example a Wigan Warriors reserves at full strength, perhaps with a couple of first teamers playing to gain match fitness is a completely different entity to a Wigan reserves side at a point in time where the first team is having an injury crisis and have called up the better reserve players to the first team or prevented them from playing so as not to risk more injuries.

In short, I believe the gap in quality between how a SL reserve team could look at their best versus at their worst is just too great for them to be a part of a league where teams are competing for real rewards. Automatic promotion or the race for the last play off spot should not be decided by who got lucky with the reserve sides they played against.

Correct. The idea is a total non-starter.

I doubt a majority of champ cubs will go for it, but the only viable solution I can see is a merged division split into conferences. This season will just have to have the required number of cross-conference games to take account of the season tickets that champ clubs (being the far larger number) have sold. With a proper look at how it will work long term during the early part of this season.

[The Blues Ox]

1 hour ago, sheddingswasus said:

Complete rubbish - would you pay £15 to watch reserves??

The reality is I wouldn't pay £15 to watch the standard of League 1 as it were last season.