Oldham want promotion and relegation return with club feelings made clear

Oldham's top brass, chairman Bill Quinn and managing director Mike Ford, have thrown their support behind the RFL to devise "a formula that works" for the future of rugby league. However, they stress the importance of reinstating automatic promotion and relegation to maintain the sport's "heart and soul".

At last week's RFL council meeting, clubs voted against a proposal for conventional promotion to Super League for Championship winners in 2025. While endorsing the current governance structure, Ford and Quinn consider it a work in progress, acknowledging its imperfections.

Speaking to Roughyeds TV, Ford said: "We are finding out the flaws in it, and there are a few - no doubt about it. We have been penalised for playing at Boundary Park which is not right. But the one thing that me and Bill are adamant on - and there is a big swell with other council members - is relegation and promotion.

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"At the moment it is all to do with how many points you collect and although we support IMG and what it is doing with facilities, finance, communities and media, the one thing that is very flawed is the weighting towards performance points. The points you get towards IMG for playing on the field is not weighted enough. Last year for winning League 1 we got 0.1 of a point and there are 20 points to go for. We believe that on the field should be a lot more."

"Traditionally no matter what people say about American Football and NRL where there's no relegation, in England promotion and relegation is in our DNA. To take that away from a club like Bradford, Widnes, Halifax or ourselves - we have stakeholders in the stands, sponsors, a guy in Bill putting all his money in - we don't want him walking away because we can't get promoted on the field.

"I think that is a fair marker and the common man in the stands will understand that - you win on the field you get rewarded. We put a few options to the council last Wednesday on how we feel it can work."

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