Well done leythers, look forward to seeing you at TTWS next year.
Well done leythers, look forward to seeing you at TTWS next year.
Joke of a decison
Safest option. Good ground, decent following and will add a few to the away gate.
Personally, I wanted Toulouse as there's a good appetite for RL down there and a French 'Derby' would have strengthened that.
But, as long as it isn't Bradford I'm not too fussed.
I agree, no youth system (as far as I'm aware of) and a population of just over 40,000 is hardly going to see the club achieve big attendance figures. The only positive I can see from it (from a Saints point of view) is they will bring the biggest away following out of the teams that applied.
I really think they've missed a trick here with Toulouse, but hopefully, Toulouse will gain promotion next year, at the expense of Wakefield.
I'm quite surprised but think element of playing safe here. Come March if we still have travel disruption then a second French based team has the potential to play havoc with the fixtures for another season. Toulouse were my preferred choice but I can see the sense in the decision.
To be fair to Leigh probably got strongest squad of the applicants and decent facilities.
It's another local derby for us as well so I can see positives.
At least Bradford didn't get it as most people feared.
How many times must this sport make the same wrong decisions. I don’t think Leigh would have made my top3 from those who applied...
Alas, congratulations to the Leigh club
When we don’t know what structure or what funding we’ll have through TV contracts beyond next year, I’m not sure how we could judge these applicants on commercial value or how they’ll help achieve some apparent goals the sport has.
St Helens Rugby League Football Club
If Leigh had the strongest package to succeed as a club they deserve to go up. Anyone advocating London, York or Tolouse just because they are outside the M62 corridor are palpably stupid as it was this idiocy that has led to PR disasters such as Gateshead, PSG and Toronto to name but a few.
My fear was Bradford would get a spot when they should not have even have been in the equation in my view, but it does look like the independent panel have judged objectively.
I think Tolouse will be promoted to SL soon and I think it will massively benefit the game, but for the reasons you outline its not the right time to risk putting them in now and destroying much of the momentum they'd get from exposure to SL.
Last edited by eddiewaringsflatcap; 14th December 2020 at 16:14.
Yes, people who want to grow the game are palpably stupid and those who are parochial to the extreme are geniuses lol!
The decision is the decision but if anyone thinks Leigh are in a better position to battle the drop than London who almost stayed up in 2019, they must have something very keeping it in the family going on to be so myopic lol.
I wanted Toulouse, a club that is already professional with no central funding, a good ground and a youth system. In addition there are many feeder teams around Toulouse. However I prefer seeing Leigh there than any of the Yorkie lot. The negative with Leigh is that we will have pie eaters telling us that Wigan has 2 SL teams.
As I've already said elsewhere, its one thing to want but its another thing entirely to be in a position to deliver.
Your mentioning London but they've lost many of their 2019 squad and still play in a tip in the London overspill; now is not their time. Let them continue to grow the right way. The current environment means its not the time to be putting clubs into the mix who don't have a comprehensive and well backed structure.
Its also reckless to ignore the sports very poor history of due diligence and franchising etc for the sake of the self satisfaction that comes with the tokenism of seemingly gifting expansion teams a SL place like Toronto without a comprehensive system to validate their overall strength. These approaches reminds me of that scene from Blackadder about the 'logic' of going over the top - ItÂ’s the same plan that we used last time, and the many times before it; doing precisely what we have done umpteen times before is bound to succeed at some point. This panel seems to have taken I different route and I applaud it for doing so.
My bet is Tolouse will be in SL within 3 years and will be in far better position for the delay.
I already said in another thread that due diligence is needed before expanding but if Leigh manage to win maybe three games it will be a miracle. Bringing in Leigh adds nothing. For the sake of giving a team two, max three weekends off, they've brought up a team that will sink without a trace getting walloped almost every weekend. In my opinion, the five teams that didn't get the decision are better off. They get the chance to be promoted the right way, with time to prepare and an equal access to funding next year. Bringing Leigh up just to fill a slot is a farce and devalues the competition. A team getting smacked by 40 or 50 points most weekends is not a great advertisement for the competition either. On the bright side, it will be at least two, possibly three matches to send a young team out with the guarantee of getting the six points anyway. And with a bit of luck being out of their depth next year will be a wrecking ball for their club and by the end of 2021 we'll have seen the last we ever see of them.
Yes on balance and in the short term Leigh have got the opportunity to establish themselves quicker than some of the other teams who might be missing that requirement with risk.
Could be a positive for our club as well, I reckon Leigh will take 2 or 3 of our younger fringe players on monthly loans like they have done in the past.
Nothing to do with Leigh establishing themselves. The reason pure and simple for them being in SL next year is to prevent the league from looking lopsided. It's lazy administration.
Personally I think they should have left it at eleven and been done with it. I know it would mean one team having a weekend off at Magic Weekend but fans are really going to be excited at the prospect of going up to Newcastle to see their team post 50+ points on a team which would be an also ran in the Championship.
Use it for what it is, a chance to put the youth team out, get them minutes, knowing it's a guaranteed win whoever is fielded.
Newcastle promoted to replace Leigh in the Championship.
Sorry, but we seem to have 2 threads running on this. A merge is needed.
Great stuff. Well in Leigh. Our pie friends will be livid.