What next for rugby league?

Leicester Tigers chief executive Peter Wheeler believes that top rugby league clubs are considering switching codes.

Will the top league sides soon be playing union? And what would the implications be for the Super League?

Click here to quiz BBC Sport's Dave Woods

Wheeler claims that several rugby league clubs have made inquiries into joining the Zurich Premiership in the near future.

Wheeler was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald as saying: "I hope we may see one or two clubs in the union competition by the season after next."

Although Wheeler did not mention any specific clubs, St Helens, Wigan, Bradford and Leeds look to be the likely candidates.

Several league players, such as Jason Robinson and Scott Gibbs have successfully switched codes, but are the big clubs about to follow suit?

And what would the implications be, both for the Super League, and the Zurich Premiership?

---

The London-based media should venture into towns such as St Helens and Wigan and then they might understand what all league fans know - that their game is part of the communities in which they live. Any union fan from South Wales would undertand this point perfectly well.
Ian Bradley, USA

It is now guaranteed that league fans will never watch union in any numbers.

  Steve Clark, England

The bigoted and downright innacurate views of people like Mr Wheeler never cease to amaze me. No matter what rugby league does, the media always find a way of sniping and undermining 'the greatest game of all'. Why is it that 68,500 people at the Twickenham Challenge Cup Final was seen as 'dissapointing support' and 38,000 people watching the Lions in Australia was seen as 'fantastic support'? It's true that League is based predominantly in the north, but it is also true that north of Leicester no-one cares about Union.

It's time the rugby league authorities called a halt to all the 'cloak and dagger' negotiations being alleged by league clubs. However, if the clubs concerned did decide to switch to union, they would be dead within two years. I for one, have no wish to watch the union code. Even at the 'highest' union level such as Australia v Lions, the intensity and skill levels fall short of even the NFP in league.

In one way however, I welcome Mr Wheeler's comments, as it is now guaranteed that league fans will never watch union in any numbers.
Steve Clark, England

Peter Weeler's comments seem to suggest that rugby league is somehow stagnating. This is far from the truth. The last I heard was that the Super League, on average, can pull in crowds much higher than the Zurich Premier League. The play is faster and more entertaining - this is why Union has been desperate to take on board league ideas on how to make the game entertaining.

I suspect that many rugby league teams may be interested in starting a union team as in addition to, rather than instead of the league team - like Leeds. I dare say that some of them would be successful as well since league has always been about your performance on the field rather than your business connections, social standing and generally being a good egg in tha bar afterwards.
Dave, Scotland

It may be a shock to Mr Wheeler, but what he can't seem to grasp is that Union is already played in St Helens, Wigan, Leeds, Bradford and across the north. But no-one watches it. Why would that change if St Helens RLFC became the second rugby union club in St Helens? There'd be a new League club within days organised by the fans. The shame about this story is that the press so willingly reprint groundless and inaccurate rugby union propaganda as fact.
Julian Critchley, England

These comments are great. The bleeding hearts of rugby league are warming the cockles of my heart. Union had to suffer in the 70's & 80's as League robbed the best Union players. Bye bye rugby league !
Ian, London

The average League game is a better spectacle with twice as many tries scored and the ball in play twice as long

  Phil Stockton, Scotland

What a stupid idea. As a Leeds fan I can tell you there is no way I would continue to watch The Rhinos if they changed codes. To me they are totally different games with different supporters. Get real - League will always be League!
Kellyanne Barker, Engalnd

How long can this arrogance from rugby union officaldom be allowed to continue? If they'd been visionary enough 106 years ago to take rugby forward then the breakaway would not have happened. If they had not remained static Union would now not be bending over backwards trying to integrate the far more evolved and entertaining game of Rugby League into their sport.
Steve Hulme, France

I would urge all true rugby league fans to stand together at this time when the media and the RFU are doing their best to destroy our sport. We will never allow our clubs to abandon rugby league. Without us they are nothing - let your clubs know how you feel.
Phil Burston, UK

