24 replies to this topic

[Sandspine]

Ive just heard that Gloucester university have been accepted into championship 1. How many more are to enter and who do you think will be accepted?

[bowes]

One more to enter. I hope it's Coventry Bears but wouldn't be totally surprised if they went for Oxford Brookes if they have money behind them.

[samsung]

One more to enter. I hope it's Coventry Bears but wouldn't be totally surprised if they went for Oxford Brookes if they have money behind them.

Where will Coventry Bears play if they don't get into C1?

[bowes]

Where will Coventry Bears play if they don't get into C1?

Either NCL or, if there is one, Conference South would be my guess. Just hope we've but a NCL application in.

[tim2]

Where will Coventry Bears play if they don't get into C1?

They could apply for membership of the NCL - they certainly meet the criteria. Otherwise there is likley to be a Tier 3 Southern League (which would make "National Conference League" look a bit silly. This would be a step back for sure and, as happened last time, all the best players would be trying out at Northampton and Hemel.

[bowes]

I think southern clubs are only allowed in the NCL if there's not enough clubs for Conference South.

[yanto]

CC1 is a Southern biased competition with only Gateshead,Crusaders and looking like Whitehaven and Rochdale from up north.

Might as well went the full hog and formed a CC1 South.
Hemel,Northampton,Skolars,Gloucester,Scorpians,
Add one of either Coventry or Oxford, and that leaves you with four places to fill currently taken up by the above mentioned northern clubs (Based on as how CC1 stands now)

Simple.... replace these Northern teams with the southern based teams out of CL3.....
ST Albans,Nottingham,Bristol,throw in who ever missed out between Oxford and Coventry and its sorted.
10 teams
All decent(ish) level,all pretty well established...... apart from the "New" boys.

The four remaining "Northern" clubs could have went into a CC1 North, created by a similar application process as CC1 went through.

Its going to cost Whitehaven a fortune to compete in CC1 with SIX long trips that will include overnight accomodation and players missing work.
Add LOW crowds with virtually zero away support for their home fixtures and they are gonna be in trouble.
I cant see them surviving to be honest.

[bowes]

I doubt Oldham will be let up with their stadium and travel costs are funded.

But your plan would fail as Bristol, St Albans and Nottingham aren't capable of playing professionally and Nottingham have no intention of playing in a southern league. As a long term aim it has merit though.

[del capo]

Does anyone feel that Gloucester have the appearance of a Leeds nursery....?.......

Looks like Oxford Bowes.......which Super League side has them ??

Yanto , CC1 will be national , and even the likes of Oldham , Whitehaven and yes Gateshead will be brutal score wise against the newbies unless these new guys have massive ( unfair ? ) outside support..

Bowes . No Coventry application to NCL yet , though more than enough applications to make expansion feasible already received .., so they could very well miss the boat...

[bowes]

Oxford soccer's chairman is Ian Lenegan at Wigan, though we've also had links there and they link with Scorpions. Seems to be location and money gets you in.

Won't be impressed if we end up back in the midlands, Conference South I can live with.

[bowes]

Are all NCL bids northern?

[Marauder]

Are the foundations to enter the Championship 1 now dependant on which Super League club will be prepared to farm its fringe players out to the flag on the RFL expansion map?

Bowes is your "won't be impressed" quote realisation that the RFL don't give two hoots as long as they can bring in the coin to pay their own wages

[del capo]

The closing date for expressions of interest is only 1st June. I doubt that the NCL committee will say who has applied until the next meeting of the clubs themselves in mid june. That wouldn't be fair to the applicants or the membership otherwise , would it? And after that there is due process to follow.

Geographical spread may or may not be an issue this time around. In the past the NCL covered much wider areas , quite successfuly. The quality of the application has to be the first consideration, but genuine opportunities to spread this level of football to new non traditional outlets has always been a goal , if the boxes can be ticked and without chopping up other organisations in the process....

[Marauder]

The closing date for expressions of interest is only 1st June. I doubt that the NCL committee will say who has applied until the next meeting of the clubs themselves in mid june. That wouldn't be fair to the applicants or the membership otherwise , would it? And after that there is due process to follow.

Geographical spread may or may not be an issue this time around. In the past the NCL covered much wider areas , quite successfuly. The quality of the application has to be the first consideration, but genuine opportunities to spread this level of football to new non traditional outlets has always been a goal , if the boxes can be ticked and without chopping up other organisations in the process....

Hmmmmmm

[bowes]

Hmmmmmm

It was a reference to not competing with a potential Conference South for clubs I believe

[bowes]

Are the foundations to enter the Championship 1 now dependant on which Super League club will be prepared to farm its fringe players out to the flag on the RFL expansion map?

Bowes is your "won't be impressed" quote realisation that the RFL don't give two hoots as long as they can bring in the coin to pay their own wages

More of a case of I wouldn't be impressed if we missed the deadline

[bowes]

The closing date for expressions of interest is only 1st June. I doubt that the NCL committee will say who has applied until the next meeting of the clubs themselves in mid june. That wouldn't be fair to the applicants or the membership otherwise , would it? And after that there is due process to follow.

Geographical spread may or may not be an issue this time around. In the past the NCL covered much wider areas , quite successfuly. The quality of the application has to be the first consideration, but genuine opportunities to spread this level of football to new non traditional outlets has always been a goal , if the boxes can be ticked and without chopping up other organisations in the process....

Do you think Coventry would be allowed to play up north if there were 10 other teams prepared to play Conference South (assuming we get in a suitable application and we're not in Championship 1)?

[West Country Eagle]

Do you think Coventry would be allowed to play up north if there were 10 other teams prepared to play Conference South (assuming we get in a suitable application and we're not in Championship 1)?

Wouldn't Conference South be stronger with clubs like Coventry, South Wales, St Albans and Bristol in it?

[bowes]

Wouldn't Conference South be stronger with clubs like Coventry, South Wales, St Albans and Bristol in it?

Yes but we'd lose lots of players to Northampton and Nottingham. Then again if we lost lots of players to Northampton the Conference South might be a high enough standard if it gets the bulk of Premier South in.

St Albans probably wouldn't want the travelling in the NCL, Bristol might struggle on the field and the Hornets would very badly fail NCL criteria. So that's 3 sides there.

We need to apply for NCL as if Conference South fell through we'd be back in midlands premier and all the effort we'd put into the club would be thrown down the drain.

[Blackbeard]

I think your missing somethink here...these clubs that have been chosen for Championship 1 are all but a name,i don't think they'll be useing many of the players that are playing for them at the moment.....the Super league and RFL will flood it with fringe(Super League) players from up north,there allready changeing club badges,maybe the playing strips might be next or even move grounds so u loose your birth place(Celtic Crusaders).....