Championship expansion planned

[bowes]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/9382440.stm

The hope is to expand the Championship from 11 to 14 teams and Championship 1 from 10 to 12 teams but a lot depends on who joins (it is hoped the teams participating will be announced in September).

The new sides for the Championship (though bear in mind sides already there aren't guaranteed a spot) will be from Championship 1 or perhaps the French Elite (if Toulouse are going to stay in, then Lezignan should be let in, though I still think the French Elite should be built up to be parallel to the Championship not below it), I would expect South Wales Scorpions to be among those.

New possible teams for Championship 1 include Hemel, Coventry and Nottingham (though none are yet confirmed), with Bristol pencilled in for 2014 and Northampton at some to be determined point in the next few years. If Bramley can find a ground to meet criteria I'm sure you can add them and I guess Warrington Wizards is possible.

Ground criteria will be:
Championship: 3000 capacity, 500 seats, 300 lux lights
Championship 1: 200 seats, 200 lux lights

Also any clubs in the Championships that merge (presumably subject to minimum criteria) will be guaranteed a spot in the top Championship division and double funding for 3 years, this would only make sense for Whitehaven and Workington IMO though there would be lots of opposition.

Promotion and relegation will continue subject to minimum criteria with 1-up-1-down automatically and the 2nd bottom of Championship joining up with those clubs finishing 2nd to 6th in Championship 1 (subject to them meeting criteria of course) in playoffs for the last spot (though these exact details are subject to change).

There are going to be lots of changes in the game below though these are depending on the winter National Conference League switching to become the basis of the Northern Conference, which would run parallel to a new Southern Conference (which it is hoped will eventually expand to 3 divisions, I'm guessing it will start at 1 division of maybe 10 sides). Below that will be 9 regional premier leagues with lots of lower divisions, though some winter leagues are expected to still exist.

 

[Evil Homer]

They were talking about introducing some form of P&R between Championship 1 and the Conference too.

I think on the whole it's good news. Some of the Champ 1 clubs are so small that really it's surprising that there isn't a better geographic representation in that division already.

 

[bowes]

Yeah they were considering promotion and relegation from 2014 onwards between Championship 1 and the Northern and Southern Conferences (though P & R between the Championship divisions is only guaranteed til then so may be a levelling down not up).

As things stand C1 isn't a desirably league to join, look at Skolars and Gateshead's situation. But take the top 3 (say) out and add say 5 new clubs in together and you've got only the top 5 that would be that much better than the new clubs as Skolars and Gateshead would be about the same level making it much more appealing a prospect than for one club to individually make the step up which would have been suicide

 

[bowes]

I'd add promotion and relegation between Championship 1 and the Northern Conference wouldn't be common as very few clubs in the NCL have 200 seats. Though they're saying when the standards of the Southern Conference rise they may merge it with the Northern Conference (at least at the top end), but to begin with the South will have lower minimum criteria than the North to enable it to get enough clubs to run

 

[Goldfields_Titans]

Which non league clubs can you see coming up into the RFL?

 

[Teddyboy]

I think the only way Rugby League can expand in Europe at the moment is to be semi-pro while at the same time keep the focus on building the Super League clubs fan base up as well.

 

[bowes]

Bramley, Warrington Wizards, Hemel, Nottingham and Coventry are all possibilites IMO. Also maybe another Welsh club like Valley Cougars. I wouldn't rule out Lezignan in the top Championship division either.

Doubt they'll all be in though.

 

[bowes]

I think the only way Rugby League can expand in Europe at the moment is to be semi-pro while at the same time keep the focus on building the Super League clubs fan base up as well.

Most important is the expansion of the game within England which has been hitherto neglected but has much more potential than Scottish and Irish sides would. Though further expansion of Wales is good (though Crusaders are still looking shaky)

 

[biggestbroncosfan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/9382440.stm

The hope is to expand the Championship from 11 to 14 teams and Championship 1 from 10 to 12 teams but a lot depends on who joins (it is hoped the teams participating will be announced in September).

The new sides for the Championship (though bear in mind sides already there aren't guaranteed a spot) will be from Championship 1 or perhaps the French Elite (if Toulouse are going to stay in, then Lezignan should be let in, though I still think the French Elite should be built up to be parallel to the Championship not below it), I would expect South Wales Scorpions to be among those.

