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RFL hand Wolves licence and praise 'excellent' stadium

10:16am Tuesday 22nd July 2008

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THE RFL have paid tribute to Warrington Wolves' 'excellent' Halliwell Jones Stadium after confirming their place in Super League for the next three years.

With promotion and relegation now banished, the current 12 Super League clubs will be joined by Salford City Reds and Welsh side Celtic Crusaders until 2011.

That means Wolves' rivals Widnes will remain in the National League.

Explaining the expected decision to hand Wolves a licence, the RFL said: "The club plays in a quality new stadium, which in all but one or two aspects is excellent.

"Further ground improvements are planned and although financial projections are challenging, the club has a good record in this area.

"The club has strong sponsorship packages and a good commercial plan.

"The club has performed reasonably well in Super League and has invested well in its playing infrastructure and now needs to start contesting major finals and semi finals.

"At this stage it is not yet developing club trained internationals."

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Dave Maskall, Baku, Azerbaijan says...
3:40pm Tue 22 Jul 08

Some surprises here. I feel the RL has taken the soft option with retaining all 12 SL clubs.
Wakefield and Castleford could not have had stronger cases than Widnes and Leigh and giving a license to Celtic Crusaders who could have ticked a lot less boxes than many other contenders shows that the RL is looking at expansion into South Wales. This is die hard RU territory and I feel we should leave well alone. Crowds will be well down on the 10000 norm and clubs traveling expenses will be higher.
From a blinkered Wolves viewpoint I would rather see local derbies with Widnes and Leigh than Celtic and a traditionally ill supported Salford. The choices the RL have made will put a lot less bums on seats for all teams not only the Wolves.
I wait to be castigated but this is my opinion

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Tezzerwolf, Warrington says...
6:36pm Tue 22 Jul 08

No castigation here Dave I think you are right about the choices that have been made. I am all for expanding the game but what about developing the game in the Midlands or Scotland?. Like you say South Wales is RU country it was bad enough trying to get it going in North Wales. There might be a novilty factor early on but when the results don't come,(I wouldn't mind a sneaky fiver that they don't win a game first season), then attendances will decline, then we will get the " I told you so brigade". As for Widnes and Leigh, they must be desperately disappointed , with a newish stadium, better support and fans desperate for Super League action surely they are a better bet than Salford.

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Tezzerwolf, Warrington says...
6:36pm Tue 22 Jul 08

No castigation here Dave I think you are right about the choices that have been made. I am all for expanding the game but what about developing the game in the Midlands or Scotland?. Like you say South Wales is RU country it was bad enough trying to get it going in North Wales. There might be a novilty factor early on but when the results don't come,(I wouldn't mind a sneaky fiver that they don't win a game first season), then attendances will decline, then we will get the " I told you so brigade". As for Widnes and Leigh, they must be desperately disappointed , with a newish stadium, better support and fans desperate for Super League action surely they are a better bet than Salford.

Report this post »

Tezzerwolf, Warrington says...
6:37pm Tue 22 Jul 08

No castigation here Dave I think you are right about the choices that have been made. I am all for expanding the game but what about developing the game in the Midlands or Scotland?. Like you say South Wales is RU country it was bad enough trying to get it going in North Wales. There might be a novilty factor early on but when the results don't come,(I wouldn't mind a sneaky fiver that they don't win a game first season), then attendances will decline, then we will get the " I told you so brigade". As for Widnes and Leigh, they must be desperately disappointed , with a newish stadium, better support and fans desperate for Super League action surely they are a better bet than Salford.

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AlexMurphywasBest, Cambridge says...
6:54pm Tue 22 Jul 08

I'm afraid Widnes and Leigh will never play in SuperLeague so long as Warrington, Saints & Wigan are strong. In three years time Toulouse, Leicester, Edinburgh and then Dublin (dreamin' here) will come up with something! They need a Super League Club to go bust or finish top for three years.

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chadders, callands says...
8:37am Wed 23 Jul 08

I'm all for expanding the game but isn't there anywhere a bit closer to home, cumbria for instance. Up to now, the 3 "non heartland" clubs are 200,207 & 1014 miles away from my house. It's unlikely that these 3 clubs will ever get a good away crowd & they won't be bringing many with them to their away games, look at Harlequins & Catalan. I also think that teams as far away from each other as possible should play each other on the magic weekend.

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RFL hand Wolves licence and praise 'excellent' stadium

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