bbfaz

I agree. I think below, two or three global divisions, it'd have to be hemisphere-based. You look at Davis Cup, that's regionalised from the second tier down.

Has the rationale for playing as separate home nations ever been proved to be correct? It was supposed to help develop players in Scotland and Wales and Ireland through giving them access to international football. If that hasn't worked, then RL has abandoned the one brand that they had which has recognised across sport, Great Britain Rugby League, for nothing.

I had this discussion with somebody over the weekend who knows Ralph Rimmer and he had a lot more confidence in him than anybody here. The view being that it's been a difficult and very slow process to put the people in the right places and we're currently going through the "it's going to get worse before it gets better" phase. Time will tell, I guess.

The ICC has had success with the World Cricket League, in part because when they run a division and take teams away, they're playing a 50-over match every day and the tournament lasts a week. It's not a long time commitment and it's not a massive expense, as squads are kept to 15/16 and they don't have a large support staff. You can be in and out in 10 days. Realistically, for Rugby League, you can probably play every six days. So you'd be looking at doing a double-header on Sunday, then the following Saturday and then the following Friday. You'd need three weekends away, plus a few days before and after. So it's more like 16/17 days with a much bigger squad and support staff. I like the idea and think it'd be great, especially at a lower level where you can quickly sort out who can play and who can't. The big success story of the WCL is the quick emergence of Afghanistan, who had good players but no infrastructure. It challenged myths and showed how good or bad teams like the United States actually were. So long as we don't pee in the paddling pool so to speak and put too many heritage players in, which gives a false impression of just how good a country is. However, as always, it comes down to money.

Viva Chile.

I'd like to see the RFL open up League 1 to new clubs who don't expand the geographic footprint. It's all well and good trying to create new teams but if there's an existing team who want to go pro (and can, more's the point), they should be allowed in. Whether there is anybody who can step up is quite another matter of course.

I have no real opinion either way but I worked for a football club where they pushed the COO into the CEO role and he floundered because it's a different role for a different personality type.

I get the impression things are going to be changing by the day.

They've all tried to do the "stitch up" thing before but it doesn't work. Mutually beneficial, local partnerships would work but, sadly, nobody can get out of the viking harvest mindset, just like they can't get out of the "union off-season" mindset.

How comes the league seasons were so short? I love that there was a East Midlands/South Yorks league.

Do you have all of these on a page, Celtic? Years ago, I did a comprehensive list of American soccer teams and their leagues season to season and would like to do the same with the Southern leagues when I have the chance.

As I said above, they're looking to create 8 team divisions, East and West. They have enough applicants fom West/South West/Wales to form a West division. I don't know the applicants but, based on who was formerly in the various NL D3/RLC National/CLS divisions, those who applied last year and those who've openly shown aspiration towards it, there's probably a fair guess on the 8 they've let in. With the failure of the bigger Midlands teams (not just last year, but in recent years), they don't have enough Midlands/East/South East teams to create the East division as yet.

I think the word conference is superfluous and the league should be what it is and nothing more than that. I genuinely don't see how that's controversial...

You haven't seen our pack. 😁

Have played, do not currently. It's disingenuous to suggest that, at this point, it's a national anything. By calling it a national anything, it sets up an unrealistic expectation about it. Let it be what it is, which is the elite Northern amateur league. As for this Southern Premier League, the RFL are proceeding with the West/Wales league but don't have enough in the East/South East. So they're getting behind the London League committee's plans, which involve a cross-regional Premier League and a single London/South/East pyramid.