Five years to get the Super League right!

We've got five years to take Super League to the top of the sporting tree.

That's my verdict now that the last qualifying rounds of the Visa World Club Championship are being played.

One thing is for certain - we can't stay as we are. It's simply not good enough.

The news that Australian club Hunter Mariners would think seriously about moving to Glasgow if they are booted out of an amalgamated Australian League situation should concentrate a few minds in this country.

If Super League is to be taken as seriously as it thinks it should, then we have to make sure that it is taken to the rest of Britain and, where possible, Europe, with new clubs on 'greenfield' sites.

I like the idea of a club in Glasgow and the projected marketing name of 'Bravehearts' has a good ring.

But it's going to take more than good intentions to make the Super League concept work in Scotland.

The game faces some of the most difficult decisions it has ever had to make.

And the biggest of those will be what to do with what remains of Rugby League once the Super League clubs are taken away.

It will be fine putting sides in Bristol, Cardiff and Newcastle. But where would that leave the current First and Second Division clubs who have no real hope of reaching Super League?

There is a great deal of pressure and responsibility resting on the men who go to the Rugby League council meeting on September 3.

They will be faced with making the right decisions when the latest plans for a format are put forward by first the Working Party on the government of the game and then the RFL Board of Directors, who have compiled an alternative version.

We need to know whether there will be two divisions or three. Will there be clubs removed or amalgamated?

These questions, and more, need answers.

If Super League does want to have a place on the big stage, then it also needs the right men to take the game into new areas. And they don't grow on trees either.

We should now be talking to bright young people, such as former Wigan player Phil Clarke, whose playing career was wrecked by injury.

He is a graduate who talks great commonsense. He would be just the ideal kind of man to front up a new franchise because he is articulate, intelligent and presents the right kind of image to the fans any new club would need to attract.

Interview by John Huxley

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