I would never switch from League to watch Union. The average League game is a better spectacle with twice as many tries scored and the ball in play twice as long. Union has the upper hand in converted penalties though with four times the number seen in League, but how interesting is that ?
Phil Stockton, Scotland

If any clubs do switch they should join the lower divisions and work their way up

  Chris, UK

Peter Wheeler really has no idea what he's talking about. I can understand players going over for the international scene, but why would a club that gets 12,000 through the door every week want to join a league that gets 2,000 or so through the door? It would be financial suicide.
Paul, England

I for one have no interest in rugby union and all its hypocrisy. If some clubs switch then shame on them.
Paley, London, UK

What Mr Wheeler fails to acknowledge is that at club level rugby league continues to attract more spectators than union. In fact according to BBC television, greater numbers watched the semi final and finals of the challenge cup than the respective European cup.
Kevin Turnpenney, England

What is it about rugby union? They pinch our rules, try to pinch our players (rarely successfully), and now our clubs. Long may they remain two separate sports. Why does the media give credence to comments like these?
Richard, UK

If any clubs do switch they should join the lower divisions and work their way up like any other new club. How do you think the Clubs in the National Divisions One and Two will feel if the rugby league Clubs get direct access? What nonsense.
Chris, UK

League fans are protective of their sport and would not support any of the clubs if they converted to union

  Paul Glover, UK

Again we see Rugby Union attempting to belittle it's counterpart by issuing unfounded, childish banter. League is it's own sport and will never absorb into Union. Maybe the RU guys are running scared of the bright future that lies ahead for league, as it is spreading it's gospel firmly within Union heartlands and almost every major town and city in Great Britain. When the groundwork done to spread the game comes to fruition, union may find itself at the other end of this type of rumour. After all, why would league want to move to an empty shell of a house, that offers nothing but disorganisation, and a far from professional future.
Chris Norris, UK

Union desperately needs people to watch its club game, but there's no way they're going to come from League. Quite apart from tradition and resentment (they've spent over a century trying to destroy us), there's no incentive for League fans to defect to a less entertaining spectacle. If this goes through, which I doubt, we'll just have to break away again like we did in 1895.
Michael Batey, UK

Is this story a prank? The union game is far more complex to play, specifically in the pack. Will the league clubs import union players? Simply because league players are physical and fit does not mean they can adapt to the required standards of scrummaging, lineouts and breakdown work in order to compete in top flight rugby within two years. If I was Worcester, Leeds or Rotherham I'd be rubbing my hands as there would be new relegation certainties in the pipeline. There is no easy money to be earnt in Union by mindless League crash-ballers.
Bobby Boucher, England

It is true to a certain extent that rugby league in England has never really broken out of Yorkshire and Lancashire. But rugby union has never really broken into Yorkshire and Lancashire, and it never will.
Timothy Barton, UK

Rugby league supporters are not fooled by the so-called attractions of the union game

  Matt Sinnott, UK

I can't see it happening. The clubs would lose to many players who love their game and have no desire to play union. Similarly, League fans are protective of their sport and would not support any of the clubs if they converted to union. It would be commercial suicide!
Paul Glover, UK

Shame on the BBC for giving air to nonsense stories like this. This is another Union club chief bitter at the better competition structre, better support and more attractive rules offered by Super League. Rugby league supporters are not fooled by the so-called attractions of the union game and will not allow their clubs to sell them out, regardless of whether some of the so called "stars" fancy earning easy money in Union. League's strength is that it is a community sport and no club or "star" is bigger than the game.
Matt Sinnott, UK

Sadly its going to have to happen sooner or later. The British media has been strangling rugby league for a hundred years - it never seemed to matter if 80,000 people turned up at wembley for the challenge cup final, you still wouldn't see a report on the match in most of the national newspapers the next day. Sadly professional rugby union seems to be the final deathnail for league, but I'll never watch it. The way the British media has treated this northern sport (and northern fans) over the last century has left me and many others very bitter!
RL fan, UK