League one 2017

[Foreign Legion]

apparently french club Avignon wants to join league 1

 

[East Coast Tiger]

They need to get Toronto into SL and one other, preferably Toulouse, and get back to 14 to allow these extra clubs in L1. If the rfl balks at the cost they need to consider the potential of extra revenue from France and Canada. Toronto could compete in SL without the central money anyway.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

apparently french club Avignon wants to join league 1

Wow that is awesome! Has the club made an announcement?

 

[jim_57]

Have to wonder what this means for Elite 1. On one hand it'd be great to have Avignon challenging for SL, with Carcassone/Aude there or there abouts as well, but that further weakens the appeal of Elite 1.

Maybe it is time to look at the possibility of League 1 and Elite 1 being different conferences of the same competition. Obviously the goal would eventuality be Elite 1 and Championship level pegging but realistically that is a fair way off.

Kinda related but there is a rumour elsewhere that Lyon may replace Palau in Elite 1 next season, which to be remotely possible would require a major overhaul and money injection.

 

[adamkungl]

There comes a point where if you have enough teams from one country in another country's league you have to at least consider a structural overhaul of the systems.

Perhaps you pull the French clubs back to Elite 1, spread the talent around to improve it to a fully professional league, and run shorter domestic seasons followed by a Champions League style international league.

Or perhaps you have a French conference in SL or the Championship, with promo-rel directly connecting Elite 1.

Just ideas, obviously not very fleshed out, but it may need to be considered if another French team enters the fray.

 

[jim_57]

There comes a point where if you have enough teams from one country in another country's league you have to at least consider a structural overhaul of the systems.

Perhaps you pull the French clubs back to Elite 1, spread the talent around to improve it to a fully professional league, and run shorter domestic seasons followed by a Champions League style international league.

Or perhaps you have a French conference in SL or the Championship, with promo-rel directly connecting Elite 1.

Just ideas, obviously not very fleshed out, but it may need to be considered if another French team enters the fray.

I think if these trends continue the option of bringing the European professional game together under the same pyramid needs to be looked at.

To start that could mean treating French Elite 1 as the same level as League 1 with promotion to Championship available from both leagues.

I don't like the idea of taking all power away from the French though, I would run with a set number of French teams in each specified League so there is always an agreed upon number of French and UK sides to be decided however suits best. For example UK clubs can be decided by promotion/relegation and the French teams can be decided by the RFL and FFR coming together every 2/3 years and deciding how numbers for an UK/French split should work and which clubs should be in the top division for the French.

It gives plenty of room to adapt as necessary and provides what i think is best for both UK and French clubs. The French game doesn't have the depth of clubs to risk losing Catalans to relegation IMO. It also protects a set number of UK clubs in the top division. Single outlier clubs like Toronto simply run in the UK system unless there begins an influx in which case systems/numbers can be altered. Similarily an Italian club for example could make their way up through the French side of the pyramid.

To start with you could run with something like this:

1 - Super League - 12UK, 2 France/Euro
2 - Championship - 10UK, 2 France/Euro
3 - League 1 & Elite 1
4 - League 2 & Elite 2

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Yes, Avignon and possibly Montreal would surely force them to look at a restructure

 

[adamkungl]

I think if these trends continue the option of bringing the European professional game together under the same pyramid needs to be looked at.

To start that could mean treating French Elite 1 as the same level as League 1 with promotion to Championship available from both leagues.

I don't like the idea of taking all power away from the French though, I would run with a set number of French teams in each specified League so there is always an agreed upon number of French and UK sides to be decided however suits best. For example UK clubs can be decided by promotion/relegation and the French teams can be decided by the RFL and FFR coming together every 2/3 years and deciding how numbers for an UK/French split should work and which clubs should be in the top division for the French.

It gives plenty of room to adapt as necessary and provides what i think is best for both UK and French clubs. The French game doesn't have the depth of clubs to risk losing Catalans to relegation IMO. It also protects a set number of UK clubs in the top division. Single outlier clubs like Toronto simply run in the UK system unless there begins an influx in which case systems/numbers can be altered. Similarily an Italian club for example could make their way up through the French side of the pyramid.

