D-Day for the Giants

Jul 21 2008 by Andrew Baldwin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

ENGLISH cricket has shied away from a proposed Twenty20 English Premier League comprising nine new city franchises.

The plan instead is to stick with the 18 traditional county sides in the new contest, plus two overseas teams.

Rugby league is going down a different path and fully embracing a franchise system in its top-tier in this country.

And tomorrow morning we find out who’s going to get them.

The first 14 Super League franchises will be awarded and will last for three years and there’s said to be no guarantee as to who will get them.

The RFL has got a difficult decision on its hands narrowing down 19 applications to the required number and marginal candidates won’t get much sleep tonight.

Huddersfield Giants, of course, have strong hopes they will remain among the game’s elite and it would indeed be a major disaster if they were left out.

History, at least, is certainly on our side as the birthplace of rugby league, but so is the magnificent stadium and the hard work of executives in proving the club’s worth.

The league’s aim is to achieve consistency and continuity by allowing clubs to make long-term decisions in an effort to raise standards of the game in this country.

Franchising is a bold move which will revolutionise the sport if it works out and should be welcomed as such.

As long as the Giants get in, that is.