25 replies to this topic

[tim2]

Starting with local matches (potentially evenly matched as well) is exactly what I would have done.

The new clubs need to hit the ground running in terms of publicity and this helps a lot in that.

[Gary Coyle]

I'll take that bet.

Come back in 2 seasons then with your tenner

[Cardiff Cymru]

My money is on 5 of those sides pulling out or folding within 2 years

The RFL wanted Coventry in but they said they weren't ready and good on them for sticking with their guns. Don't forget though, none of the new sides are really brand new to their areas. RL has been played in Oxford and Cheltenham since the late 1990s at community level and Hemel of course since 1981. And all three have won titles in the last two years. These new clubs are built on solid foundations and lots of people have worked hard to bring them to light.

First pro league in RL without a Yorkshire side too. Shows the game is spreading beyond its original roots.

[Mumby Magic]

The RFL wanted Coventry in but they said they weren't ready and good on them for sticking with their guns. Don't forget though, none of the new sides are really brand new to their areas. RL has been played in Oxford and Cheltenham since the late 1990s at community level and Hemel of course since 1981. And all three have won titles in the last two years. These new clubs are built on solid foundations and lots of people have worked hard to bring them to light.

First pro league in RL without a Yorkshire side too. Shows the game is spreading beyond its original roots.

Didn't even realise that about Yorkshire.

It's this division that's keeping my thoughts positive on RL after mine and other clubs financial worries in SL over recent years.

[bowes]

The RFL wanted Coventry in but they said they weren't ready and good on them for sticking with their guns. Don't forget though, none of the new sides are really brand new to their areas. RL has been played in Oxford and Cheltenham since the late 1990s at community level and Hemel of course since 1981. And all three have won titles in the last two years. These new clubs are built on solid foundations and lots of people have worked hard to bring them to light.

First pro league in RL without a Yorkshire side too. Shows the game is spreading beyond its original roots.

In the early years of the Northern Union there was a professional Lancashire Senior Competition with no Yorkshire clubs in (though one year it had Hull KR for some bizarre reason). Oxford have no juniors and the open age side nearly collapsed in 2011 but the new club seem well run.

[keighley]

In the early years of the Northern Union there was a professional Lancashire Senior Competition with no Yorkshire clubs in (though one year it had Hull KR for some bizarre reason). Oxford have no juniors and the open age side nearly collapsed in 2011 but the new club seem well run.

There was also a professional Yorkshire Senior competition with no Lancashire teams in it. The trophies for winning these leagues were one of the famous four trophies which were only ever won in the same season by Hunslet, Swinton and maybe Huddersfield. The other three were the Yorks or Lancs Cup, the RL championship and the Challenge Cup.

There was an actual league table for each league which was confined to fixtures against other teams in the county. There were 6 inter county fixtures per team each year and those, combined with the county league results produced the RL Championship table.

The anomaly was that there were not enough clubs in Lancashire so one Yorkshire team played in the Lancashire league every season, not always the same club, it rotated.

So some kind of Conference system is nothing new to Rugby League.