Jump to content

Midlands Rugby League


Recommended Posts


2 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

Didn’t realise there was a club in Shrewsbury, good to hear 

The Midlands is really expanding far and wide, taking in Goole as well now!

Yes I didnt know this either. The midlands is certainly looking as strong as it has done in a while. There are also several clubs just outside the boundary too. The midlands has definitely got to be seen as an area of potential growth. Like the North East its relatively close to the heartlands and there is a good geographic spread of clubs too. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

A really professional looking website that, much better than some of the semi-pro clubs’ offerings. 

Designed by Alan Robinson at the Bears. I think it will be a great resource going forward and help clubs build on all the great stuff already happening. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Saint 1 said:

There's already been some experimentation with this. The difficulty at senior level is the stronger and weaker teams are split pretty evenly, so an East/West split you end up with fewer competitive games. 

On the juniors, one thing that was introduced in 2019 was an 'Origin' series (for lack of a better term). As the junior season runs over the Summer, to continue RL activity from September onwards, there was an East v West series. A few training sessions at a hub in each side (open to all), and then one or two games against the opposite side of the Midlands. Each team even had a brand new kit! 

Alan has done great work on this website. So much potential in the game here! 

Thanks for the info.

I was thinking an East/West split would only come into play at open age in a few years if the amount of clubs increase. I would only have it below a Midlands Premier League so that the strongest clubs from both regions could compete against in the Premier with the weaker clubs playing in a East or West league

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Eddie said:

A really professional looking website that, much better than some of the semi-pro clubs’ offerings. 

It's a clear, crisp, colourful and informative website with easy links to each club and their own media. It's so easy these days to do similar things and it does make some other semi-pro clubs looking a bit tin-pot. 

Lots planned for the region at Junior level so we can convert this into strong, competitive teams in the coming years. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, OriginalMrC said:

The midlands is certainly looking as strong as it has done in a while. There are also several clubs just outside the boundary too. The midlands has definitely got to be seen as an area of potential growth. Like the North East its relatively close to the heartlands and there is a good geographic spread of clubs too. 

The Midlands and the North East both have a good number of teams playing at grassroots level and look to be good potential expansion areas. It’d be great to see another semi professional/professional club in the Midlands to compliment Coventry Bears. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having plenty of experience around rugby league in the midlands it needs to tick off a few immediate objectives over the next few years:

1. Regular junior competitions (not just fixtures) at consistent age groups say U13 & U16 

2. Development of two amateur tiers (premier and regional championship) to ensure that there are competitive levels and more social levels, as as referred to by Saint1 and East/West split can really lead to some absolute whallopings.

 

An example situation:

Midlands Premier

Sherwood WolfHunt

Birmingham Bulldogs

Coventry Dragons (need to return)

Northampton Demons (need to return)

Derby City Elks

East Midlands Championship

Boston Buccaneers

Nottingham Outlaws ‘A’

Lincoln (new club)

Leicester (need to return)  

West Midlands Championship

NEW Ravens

Leamington Royals

Telford Raiders

(New club maybe around Staffs/Shrews)

-

Could operate a Midlands cup to allow championship teams the chance to compete against premier clubs. Promotion and relegation could be an option.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

The Midlands and the North East both have a good number of teams playing at grassroots level and look to be good potential expansion areas. It’d be great to see another semi professional/professional club in the Midlands to compliment Coventry Bears. 

Not that they have any short-term ambitions of applying to join the league but geographically speaking the Nottingham outlaws would be great for the East Midlands.

The obvious choice though would be England’s 2nd city Birmingham. Maybe even Wolverhampton?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, welshmagpie said:

Having plenty of experience around rugby league in the midlands it needs to tick off a few immediate objectives over the next few years:

1. Regular junior competitions (not just fixtures) at consistent age groups say U13 & U16 

2. Development of two amateur tiers (premier and regional championship) to ensure that there are competitive levels and more social levels, as as referred to by Saint1 and East/West split can really lead to some absolute whallopings.

 

An example situation:

Midlands Premier

Sherwood WolfHunt

Birmingham Bulldogs

Coventry Dragons (need to return)

Northampton Demons (need to return)

Derby City Elks

East Midlands Championship

Boston Buccaneers

Nottingham Outlaws ‘A’

Lincoln (new club)

Leicester (need to return)  

West Midlands Championship

NEW Ravens

Leamington Royals

Telford Raiders

(New club maybe around Staffs/Shrews)

-

Could operate a Midlands cup to allow championship teams the chance to compete against premier clubs. Promotion and relegation could be an option.

