bbfaz

Shooting the messenger. I have no dog in this fight.

To be honest, this is why the move to this system makes no sense to me. The recent talk has been of Dublin and Belgrade, to add to any potential North American teams. However, they've taken away or severely curtailed the mechanism to allow those teams to get to the top.

I think that's part of the reason. However, who knows in a year or two given the talk of expansion again.

The rumour for some time has been that some of the lesser lights in League 1 would be relegated to the amateur ranks. However, it's my understanding that this development league won't be funded at this time.

So, you're looking for a niche of a niche of a niche to go out there and get a paying TV deal? Maybe with some desperate streaming service, maybe with a subscription channel like Premier Sports (like last time) but it won't get them any exposure.

And the FA are still wrong because they're obsessed with overall control, homogenization and things being "fair", which leads to semi-pro sides playing nationally. There's a wider sporting issue in this country where money talks and participation walks.

I agree. They're lovin' it lovin' it lovin' it, they're lovin' it like this.

If there's an issue with the non-heartland game, it's not necessarily winter but being stuck as a union off-season game. Personally, I'd love to see a longer season - preferably 8 months and not playing in the summer school holidays - but you'd have to massively put the cart in front of the horse to make it happen. Right now, a number of clubs use a 2s pitch at a union club and I can't see those clubs being conducive to having a rival sport play at the same time. For me, that seems an insurmountable obstacle. That would be the silver bullet to fix a lot of issues rather than playing games on Boxing day.

Christ on a bike...

If you want to do the social media thing, sign up for Hootsuite. You can manage your Twitter, Facebook and Instagram from one account and sync posts across platforms.

Right now, yes. However, say you don't know because Chargers had some ladies a few years ago. I think if enough clubs how willing and commitment, others will follow.

You're probably right, it was a great season. However, we put pressure on ourselves to achieve, which runs in stark contrast to our desire to have a club for clubmen. Our selection policy is based on people who pay membership and turn up to training getting preference when it comes to selection. It's a fine balance but our view is that, commercially, clubs that are set up solely to win will lose on the balance sheet. The underpinning of this club is a desire to have a club and a lot of hard-work. We're on a recruitment drive. We've turned up a new coach to add the the open age setup already. Our view - especially when it comes to the ladies - is that if you show us commitment, we'll show you commitment. However, current management is spread thin enough and we rely heavily on technology now.

To bring the topic up-to-date, the Open Age started the league season slowly and lost their first game. They gradually warmed up and won 6 and drew 1 of the remaining 7 and finished league leaders. Unfortunately, they lost the grand final for the second year in a row to Brixton Bulls, though the score and performance were much better than last year. I'm claiming the title "minor premiers". The Masters had a madcap season, touring Carcassonne mid-season and announcing an even-more ambitious tour for 2019; Toronto. Numbers have remained robust throughout. On and off since the end of last season, there have been discussions with the London Rugby League Foundation about making sure the facilities at Club Langley could be used by juniors. There has been movement this season and we're delighted to announce that the parents and players of Croydon Hurricanes will join us for the 2019 season, bringing under-10s and under-13s to the club. We will also be fielding a ladies team in 2019.

I understood what you meant perfectly, And by asking that question, you clearly haven't been paying attention to what has happened thus when these teams play in amateur leagues. It has happened in the past. They're either too strong and dominate or they're too flaky and ruin it for everybody else. Strangely, more likely the latter.

We need to get away from this idea first and foremost. Reserve teams further down the pyramid have consistently done no favours for anybody. If you're in a league like the London League, reserves should be in the entry league with new teams and teams that don't have their act together. Unfortunately, reserve teams are treated as such. I think Skolars A had one or two decent seasons, Hemel had one brilliant one in the East and then complained it was too easy. How can you expect teams that can't be consistent If you want a league with a "few strong ambitious community clubs", you need those clubs to be first teams and there needs to be some element of funding. Even if it's just coach travel to away grounds, it's an unimaginatively massive footprint. Even if you said "no Wales, no South West", it's still massive.