Super League has published its criteria for entry to the competition in 2021 as prospective entrants start to prepare their bids for the vacant 12th spot.
A seven-man panel, chaired by Lord Caine will select the successful club.
Seven clubs had declared their interest in applying but one of those, Halifax, are not applicable after Super League revealed more details on their criteria.
To be applicable, Super League state a club must have averaged 2,000 crowds during a regular league season between 2018 and 2019. Halifax, despite averaging 2,008 in 2018, fall under the required figure as they were boosted by crowds in the Qualifiers.
The other six clubs; Bradford, Featherstone, Leigh, London, Toulouse and York, are all eligible having finished in the top six in either 2018 or 2019, and playing in stadiums with a capacity in excess of 5,000.
Super League had promised to be transparent in the application process, hence their decision to make public the criteria.
However, one line in the document suggests complete transparency won’t be made available.
A section of the report reads: “The Panel will have absolute discretion in the weighting of the Assessment Criteria. For the avoidance of doubt, the Assessment Criteria do not carry equal weight.”
However, the weighting of each criteria has not been disclosed.
Clubs must lodge their application by November 30th, with a decision set to be made on December 16th.