Is the Lincoln new club something that’s actually being spoken about or just where you think it would be good to have one? If it’s the former I could maybe help out in some way. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

Is the Lincoln new club something that’s actually being spoken about or just where you think it would be good to have one? If it’s the former I could maybe help out in some way. 

Just a ‘wish’ based on geographical spread mate - would benefit Boston.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Not that they have any short-term ambitions of applying to join the league but geographically speaking the Nottingham outlaws would be great for the East Midlands.

The obvious choice though would be England’s 2nd city Birmingham. Maybe even Wolverhampton?

Loughborough has a 3500 capacity stadium that would be ideal for a Championship or League One club. They’ve had a strong University side for a number of years now. It’s not a massive city but has a bigger population than Castleford, Leigh, Featherstone and Widnes. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Loughborough has a 3500 capacity stadium that would be ideal for a Championship or League One club. They’ve had a strong University side for a number of years now. It’s not a massive city but has a bigger population than Castleford, Leigh, Featherstone and Widnes. 

Do you know anyone there who’d be interested in starting a semi professional RL club? Are you keen?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Eddie said:

Do you know anyone there who’d be interested in starting a semi professional RL club? Are you keen?

There was a group based around Loughborough that entered a team into the midlands league a few years ago. They only lasted one/two games though sadly. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I seem to have travelled back in time about 10 years when there was a similar optimistic mood, and posts similar to this thread's posts. Then it was backed by the RFL with funded coaches in Derbyshire, Notts, Norhampton, Telford, Worcester, Coventry and Leicester. There were Origin games, leagues at U16, U14 and U12, festivals with hundreds of kids playing, 2 men's divisions plus a Merit League. The pulling of the funding, plus what can most charitably be described as utter indifference from the government body, saw it all wither away.

Boomer is doing a great job and I wish all of them well. But don't underestimate how difficult and fragile it is to get rugby league running properly outside of a few pockets in the North.

"I am the avenging angel; I come with wings unfurled, I come with claws extended from halfway round the world. I am the God Almighty, I am the howling wind. I care not for your family; I care not for your kin. I come in search of terror, though terror is my own; I come in search of vengeance for crimes and crimes unknown. I care not for your children, I care not for your wives, I care not for your country, I care not for your lives." - (c) Jim Boyes - "The Avenging Angel"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, tim2 said:

I seem to have travelled back in time about 10 years when there was a similar optimistic mood, and posts similar to this thread's posts. Then it was backed by the RFL with funded coaches in Derbyshire, Notts, Norhampton, Telford, Worcester, Coventry and Leicester. There were Origin games, leagues at U16, U14 and U12, festivals with hundreds of kids playing, 2 men's divisions plus a Merit League. The pulling of the funding, plus what can most charitably be described as utter indifference from the government body, saw it all wither away.

Boomer is doing a great job and I wish all of them well. But don't underestimate how difficult and fragile it is to get rugby league running properly outside of a few pockets in the North.

Massively agree. I tried to alleviate any over-optimism with my earlier point about the immediate needs being regular junior fixtures and keeping clubs afloat.

Some games in the midlands league are barely pub league standard, sadly. There’s some way to go. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is great news. I'm a firm believer in focusing any resources on clusters that can then grow outwards. The North East is a great example of that and now hopefully the Midlands will follow. There is a huge population in a fairly small radius and having local teams to play and little travel makes a huge difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, tim2 said:

I seem to have travelled back in time about 10 years when there was a similar optimistic mood, and posts similar to this thread's posts. Then it was backed by the RFL with funded coaches in Derbyshire, Notts, Norhampton, Telford, Worcester, Coventry and Leicester. There were Origin games, leagues at U16, U14 and U12, festivals with hundreds of kids playing, 2 men's divisions plus a Merit League. The pulling of the funding, plus what can most charitably be described as utter indifference from the government body, saw it all wither away.

Boomer is doing a great job and I wish all of them well. But don't underestimate how difficult and fragile it is to get rugby league running properly outside of a few pockets in the North.

Yes things definitely went backwards for a while in the midlands but the corner has turned I feel. Clubs are working together and resources like this will hopefully pull in the floating rugby league fans and get them involved at their local clubs 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.