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The driving forces behind these changes don't care about expansion of the game at any level because they don't have to. It doesn't bring anything to their bottom line.

Strange hill to choose to die on though.

Reserve sides will be the death of this competition. A development side, run separately with no crossover, perhaps. However, as has been pointed out repeatedly, reserves don't work in a league full of 1sts. Strangely, the opposite is true. Locals turn out to see their team against "proper" Rugby teams and heartland clubs bring away fans, even if it's just groundhoppers and exiled fans. I agree with the idea that teams getting flogged isn't the answer but I don't know where we get the teams from. For instance, West Wales seems to have shaken out as the worst iteration of the South Wales L1 team because there's absolutely no infrastructure. Where are their players coming from? They had 12 against Keighley, that's really not good enough. Skolars in recent years seem to be sniffing around the London League a lot more for players than they have for many years. It's not the biggest infrastructure in London but at least there is an infrastructure of people who would love to play at the higher level. On the subject, the vague stuff I heard about six weeks ago so closely dovetails with the Lionel Hurst interview and the way he's talking about it, he's clearly the architect of it. Those who don't do podcasts, 10 amateur teams, 2 "of the best" from each of the five "regions" - Wales, London & SE, East, Midlands and West/South West - with established ground standards and standards of community development. Let's look at London & South East. There are essentially 10 adult clubs; Hammersmith, Wests, Chargers, Eastern, Brixton, South London, Medway, Newham, Richmond and Elmbridge. Nobody else can realistically claim relevance, even if you have juniors but folded your open age. Of all those teams, I'm not sure who qualifies. Under community and junior standards, I think it's probably Richmond and Elmbridge best placed but both are rebuilding their adult sides. Hammersmith, Wests and Chargers are the best sides on the field but can't satisfy other criteria. I think Newham have lost their juniors, Medway are still reeling from losing their clubhouse. Probably, the team best placed to enter such a league would be Eastern Rhinos. Long-established, multiple age groups, reliable ground in Colchester. Would they want it? That's a question for them but they haven't before. My other concern is that this idea hasn't actually come from the RFL or, as I was led to believe, Super League. There needs to be a wider scrutiny of the ideas and plans and not just an idea and proposal from somebody a bit controversial, who has been around the block enough times that Ralph will deign to take a phonecall from him. My question is that if I, as vice-chairman of a club, sat down and wrote this same said proposal, would anybody listen to it? I am not completely against all of the ideas. I've said for a long time that we need promotion and relegation and we need a formalisation of a pyramid but there's no point in any of that if we don't have enough teams and a long enough season. 10 teams in London and the South East and teams are dying every year and nobody will convince me that Hammersmith wouldn't have won the Harry Jepson if they had shown up. I don't see the critical mass needed to sustain a higher level in any region. And what happens when the money runs out? It's Rugby League. The only thing you can bank on is that the money will run out.

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...

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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.

Any information on the Antofagasta league? First I've heard of it is all.

They actually have one employee in London!?! Sorry, I couldn't resist. EDIT: And they did this before. They closed everything and told people to work from home in 2013/2014. As I've said before - here and other places - clubs and volunteers need to fill the void. Start it with an independent chairman. There has to be somebody within the nearly 19m people who live in London or an adjacent county that would put their hand up and get involved. SURELY?

I was told by somebody that something was afoot but they weren't sure exactly what it is because it's in a very early stage.

Something is definitely afoot but I can't say for sure what it is.

It's become incredibly frustrating to me. The RFL is so opaque and that opacity trickles down and it all becomes about rumour and innuendo. The level of smack-talk and, double-speak is now at the point where it feels as though everybody is now in the wrong. The finger cannot be solely pointed at the RFL for this. Most frustratingly is when clubs meet to brainstorm and there's been a discussion had before the meeting to decide what would happen.

I'm not criticising Coventry Bears. However, late last year and earlier this year, clubs in London & South East region were cajoled, prodded and maybe even bullied into adopting a structure that would allow the absorption of Coventry Dragons and Northampton Demons. A month before the start of the season, Coventry dropped out and Northampton followed them about two weeks into the season. A player numbers crisis was amongst the listed reasons and some even mentioned the Bears' more local recruitment. All I want to know is, who was lying to the rest of us and what was the real reason? You even see the "I can't believe what the RFL did to us" posts on Facebook with no clarification.

So, was everybody lying to me about Coventry Bears stripping Coventry Dragons and Northampton of their best players?