The announcement was made yesterday, a year on from the awarding of the initial batch of 12 top flight franchises, after Red Hall officials confirmed they had written to five clubs - St Helens, Celtic Crusaders, Wakefield, Castleford and Salford - to warn them of the consequences of not delivering on their promises of redeveloping their stadia.

The warning seems particularly focused on the Wildcats, Tigers and City Reds, none of whom appear to have made appreciable progress in the last 12 months.

Gary Tasker, the RFL's Director of Development, said: "Five clubs put forward their intention to build new stadiums, with a number creating a lot of publicity.

"A year on from awarding the licences, it was appropriate to remind all the clubs concerned of their commitment to upgrade their current facility or move to a new stadium and the potential implications any failure to do so may have on their next licence application.

"Every Super League clubs need to be aware that their presence in the competition is under intense scrutiny and that the progress made by Co-operative Championship clubs is a very real threat."

The news, which comes just three days before Halifax officially launch their bid for a return to the sport's top table, tagged 'Destination Super League', will give real encouragement to both them and arch rivals Widnes.

Although the Vikings are currently in the box seat - winning the Northern Rail Cup final, boasting a completed ground and a big money backer in transport mogul Steve O'Connor - Shay chief executive Graham Clay is confident that Fax can close the gap in the next 18 months.

"I recently had a meeting with the RFL and I was able to demonstrate real progress in a number of key areas," said Clay.

"There are some concerns that we must address, but fortunately the stadium is not one.

"The areas we need to improve upon can effectively be grouped under the heading of finance.

"That means improving our crowd base to the RFL's minimum requirement of at least 2,500, increasing our commercial income and improving our administration structure.

"At the moment, we don't have a wealthy backer and there are just four of us on the board.

"But Halifax isn't a closed shop, and if there is anyone out there who feels they can make a difference we'd certainly want to talk to them.

"There is no doubt this club can make the step up to Super League, and add real value to the competition, but that process has to begin now."