The SL re-structure, Return of GB, and International Loyalty - Steve Mascord NO doubt some of you will not want me to write about the proposed restructuring of Super League, just because I’m Australian. If that’s you, I kindly invite you to skip to the second and third items of this column which hopefully you will find informative and/or entertaining. To those of you who are still here ... well, where do we start? It seems to me there are two extremes when it comes to competition structures. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

The SL re-structure, Return of GB, and International Loyalty - Steve Mascord NO doubt some of you will not want me to write about the proposed restructuring of Super League, just because I’m Australian. If that’s you, I kindly invite you to skip to the second and third items of this column which hopefully you will find informative and/or entertaining. To those of you who are still here ... well, where do we start? It seems to me there are two extremes when it comes to competition structures. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

agree with you Steve 2 12 team comps is the way to go with relegation of one each season no brainer that, salary cap needs lifting and we must market and receive more money for our sport from sky and other channels, its a disgrace the funding which we get when you look at the viewing figures sky get compared to union and what they receive, we need some real business people running the game a deal with someone like channel 5 or 4 would really propel the interest in the sport, the BBC are a disgrace when the only coverage we get in Yorkshire is a 40 min program at 1130 on a night when most kids have gone to bed we need some real leadership in red hall to pull this sport forward

good read mate

The article says "you should not be allowed into Super League 1 unless you can illustrate you can – and will - spend £1.8 million on players each year."

I'd agree 100% with that. The trouble is all three proposals have automatic P&R. There doesn't seem to be any qualification for promotion other then on-field success. We have had this before and it doesn't work.

We also had criteria introduced when we last had P&R that meant some seasons there was P&R and others there wasn't. So one year the bottom club survived and another they didn't. This was just ridiculous.

However you try and do it P&R doesn't work in RL in this country financially and so unless the proposals are accompanied by a huge injection of cash I'll guarantee before long we will back to making the same complaints as before about P&R not working.

Have you forgotten what happened in 1980/81? Worked for us didn't it? So that's ok then.

we were a semi pro team, promoted from a semi pro second division to a semi pro 1st division. super league is full time pro, the championship is semi pro, how can promotion and relegation possible work like that? we need 2 full time leagues, but i cant see where the money will come from, appart from sky, no broadcaster is beating a path to the RFL's door with huge wedges of cash, channel 4 and 5 cant afford to broadcast live events, all there sport is bought in, the BBC only want the challenge cup, so i dont see where the money will come from. BT are a posibility, but t the moment its a risk remember satanta?
This year we cant even get a title sponsor for the league, afetr we decided to give it away last year. i wish i had the answer, then again so does Nigel Wood

Sometimes in life when times are hard you just have to do what's right. We all believe in Rugby League that it is the greatest game. Don't think that we haven't had hard times in the past. Rugby League in this country has a proud tradition and it is remarkably sustainable.

Keep to the principles of fair play. Set your game out based on that. Reward the teams that play well on the pitch. Nothing else should be allowed to be in the equation. Have two leagues with P&R.

All this business about full time and part time doesn't wash. The players have so much time on their hands that they spend all day getting more tattoos and tweeting about having a coffee. Rugby League is a pretty simple game to coach and play. A decent coach would be able to take any group of reasonably fit Championship players and make a competetive team. OK they might go back down - that's fine, give someone else a chance. For every club like Gateshead and Workington you can point to Hull KR, Wakefield and Huddersfield who have won promotion and made a decent fist of things.

And the game was of course full time in in 1980/81 wasn't it. Not.



To be frank you seem fairly clueless on the issues the modern game faces and your comment above illustrates that perfectly.

As does the above! Nonsense from start to finish. Sorry if that seems harsh but you need to get over this dewy eyed fair play stuff and look at the realities.

"All this business about full time and part time doesn't wash." and what follows is probably one of most clueless comments I have seen in a long time. You are talking players livelihoods here not how simple the game is to play.

Read what the likes of Tony Smith and John Wlikin are saying about the restructuring and you might learn something. They can see through the proposed changes and realise they won't do a thing to address the fundamental issues the game faces. Then again I don't think you can see what they are anyway.

[urlhttp://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/jon-wilkin-restructure-wont-solve-3817482?[/url

Apparently Blake Green expressed similar views at the Riversiders meeting on 14th that the RFL think these proposals will fix the problems when in fact it is problems of unprofessionalism, lack of foresight and planning and things like that.

His view was instead of keep changing the game they should be sorting out selling the game to blue chip companies as well as getting better sponsorship & tv agreements.

That is exactly right and at least the likes of Green, Wilkan and Tony Smith can see through any return to P&R and any other restructuring.

Thanks for enlightening me...you win

Always preferred P&R, not a fan of franchising so would prefer the 12 team and one up and down option (even if it was us to go down).

Would love the old Lions tours to be re-instated, nothing like a GB v Aus test match

P& R from a full time League to a part time League doesn't work and we have proved over the past seasons.

Licencing has had its critics and rightly so over the Crusaders debacle yet we now have two teams in Wales where as prior to Crusaders we had none.
P & R would have been a disaster for Widnes. In fact had it existed Steve O'Connor would not have bought the club.
It would have been an even bigger disaster for Catalans Dragons when they finished bottom under Steve Walters. Had they been relegated all that money invested in France would have been wasted. That would have been a disaster for French RL and RL as a sport.

The idea of 2 x 12 then 3 x 8 sounds a bit complicated but in theory might work. In practice it wouldn't.
Under that system teams would end up playing each other 3 times. We all know what fans think of that! Answer, not a lot. That was one of the reasons we went to 14 teams to stop the 3 times in a season. Then they brought in the Tragic Weekend. I think one season Wigan played Saints 5 or 6 times. Complete over kill!

I'd say keep the 14 from 2015. Of the teams at the bottom of the SL, Salford have a new money bags owner. Widnes are progressing. Cas are in real trouble and London, are well London.
I'd favour the RFL/SL going with 14 but only one SL team in the Wakefield MDC. Favourite to go at present would be Cas. Wreck of a ground and broke!
To maintain 14, if we lose one then we have to bring one in, Toulouse! That would be a real challenge for the future.
Over the last 6-7 seasons the number of overseas players has reduced massively and the number of British players in SL has gone up from approx 160 to roughly 290. It is that increase in British players playing in SL that is the future. Let's build on that good work and not "re-structure" for the sake of it.

I think we only changed it because of that SKY clown Brian Carney.

Because of his 'hatred' of the UK, he used to do the 'head thing' when the national anthem was played. So we meekly became GB and Ireland.

I have no idea where he originates from in Ireland, but his behaviour seems to suggest Irish republican .

I would like to ask him that very question being as he gets most/all of his wage from the UK.

Ah yes..he's from Cork. A bastion of UK support.



p.s. I served with the British army in Northern Ireland.