It'll be interesting to see how Toulouse go next season when their quota is cut to 2 overseas players. Or will the RFL 'forget' to impose it ? www.therfl.co.uk/championship/ne ... p?id=11628 Quote In 2009, in order to allow for existing contractual commitments, Toulouse will be allowed to field five overseas players in their first team squad. This will decrease to two players in 2010 which the RFL believes is the appropriate and fair level for the club to operate at.'"

It'll be interesting to see how Toulouse go next season when their quota is cut to 2 overseas players. Or will the RFL 'forget' to impose it ? www.therfl.co.uk/championship/ne ... p?id=11628 Quote In 2009, in order to allow for existing contractual commitments, Toulouse will be allowed to field five overseas players in their first team squad. This will decrease to two players in 2010 which the RFL believes is the appropriate and fair level for the club to operate at.'"

So what exactly are they in the Championship for ?









So by having australians in their key positions helps what exactly ?



What risk ?









The benifit of that exposure ?



' A new dimension ' , fancy word for ' gimmick '



Go on put some meat on the bones of ' the office ' speak









It cost the clubs because it is money out of the Championship ' prize pot '



Sorry having a club , any club finish below another and the club above getting relegated is not what you would call a success , I said vindicated , not a success









Most replied to me " Thats bollox "







As you well know that previously ' pointless trophy ' has now been given more value , as the press and media focused on at the time , just as getting to this years Championship GF has as much value as actually winning it if you read the lower tier boards on here



The Championship 1 final will be of more interest this year than the 2 nd tier one



As for the Fairness and integrity , check out the fans opions

This is littlerich's





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Starbug wrote: But that then brings into question what they bring to the competition and what they are getting out of being in it ?





They're preparing for SL. Why bother playing in England if they are just going to dick around in the Championship?



Year One: Bed in and acclimatise.

Year Two: Squadbuilding and competing

Year Three: Preparing for Franchise

Year Four: Bye bye Toulouse, hello Glasgow

...........and so the whole thing starts again.



What do we get out of it?









About right

We have had discussion on the Leyther mb about Toulouse and explaining it to soccer fans.

Why is it that depending on how you stand on their reasoning to be in our comp determines this soccer fans judgement of if its "bollox" or "fair enough"







ps I would glady welcome another French team into Championship1

Ballacks

Are you even aware of Barrow 4 fold increase over the last 4 yrs, nice steady sustainable growth, its not down to any large jumps in away support number either.

are you an idiot

Yes but 400% growth on not a lot is still not a lot in the grand scheme of things.



Good luck to Barrow though, if they want to die trying then they have every right to go for it.

To develop as a club, to develop French RL, to develop the Championship into a bigger and stronger competition (more competitive clubs than previously), to increase exposure (which it has helped do as Championship games are now being shown in France).



Ignore the positives to suit your own agenda.





To make the team competitive which will help them grow as a business? To help develop players around them? To rub off their knowledge on younger players in similar positions?

I hate this "Aussies bring nothing" argument as it is rubbish. They're here for a reason. Toulouse don't have the advantages of being able to tap into local SL cast-offs in the same way other Northern clubs do. What difference does it make if they're Aussies or SL cast-offs? They still didn't come through that club's academy and so are "taking the place" of someone that could have been developed by that club.





The risk of being relegated? Was that not clear in the post you quoted?





The benefit may not be instant, which is why some fans seem to have a problem with it. Anyone that cannot see the benefit of increased exposure in business needs to do a bit more research.



And fans that have been to the France trips don't seem to be unhappy with the "new dimension" to the league. I'm sure a competition that was previously just northern is better off having a bit more of a spread now to try and get rid of the usual "it's just a northern game" tag.





Hasn't the prize pot increased this year? Are clubs not getting more money now in the Championship than ever before?





But it's not the embarrassment you are making it out to be. It's happened in the past, every club knew the rules before hand, and the only fans to kick up a stink about it tend to be the ones that got relegated (or the ones that didn't know the rules). It's the sacrifices that need to be made if we want to develop our sport at a rate to keep us going. Had we maybe done these things earlier, we might be able to have a "soccer" system.





By most, that means some didn't.

And most soccer fans don't appreciate how lucky they are to have such an evenly spread sport with loadsa cash that they can apply such a fair P&R system.





Try telling that to the two teams that end up competing for it. Look how much Barrow wanted the league leaders shield, that affectively means nothing. What does the Challenge Cup bring teams? What about BARLA teams? RLC teams? Etc. It's a tired argument.





Just like the BARLA lower tier finals?





I have, and not every fan is a whinging one-eyed fan who looks at their teams best interests over that of the sport. Like I said, too many fans can only see the negatives. Why don't you list the positives? If you say there aren't any, you have proven my point, because there clearly are otherwise they wouldn't be here.

They are as good as the team that earned their right to be in the Championship. Why not start them at that level?



Had TO not been in the comp you would still have finished in the drop zone and gone down, so had TO not been involved the only difference would have been that they would have thrashed C1 sides for a year. I would have preffered that they had joined at that level and played more French players, but the benefit of the current system is

* No change in relegated club

* The French players have had a year testing at a higher level (although there were less of them)

MM wouldn't work with an odd number of teams - one of them would have no opponents.

Thats actually a very good point...