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They've not been playing and haven't played any games since last April. Still no plans for a league going forward.

To echo DoubleD's words, it is nice to see that common sense has broken out.

I agree with what you say. Valencia has enough teams to have a league tomorrow, I just don't know what's taking so long.

Heard nothing about Galicia or the north of Spain at all. A number of the Valencian teams are posting training pics and they seem to be gearing up for something. What that something is, nobody has said.

Sorry to bump the thread but I was wondering if anybody here has any insight into just what the hell is going on? The international team has played this season but the club game has ground to a halt. Daz Fisher was quoted in a recent article as saying that they're trying to revamp and regionalise the domestic competition. However, this is a process that has been essentially going on for 18 months, when the Andalusian clubs announced they were going it alone. Does anybody have any insight?

Tell that to the critics. I honestly don't care, I'm just saying what I was reading on this board. However, let's not start with the false equivalencies.

That is actually one of the persistent criticisms of the expansion of the NCL. For all the criticism levelled at this league and the attempt to create some sort of unified pyramid, the NCL is a bloated mess that has weakened regional leagues and hasn't created a formal pyramid at all.

I think you have a good grip of the situation. However, you know full well that even with the best of intentions, a lot of those criteria you've laid out aren't possible. Even teams in the NCL dip on games and you don't have to go to far on this board to see criticism of that structure. I've said repeatedly - and nobody will listen - that the only way we can move forward in the south of England is to get an eight-month season. Nobody is going to get better playing 3 1/2 months per year. You can't develop a club or a facility playing 3 1/2 months per year. However, it requires any number of conditions to be met for all clubs as well as a collective leap of faith from several parties who don't trust each other and have no reason to trust each other. In saying that, there are teams with seconds and juniors (and masters). However, with no unified season, no facilities and weak sponsor/institutional support, I think it's difficult to come as far as they have.

I honestly wouldn't wipe my backside after a curry with these designations. If anything, they just draw bores to conversations like this like flies on horse dung. It's a tier 4 league because it's a tier 4 league. It's meaningless nonsense and anybody whinging about that because of the NCL or the leagues in the north needs to get a meaningful hobby, I would suggest knitting.

This is what I originally said. Without these teams, the only areas without viability issues are the places where no or few teams have been taken. Midlands is unchanged, South West is unchanged, West of England needs a change of format. I would've thought that you of all people would understand that will never happen and why it will never happen. Well, it will never happen if things stay as they are.

Not with a straight face, no. However, what should a Tier 4 competition look like? This has already been explained above. They put the idea out there and the RFL are determined to get this on the field no matter what. The biggest clubs in the Midlands either decided to move North or have collapsed. There is no central anything right now. So you have a West league where it's the same Welsh teams, who are always up for a wider geographic league, and whoever the flavour of the month is in the West of England league. In the East, the only way they could get a league was to go for loads of teams and see what swims. Nobody wants cross-regional games, it's simply not practical.

Hey Jasper. Unless something has changed and they haven't informed the RFL, it will be a 9 team league and they are aiming for 14 rounds. Whether or not that generates 14 fixtures per team is quite another matter because there's a debate over how to generate a fixture list. If it was just eight teams double round robin, it would be easy and wonderful. However, it's 9 teams and there needs to be an element of fixture-related jiggery pokery. Do you have a split-season type situation, do you pre-seed teams and have loop fixtures based on that? Geographic loop fixtures. I don't know, no decision has been made as yet. Essentially there are three points here. Unless something has changed since last night and nobody has told the RFL, the story of one London Prem club wanting to stay in the London region isn't true. In saying that, I can't say what is going on behind closed doors. All I can discuss is what has been openly discussed or I have verified. The current official line is that there is no plan about what to do going forward, beyond organising a London Merit League format for 2019 and the East sorting themselves out. They're trying to sort out the Southern Premier level and then work down from there. Let's break it down though. The two teams "left over" from this season's London Championship are Medway and Newham, neither of whom are particularly happy with this state of affairs. Newham could make a go of being in an extended East Premier, Medway perhaps not. There are entry league teams and perhaps a Skolars community setup, that would make an 8 game season, same as this year. The East seems a bit more organised, due to the Bedford chairman taking on the role of league chairman. You have the three Premier teams (Brentwood, St Albans, St Ives) and apparently the two Div 1 sides are back for 2019 (Southend and Luton) and (hopefully) the return of Kings Lynn. That's a league, a very open league, with a massive footprint. The issue is the A grades. Some teams just want to play double headers against other A grades, some might want to play in a local league, some want some combination of the two. Clubs and Competions have repeatedly said there would be some help but it hasn't been nailed down. This isn't rumours, Jasper.

Partial merger I suppose. Look, the attitude of everybody involved is that something needs to be done. Get it on the field and work out the kinks from there. Then extend/reorganise the league in 2020, where hopefully a few more teams get their act together and meet the criteria in the meantime. The game has hidden behind the sofa for a few years, cut the number of games getting played. Unfortunately, due to the way things have been going over the past few years, there is little stability. In the past, you would've fancied Oxford or Devon to be involved but one finished last in the WoE Super 5s (and Oxford RL have disappeared, their wagons were tethered together somewhat) and the other hasn't played a competitive game for some time. Similarly Bath RL haven't achieved sufficiently on the field and I don't think anybody wants to see teams get a leg up because they have "shown ambition". There has to be a balance of having facilities, of having desire to move up and on-field achievements. No, it's not better but they're trying to get to something better and this is the process they've decided to take. I offer no opinion on the matter.

That will be it for 2019 apparently. Five teams, triple round robin, teams that have been rejected have been encouraged to get their acts together and try again next year.

