Hull FC are not very good

[Aid]

How many years was it they were exempt against relegation. How many of their team are french and how many are overseas?

How much does it cost the clubs to travel over there to play? They and their supporters bring no benefits at all to SL.

Yes your right, lets pull up the drawbridge. cancel the four nations, stop any club from outside the M62 corridor from affiliating to the RF, only allow the TV coverage of the Challenge Cup to go out in the North or England reverse the hard won fight to get League played in the UK armed services, stop all the school RL competition and of course ban girl's teams, In fact anything that might spread the word about the world's greatest game should be banned!

[Flat Capper]

How many years was it they were exempt against relegation. How many of their team are french and how many are overseas?

How much does it cost the clubs to travel over there to play? They and their supporters bring no benefits at all to SL.

Yes your right, lets pull up the drawbridge. cancel the four nations, stop any club from outside the M62 corridor from affiliating to the RF, only allow the TV coverage of the Challenge Cup to go out in the North or England reverse the hard won fight to get League played in the UK armed services, stop all the school RL competition and of course ban girl's teams, In fact anything that might spread the word about the world's greatest game should be banned!

The response is as ridiculous as the original post!

Expansion of the game is paramount with many of the measure referred to a fine example of how to do it.

However, the 'French' experiment is questionable, particularly when you see crowds of less than 2,000 when they visit (Salford). That is not expansion but quite the opposite and yes, Salford are partly to blame for that.

The latest experiment with Toronto is likely to produce a similar result but hey, there's no point trying to actually develop the game in those countries first is there.

Can I suggest you take a look a the recent interview with Peter Lupton on the BBC website to see what can be achieved through expansion.

[stuey]

I have nothing against expansion, as long as all "expansion" clubs are subject to the same rules and regs regarding overseas players, salary caps, relegation etc as all the other clubs. For years and years, London & Catalans have had special privileges. That is not the way to expand our great game.

[HuddsTigers]

People in glass houses should not throw stones.

Remember we've got Gadwin who doesn't count on our quota. We're in the same situation as Catalan. People should be mindful of that before criticising.

[HuddsTigers]

I have nothing against expansion, as long as all "expansion" clubs are subject to the same rules and regs regarding overseas players, salary caps, relegation etc as all the other clubs. For years and years, London & Catalans have had special privileges. That is not the way to expand our great game.

They are subject to the same rules.

Anyone with a British passport doesn't count on the quota. You are allowed 7 non-fed players, 5 of which are quota. We all operate to the same cap, Catalans one is dictated by foreign exchange rate before the season starts.

[HuddsTigers]

Anyone but Catalans for me.

They can sign as many oversesas players as they want, they have been immune from relegation for years, they have no salary cap, they are not a UK team and should not even be playing in our competition.

...and bring even less support than Salford when they visit us!

Catalan have to travel to the UK 14 times a season. Would you follow Cas to France 14 times a season?

They rightly pick and choose their games to travel over to.

Clubs shouldn't rely on away following to pick up the tab. Salford is in a conurbation with millions of people around them, within a small radius. They should be able to market themselves sufficiently enough to get more than 2k without away fans.

[tigerfeat]

salford should be able to get more than 2000 for a home game for sure but the millions of people that surround the area are interested in football not rugby league thats always been there problem even when they had there good sides in the 70s 80s they struggled to get more than 5000 gates

[Danny Boy]

Anyone but Catalans for me.

They can sign as many oversesas players as they want, they have been immune from relegation for years, they have no salary cap, they are not a UK team and should not even be playing in our competition.

...and bring even less support than Salford when they visit us!

Catalan have to travel to the UK 14 times a season. Would you follow Cas to France 14 times a season?

They rightly pick and choose their games to travel over to.

Clubs shouldn't rely on away following to pick up the tab. Salford is in a conurbation with millions of people around them, within a small radius. They should be able to market themselves sufficiently enough to get more than 2k without away fans.

So Hudds,
what are the positives:
1. They spread the word about our great game
2. I would say it enables the RFL are able to call the competition the European Superleague
3. It enables French players to play at a reasonably high level and so, hopefully, lifting the quality of the pool players their national team have to select from, although unfortunately, it's not being reflected on the field of play, as France are still only Championship level at best.

What are the negatives:
1. Whilst I agree that it's difficult and you could say, almost impossible for their supporters to follow them every time they play away, my point is that they benefit from the away support of every English team, who for the most part, take a fair number of supporters to the South of France, so that's money lost to our game. Even Salford bring significantly more supporters that Catalans.
2. We even have to cover up sponsors logo's when we play over there.
3. It takes away another English clubs place in Superleague, so less English players for the England coach to select from.
4. Huge cost to English supporters wishing to follow their team
5. They are French

[Flat Capper]

You've convinced me DB, I'm voting out tomorrow in the hope it gets rid of the Frogs...