Championship sides await RFL nod

Widnes hope to win back their Super League place for the first time since 2005 when the first licence for next season is announced on Thursday.

Championship rivals Halifax and Barrow are in the frame too for a Super League licence running from 2012 to 2014.

And Thursday is also the deadline for existing Super League clubs under threat of losing their licences to submit new bids for 2012.

But Widnes are the club most fancied to get the Rugby Football League’s nod.

The Vikings were the big losers when the licensing system was introduced three years ago, when Salford and Celtic Crusaders were admitted to an expanded 14-team league.

But the RFL are already committed to promoting at least one Championship club at the expense of an existing Super League outfit.

And, prior to Thursday’s date at RFL headquarters at Red Hall in Leeds, Widnes chairman Steve O’Connor said: “We are confident we couldn’t have done any more.

“I’m fairly relaxed because we can’t do anything about it now. I can’t influence the decision.”

O’Connor, a local businessman whose original passion was football, had been at the club only nine months when Widnes were rejected in 2008.

Everyone is saying that Widnes are favourites. But not every favourite wins, do they? Halifax director Mike Riley

But, having brought them out of administration in the autumn of 2007, he has since poured around £2.3m of his own money into the club.

Widnes, whose previous stay in Super League was between 2002 and 2005, were rejected as much for their lack of youth development as for their off-field failures three years ago.

O’Connor says that the club have since been active in putting down roots.

“We had a meeting at Red Hall after we failed last time,” said O’Connor. “And the RFL made it very clear that the area we had to work on was youth development.

“The youngsters that are just starting to come through now are the result of a process we started a few years ago.”

O’Connor also has a wealth of experience to draw on from Paul Cullen, their director of rugby, former Wigan and Great Britain star Denis Betts, the head coach and his former club and international team-mates Mick Cassidy and Terry O’Connor.

Halifax, members of Super League from its foundation in 1996 to 2003, will also be making a second application in three years.

Having completed their redevelopment of The Shay since their rejection in 2008, reigning Championship title holders Halifax believe they have presented a strong case for a return.

“Everyone is saying that Widnes are favourites,” said Halifax director Mike Riley. “But not every favourite wins, do they?

“Our bid is every bit as good and I would say better, given our performances on the field over the last couple of years.

“I would say we’re cautiously optimistic. We have done everything the Rugby League asked of us since our last application, like the youth team and the stadium, and we’ve been in back-to-back Grand Finals.”

Barrow are basing their application on the importance of a Super League presence in Cumbria, a region unrepresented since Workington were relegated at the end of the inaugural season in 1996.

Steve O’Connor brought Widnes Vikings out of administration in 2007

“There is a groundswell of support for a Super League franchise in Cumbria and we believe that team should be Barrow,” said a Raiders spokesman.

As for the existing Super League clubs under threat, it remains a possibility that two current Super League clubs could be jettisoned to make way for a second Championship club.

Wakefield and Crusaders will both have trodden nervously after their financial faltering in recent months.

The two struggling clubs both went into administration over the winter and started the season on -4 points.

But, although his club are widely thought to be the club most at risk of losing their Super League place when the RFL announces the full set of three-year licences on 26 July, Wakefeld chairman Andrew Glover sounded a defiant message as he submitted his club’s bid.

“It’s taken all the team here virtually four solid weeks to compile,” said Glover, who brought the club out of administration just six weeks ago.

“The full document is over 700 pages, outlining our plans for the future of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in Super League.”

With doubts over the suitability of their current ground at Belle Vue and a delay over their plans to build a new stadium, Wakefield are thought to have based their application on an initial ground-share with football neighbours Barnsley at Oakwell.