I think that the RFL is announcing Toulouse's bid in 2013 to give it more time to prepare, including more time to recruit French and especially foreign players. That would be consistent with the advance warning given to Catalans back in 2004.



It would also give the club more time to renovate its stadium, and bring it up to Super League standards. Mind you I think that plans restricting the new structure to 10,000 seats is a big mistake, as the nearly 15,000 attendance last weekend suggests that big crowds will show up in Toulouse for big rugby league events. They had better leave space for further expansion of the stadium in the future. If Toulouse should become a powerhouse they could well expect big clashes (e.g. against Catalans, Leeds, Wigan, St Helens, Warrington, Hull FC and Bradford) to attract 12,000-15,000. Do they really want to have to transfer all these matches to Ernest Wallon? Moreover they cannot always guarantee that 19,000 capacity Stade Ernest Wallon will be available at late notice for a heavily subscribed event.

How many Catalan fans were there?



The crowd figure is a misnomer in terms of the support Toulouse will get.

Why wouldn't they just play in that superior RU stadium?

Swap them with Bradford and have done with it. You have one team that quite clearly struggles to sustain a SL team but might be ok in the Championship and another team that failed miserably in the Championship but by all accounts would be a raving success in SL. Easy game.

Why Bradford? Do they struggle more than other clubs?

If we are moving towards a system of basing leagues on sporting success then Toulouse have done nothing to deserve a place in SL. If the RFL want to go to 12 clubs then they should either relegate the bottom two at the end of the 2014 season, or relegate the bottom 3 and promote the top team from the Championship. If this is Toulouse, so be it. If it isn't, they can play by the same rules as everybody else and gain promotion to SL by earning it.

These are not the rules we have been playing by since 2005. If they were then Catalans would not be in Super League.



We have a licensing system, which has worked well so far in the case of France.

Why do you think that Toulouse should need to achieve success in a part-time English competition in order to be deemed worthy of Super League inclusion? Do you not think that's a bit backwards and stupid?

But the point that we are moving away from a licensing system from 2014, aren't we? Catalans have been a success but the other French team thrown into SL was an unmitigated disaster.

I'm also not sure there is enough French talent to sustain another SL team.

The other team (Paris) wasn't in the French League heartland, abit like London. It was never going to work.