New possible teams for Championship 1 include Hemel, Coventry and Nottingham (though none are yet confirmed), with Bristol pencilled in for 2014 and Northampton at some to be determined point in the next few years. If Bramley can find a ground to meet criteria I'm sure you can add them and I guess Warrington Wizards is possible.

Ground criteria will be:
Championship: 3000 capacity, 500 seats, 300 lux lights
Championship 1: 200 seats, 200 lux lights

Also any clubs in the Championships that merge (presumably subject to minimum criteria) will be guaranteed a spot in the top Championship division and double funding for 3 years, this would only make sense for Whitehaven and Workington IMO though there would be lots of opposition.

Promotion and relegation will continue subject to minimum criteria with 1-up-1-down automatically and the 2nd bottom of Championship joining up with those clubs finishing 2nd to 6th in Championship 1 (subject to them meeting criteria of course) in playoffs for the last spot (though these exact details are subject to change).

There are going to be lots of changes in the game below though these are depending on the winter National Conference League switching to become the basis of the Northern Conference, which would run parallel to a new Southern Conference (which it is hoped will eventually expand to 3 divisions, I'm guessing it will start at 1 division of maybe 10 sides). Below that will be 9 regional premier leagues with lots of lower divisions, though some winter leagues are expected to still exist.

I'd really like to see a Scottish or Irish side join Championship 1, possibly Edinburgh Eagles and a Dublin based team.

 

[Teddyboy]

Most important is the expansion of the game within England which has been hitherto neglected but has much more potential than Scottish and Irish sides would. Though further expansion of Wales is good (though Crusaders are still looking shaky)

I would of kept the Super League ring fenced for at least 5 years
Leeds
Hull
Hull KR
Bradford(there was talk of Bradford and Huddlersfield merging)
St.Helens
Warrington
Widnes
Wigan
Catalans
?
And the likes of Halifax,London,Crusaders etc go at it semi pro with Champ 1/2 andmaybe 3 alongside a French elite comp and build the clubs from there and after the 5 years at the 2-4 teams if they had the support,ground and money.

 

[Evil Homer]

Can we please not have another 'dream Super League' thread. It's really boring.

 

[VictoryFC]

Agreed, because any dream Super League would actually have teams in the largest ten cities in the country.

 

[Wilson1]

Agreed, because any dream Super League would actually have teams in the largest ten cities in the country.

No it wouldn't. My dream competition would probably feature 16 teams, 4 of which would most likely be foreign. Therefore if you were to have teams in the ten biggest cities you would have to get relegate a whole heap of traditional teams. Expanding does not mean we forget about some clubs who have been important in the history of Rugby League in England.

 

[VictoryFC]

^That's fine and all, but a Super League with teams representing Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, and Liverpool (at the least) would be preferable imo. Euro nations should have their own comps, this European league lark is not the way to go.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Bramley, Warrington Wizards, Hemel, Nottingham and Coventry are all possibilites IMO. Also maybe another Welsh club like Valley Cougars. I wouldn't rule out Lezignan in the top Championship division either.

Doubt they'll all be in though.

There's 3 teams in France at the moment that seem to be getting further ahead of the others that could get in.

Carcassonne
Lezignan

And Avignon have come from no where to be really stepping up this year with results and crowds.

But I agree with what you said above, it's probably better if countries like France do it on their own and bring their level up, it'll stop the local comp going backwards even more just as it's looking at moving forward at this time.

They've had some decent crowds lately at all levels, wouldn't want to ruin it just as it's growing again.

 

[Teddyboy]

Can we please not have another 'dream Super League' thread. It's really boring.

I posted that because i thinks thats the only way Super League can go and not a dream League as the clubs i mentioned have the potential to increase there fanbase and buisness model while providing good/decent crowds for Sky tv,seeing 10000 plus at Warrington looks better then less then 4000 at The Stoop or in Salford.
But as i said before the i really think Rugby League's expansion plans can be done on a semi-pro level and it be great seeing teams like Hemel or the Crusaders getting anything from 500-5000 alongside the trad clubs like Featherstone and playing in the right sized grounds.

 

[bowes]

I'd really like to see a Scottish or Irish side join Championship 1, possibly Edinburgh Eagles and a Dublin based team.

There really is no desire for that at the moment. I wouldn't rule out a Scottish team in the not too distant future as they've got junior development there but Ireland is just a RU players kick about for half a dozen games as a keep fit and has made no effort at all at junior development.