IT was hard not to feel a sense of shock on Friday when the RFL announced that Featherstone Rovers would not be a member of the RFL during the 2026 season, thereby meaning that the club would not compete in the Championship nor in the Challenge Cup.
“The Rugby Football League (RFL) can confirm that Featherstone Rovers have not been granted RFL Membership or entry into the 2026 Betfred Championship,” said the RFL statement.
“The club fell into administration in December and the one submission received to take ownership of the club has not met the required governance criteria and RFL Membership has been denied.”
That was the limit of the explanation the RFL gave.
I understand that the owners of the new company that had been set up to run the club to come out of administration had failed to establish a distinct identity compared to the owners of the previous company that had run into such serious financial problems.
And I think it’s fair to assume that the RFL will have had serious doubts about whether the club’s rugby debts to players and other rugby officials would be paid off by the new company.
In the circumstances it perhaps wasn’t surprising that the decision was made, disappointing though that was.
So what will happen now to Featherstone Rovers, which is one of the most iconic and historic club names in Rugby League with some incredibly committed supporters?
The club can’t be allowed to disappear. Someone has to find a way to bring it back in 2027 and I’m sure that the RFL will play its part in trying to achieve that aim.
Whatever happens, I hope the Featherstone supporters will stand by the club and support its efforts to get back on its feet.
There have been other examples of clubs having missed one or more seasons before returning to action.
The most famous example is probably in Australia, when South Sydney was ejected from what is now the NRL competition at the end of the 1999 season, but after massive demonstrations in Sydney it was re-admitted to the competition in 2002, going on to win the NRL Grand Final in 2014.
The original Gateshead Thunder missed the 2000 season as a standalone club after merging with Hull at the end of 1999, but supporters formed a new Gateshead Thunder that was accepted into the then Northern Ford Premiership in August 2000 to play in the 2001 season, so they didn’t play in 2000 but a new entity was created to return to the lower leagues.
And of course Rugby League is far more embedded in Featherstone than it was in Gateshead in 2000 and I’m sure that those supporters who, among other things brought a stand from Scarborough and rebuilt it at Post Office Road, will be able to revive the club to be stronger in 2027.
There is far too much goodwill in Featherstone for that not to happen.
And if they want to watch some Rugby League in 2026 there are plenty of community clubs in the area.
And it’s worth pointing out that the Featherstone Rovers women’s team will still be playing each week when their season starts, so perhaps for one season at least some of the Featherstone supporters can start supporting their women.
I just hope that next season their men’s team is back in action and the club is on a firm financial footing.
It’s the very least that those long-suffering supporters deserve.