To start with you could run with something like this:

1 - Super League - 12UK, 2 France/Euro
2 - Championship - 10UK, 2 France/Euro
3 - League 1 & Elite 1
4 - League 2 & Elite 2

This is similar to what I was thinking.
Have a full pyramid structure rather than the application to League One setup they have now.
But enforce minimum standards required for promotion at each level.

Championship has a minimum 2 French teams.
The bottom 2 'Relegation Zone' the lowest UK team and the lowest French team are relegated, UK teams go down to L1, French to E1.
If Catalans were to drop from SL, Championship would then have 3 French teams until one was relegated.

With some development time a similar set up could apply from League 1 or 2 to Welsh, Scottish, Irish Leagues, and as you mentioned Italian and Spanish Leagues into French pyramid.

US/Canadian teams would for the short term be considered special cases and have to show higher levels of financial operation to enter into League One as is now.

The system could allow for other wealthy backers in specific ideal locations to shortcut their way up as high as League One.

 

[jim_57]

This is similar to what I was thinking.
Have a full pyramid structure rather than the application to League One setup they have now.
But enforce minimum standards required for promotion at each level.

Championship has a minimum 2 French teams.
The bottom 2 'Relegation Zone' the lowest UK team and the lowest French team are relegated, UK teams go down to L1, French to E1.
If Catalans were to drop from SL, Championship would then have 3 French teams until one was relegated.

With some development time a similar set up could apply from League 1 or 2 to Welsh, Scottish, Irish Leagues, and as you mentioned Italian and Spanish Leagues into French pyramid.

US/Canadian teams would for the short term be considered special cases and have to show higher levels of financial operation to enter into League One as is now.

The system could allow for other wealthy backers in specific ideal locations to shortcut their way up as high as League One.

Exactly, it could be adapted regularly to fit the European RL scene. I don't think the "one size fits all" approach is gping to work for much longer and a major overhaul of the structure will becone necessary before too long.

If Montreal and Avignon at the least have some fire to go with the smoke that will make 5 non-UK teams vying for Super League. If the RFL sit on their hands they may soon be facing a lot of disgruntled English clubs as SL is a very realistic chance of having 3 "foreign" clubs as soon as 18 months away.

 

[Leigh Howlett]

Been following the Toronto Wolfpack since their inclusion, with their first ever game on home soil happening this weekend what's the expectations and anticipations in the lead up?.

 

[adamkungl]

Heard predictions between 6000-10000 for the crowd..

 

[Harrigan]

6,281

Regardless of any other factors, what a great crowd for a new team in a country that doesn't know about the sport and went there purely on marketing.

Now the big test is to get those guys coming back weekly and build on it so they are getting 9,500 every week.

 

[roughyedspud]

What's the surface at Lamport stadium??

 

[Pommy]

What's the surface at Lamport stadium??

Artificial

 

[jim_57]

When you put it in to perspective this is a bit of a pinch yourself moment for RL fans. Look back 3 years and this is a crazy dream some forum nutters couldn't even think up. Just think what can happen in the next 10-20 years.. probably not NRL expansion but hey we can't ask for miracles right!?

 

[PaulyTom]

Go the Wolfpack. Best thing to happen to league in probably 30 years .

 

[Leigh Howlett]

Have followed the Wolfpack's first home game via facebook, looked pretty impressive with the local press giving them good coverage, let's see if they can maintain the momentum when they host Barrow Raiders!.

 

[PaulyTom]

Have followed the Wolfpack's first home game via facebook, looked pretty impressive with the local press giving them good coverage, let's see if they can maintain the momentum when they host Barrow Raiders!.

Twitter feed for the Wolfpack has been good. Plenty of very positive media in Canada after game 1 @ home. I think if they can get some nice weather for game 1 they may get 8k .

 

[adamkungl]

When do Barrow play their Round 7? (CC this week i think)

 

[Leber]

I went to a USA/Canada International at Lamport about 5 years ago and the crowd was 6,000

I was stunned.