BY JOHN DAVIDSON
The move to expand Super League to 14 teams and fill it up with over 40 more overseas players is a recipe for disaster.
The speculation has intensified in recent weeks that Super League will change from 12 to 14 clubs, in either 2026 or 2027, as part of a radical overhaul of the sport in the UK. What started as a whisper has become a shout. The drums are beating.
A lot of this has been predictable for months since the coup emerged from several Super League figures to overthrow the existing RFL leadership and bring back Nigel Wood. Another review has taken place, with the answers unsurprisingly already pre-determined.
Much of this may get ratified at an RFL Council meeting on Tuesday July 15, in Wakefield, where Wood will be officially made chairman of the governing body, despite the protestations of Sport England and anyone who understands at all the concepts of transparency, good governance and optics, with the RFL’s articles of association changed.
The speculation is that Rob Hicks, staggeringly considering the circumstances of his exit from the RFL, will return to a senior leadership position at the organisation. The future departure of CEO Tony Sutton may also be announced.
As part of the giant shake-up and blood-letting, Rugby League Commercial could be folded back into the RFL. Rugby League Commercial managing director Rhodri Jones might even be left without a role.
Wood and his cartel are looking to cut costs and save money, and where might some of this new-found cash go? To the new clubs coming into the expanded Super League of course.
The quote rules have already been changed so that next year Super League sides can have 10 overseas players, instead of seven each. Already around 25% of the talent in the comp is from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Soon it will be more like a third of the total talent pool.
The vast majority in the sport see this as a bad move. Wigan, a club that produce more homegrown players than anyone else, have voiced their opposition publicly. So have other figures like Jamie Peacock.
English rugby league already doesn’t have the talent for 12 strong, competitive Super League teams. Anyone who has watched Super League this season can tell you that (The competition did have 14 teams back in 2014, but changed to 12 in 2015 because there wasn’t enough talent to go round and the results were so lop-sided. Nothing has improved on that front in the past decade, in fact it has arguably gotten worse).
As clubs are struggling to produce enough good, homegrown British talent, the solution to increase the quota significantly is short-termism and incredibly short-sighted. Don’t put attention and investment into your own production line, and growing participation, just bring in more average foreigners.
Yes, that genius ploy will work.
As the salary cap is not being increased at the same time, all we will see is more budget players like Dan Russell and co move over. With the NRL also expanding with new clubs in Perth and PNG, there will be even less incentive for the better Antipodeans to come to the UK (not to mention more NRL clubs looking for English players like Morgan Knowles and George Williams, so the talent drain to the southern hemisphere may grow). It’s not like the move will result in Kalyn Ponga suddenly playing for Huddersfield or Tommy Turbo turning out for Cas.
This quota increase will block the pathways for local talent, and also further affect the overall playing stocks for the England national team. But that is perhaps a discussion for another time.
Why the move to 14 teams when it will obviously dilute the on-field product? It is all about money. The theory is that as the clubs are losing money and everyone hates loop fixtures, then fourteen clubs will end the loop fixture scenario, making it a straight home and away scenario for 26 games, and also add more local derbies, so theoretically bring more away fans in the stands.
Let’s be clear, this is not to do with Sky or getting a better TV deal. Sky has not said we will give you more money if you expand the competition. My understanding is the broadcaster doesn’t actually care how many teams are in Super League, it just wants to have an exciting, entertaining product played in front of big crowds to show on its channels. And going to 14 from 12 will clearly not improve the product.
Enter the return of Bradford Bulls.
The Bulls were once a powerhouse of British rugby league – Super League champions, World Club Challenge champions and home to Bullmania and huge crowds.
But successive administrations, relegations and liquidation have seen an end to that. The Bulls’ average attendance is around 3000 a game this season and their stadium is an eyesore.
Some clubs still see Bradford as a saving grace, as Captain Ahab’s White Whale. That the return of the Bulls to the top flight will add numerous thousands to their home gates, resulting in thousands more in their back pockets. And at a time when all clubs are losing money, this is very much needed.
Allied to all of this is growing opposition to the concept of French teams. They don’t want Catalans to have any Sky money, and they don’t want Toulouse in at all. The thinking (which I don’t subscribe to) is that these French clubs take more from the pot than they bring in, that they don’t add enough value to the sport in the UK. Of course, this point can be debated endlessly.
The Dragons are already paying close to an additional £1 million this year in travel costs for all the other teams and the officials to fly to Perpignan for their home games. The talk is that in 2026 the RFL could take all of Catalans’ central distribution, and share it with the newly promoted clubs, so the Dragons will have to stump up around £2.4 million just to participate, and that’s without including what they have to spend on their players.
It is madness.
Salford Red Devils are on the outer because of their issues, and the other clubs definitely see them as being more trouble than their worth. Salford may already be relegated under the current IMG criteria, considering their poor results and financial problems, but an eight-point punishment headed their way for fielding a reserve team against St Helens earlier this year could be the final nail in the coffin.
Also combined with this is growing opposition to the IMG partnership and the money annually paid to the global marketing consultancy. It will not surprise to see the partnership either end or be severely reduced soon.
Insiders say with Salford gone and Toulouse unwanted, York and London will likely join Bradford in the expanded Super League. York have a lovely modern stadium, are close to travel to for many away fans, and its owner has ties to Wood and his supporters. London are now owned by Gary Hetherington, who was one of the key players in the return of Wood, and have the appeal of representing the capital and appealing to national sponsors.
Going along with all of this is a move to combine Championship and League 1 together at the same time, to win support from the lower league clubs and make them more money in home gates. Again, the mythical idea of away fans and getting more gate receipts week-to-week is key. We’ll ignore the exciting prospect of Featherstone beating Newcastle 90-0 and other similar results in a merged division.
Wood and his cabal need majority club support to push through these changes, and by expanding Super League and merging the second and third tiers at the same time, there is enough there for enough clubs in their interest to vote yes.
Self-interest reigns once more.
As the eurdite Phil Caplan said on the Forty20 LIVE podcast this week: “If they want to change it for 14 teams for 2026, it’s got to be proposed on Tuesday. Probably voted on and agreed at the following meeting.
“I don’t think they’ll take a vote on that straight away, they might, it depends on how strong the unity is. [But] There is a feel for change.
“Everybody’s going to get something out of it. The current teams in Super League, who might have been ditched if there were 10 teams, will vote for ‘we can stay for another year, and bring some more in, that’s great.
“The Championship teams that are going to come up – ‘that’s a great idea, lets go to 14 teams’. The Championship and League 1 teams, who perhaps might be in an amalgamated regional league, which is the other proposal, underneath Super League, most of them will vote for it because they think they’ll get more derby fixtures which will give them the opportunity to make more revenue on a game-day basis. There isn’t a huge amount of dissent.”
There are certainly many in the sport against all of this, and some in clubland, but they are keeping their powder dry. Wood and his crew have the numbers, so it seems the wrong time to be a martyr. Most of the media remain strangely silent.
Meanwhile, fans rage about the unfairness, the dodginess and short-sightedness of it all. Anger grows. The chance of an NRL partnership diminishes by the week. It not only seems like bad business decision-making, but poorly handled on the outside and the wrong path to take.
Supporters, much like the players, have their input ignored again. It is left to a small group of old, rich white northern men to decide what course to take and damn the consequences to the rest.
Rugby league – it makes Game of Thrones look like a pre-school book.