The one I remember quite profoundly was Essex Eels. Had a chat with a friend and he vaguely remembers them doing a similar astroturfing experiment in Northampton. He thinks that perhaps Bristol Sonics came to be in a similar way but locals came along and took it on. At junior level, most of the South London junior clubs at a certain point seemed to be created this way. The ones that survived brought in local admins/parents who took it on. Some of them seemed to exist in name only.

The big difference between now and then is that there used to be money and development officer resource. Once that tap was turned off for open age clubs, it has been a struggle and a labour of love. Furthermore, we're ten years removed from the credit crunch but sponsors are still reluctant to put money up. A number of clubs didn't exist before they were announced by the RFL/RLC, who would then put development officer resource into creating a club and recruiting players. Real cart-before-the-horse stuff.

There's a big element of jealousy and bitterness to Frank's views on Eddie and he has some reason to feel that way. Financially, Frank is in a pickle. He was successfully sued by solicitors for unpaid fees after a successful libel action against Ricky Burns and his manager led to no money being recovered due to the respondents declaring bankruptcy. Last month, he was served with a winding-up petition from HMRC over unpaid taxes. Eddie Hearn does a lot of video interviews with Youtubers and had a discussion about Wilder and Fury. At that point, they had only sold 8,000 seats, there were still question marks over Fury making the fight and the view was that Fury would try to niggle his way to victory. Nothing was said that wasn't true or, at least, the general suspicion of most boxing insiders. Eddie then stuck the boot in and said something like "and Frank's even going bankrupt". Frank has every right to feel affronted, especially given that the US is a last minute "walk-up" market, especially in the South West (and Eddie knows that) and that Fury was training hard in Big Bear at that point. However, a lot of what Frank says comes from a place of anger and more than a hint of jealousy, which is why what he says has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Given how Frank Warren ran the careers of Hatton, Calzaghe and Maccarinelli and how the former two felt they had to leave Frank to get the big fights that would secure their legacy as fighters, it's a massive cheek to criticise Eddie and Anthony Joshua. They've put together as many big fights as it was possible to make but, realistically, the only one they haven't put together was Deontay Wilder because he wanted retirement money. This is also why he's picked up a number of top 20 heavyweights with potential, like Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller and Dillian Whyte, former rival and opponent of Joshua who has quietly turned himself into a title contender. When the next big fight comes along, he can make it. And to be fair to Eddie, he's been called a lot of things but all these fighters want to sign for him because he makes sure they get paid more and he's transparent with the money. All you need to do as a fighter is get ready to fight and help promote yourself. I look at Carl Froch, a wonderful super middleweight with knockout power who was signed to the Hennesseys but basically self-promoting when he signed with Matchroom. Eddie put him in Wembley Stadium for the biggest post-war attendance. Let's not listen to a bitter old man whose hair has been ruffled a bit too hard.

I think we all understand what needs to be done but nobody knows how to do it, including the RFL, who've concentrated on "consolidation" and watched numbers dwindle.

I don't know when the teams are formally announced. However, there is a meeting next Monday with the invited teams to make some initial decisions about it, such as season structure. I don't think there is a plan for the remaining teams, certainly not right now. I was told that the remaining London & SE teams, plus any 2nds, are expected to play in some sort of merit structure, which helped make a couple of minds up as to whether to go for this new league or not. This doesn't represent a change for Richmond or Elmbridge and would likely suit the 2nds (who want to play double-headers anyway) but it represents relegation for Medway and Newham. In the east, it would leave just St Ives, Brentwood and St Albans as the only "serious" teams. Luton and Southend struggled for numbers and MK collapsed. I would make you right, with the situation with the remaining sides, there needs to be some sort of league smushed together from the remaining East Prem and L&SE Champ teams. Give it a unique brand so it doesn't follow the Southern Premier branding they're going for at the moment. I know Newham fancy they could still do a proper league and they'd fancy their chances against all of the East sides. Brentwood and St Albans could do Newham and Medway (and whoever else) but it's a big ask for St Ives. This is why I have said repeatedly, we need a new way to encourage the creation of new teams. If it's offering expertise, if it's somebody trying to source playing fields. I genuinely don't know the best way to approach it but there's no money to throw at the problem. We need a creative solution to expansion.

I am a fan, at least I was for many years when it was on Channel 5 twice a week. When I was a student, I used to start late on a Monday and would watch Sunday Night Baseball live. My friend lived in San Francisco for a few years and used to go to watch the Giants regularly. He used to take a radio, a tip he got from one of his neighbours, filled the gaps in nicely.

To be fair, Bristol is probably closer to Bath than Bath RL's ground is. Should have more info next week.

The same club or the same place?

I've been to a few baseball games as an adult. Went to AT&T Park in San Francisco which is genuinely the best stadium I've ever been too. All things to all men. Beautiful setting on the Bay, modern engineering but with a real retro feel. Amazing food options, not a bad seat in the house and designed for a good atmosphere. When I went it was dead as a doornail though and the pace of the game was super-slow. The best live game I've ever been to was to see the Staten Island Yankees, who are the Yankees' Single-A affiliate, right by the St George ferry terminal on Staten Island. It was a bunch of local Staten Island people (and me, I acquired the imaginative nickname of London) and it was set up to be family-friendly entertainment. Quicker turnarounds, far fewer lulls in the game and stuff to do for the kids. It was begging for your attention. The stadium being excellent is a factor too, I guess. However, it was just a much more interesting experience than a major league game. I've been to a couple of the NFL games at Wembley but, like many, if it's not my team, I struggle to get invested.

Thank you, Oliver. Generally, amateur players want a semi-relaxed fit. If you're super buff, maybe the elite fit works well. However, we've had players who want to wear their own shirt casually and they usually go relaxed. Essentially, it's all the same to the kit supplier.

Thank you. We design a lot of our own stuff, including merch.