TIME was when it was a hard-and fast requirement, under the National Conference League minimum standards criteria, that member clubs had to have in place a second team.

As playing numbers at men’s open age level began to fall away, however, NCL bosses were obliged to quietly ease their stance, instead stipulating that an Under 18 side should be active should a club lack an ‘A’ team.

Even that ruling (if ever it was actually in the regulations) seems to have been relaxed in recent years, however. 

Previously, any club failing to fulfil three fixtures in any of the various regional leagues (in those days Barrow, Cumberland, Hull, North West Counties, Pennine and CMS Yorkshire) was in very real danger of having it’s ‘A’ team thrown out of its respective competition and, therefore, of being demoted in the National Conference or, potentially, even being expelled. 

A review of results over the last season, in the main provided by the computerised GameDay system, illustrates how things have changed.

No club, as far as League Express is aware, is in danger of losing its membership of the NCL through its ‘A’ team blobbing on matches but, sadly, 25 of the Conference’s 46 clubs failed to fulfil at least one second-team fixture. 

One side, according to GameDay, conceded 14 matches, and another blobbed on nine. Five failed to play on five occasions and another two conceded four times. Another couple failed three fixtures, meaning that no fewer than eleven clubs would, back in the day, have been fretting over their flagship league status.

And it could in reality be even worse. At least once club, League Express understands, simply withdrew from regular action, meaning that their fixtures were no longer listed as ‘postponed’ by GameDay.

It could, however, potentially be that more regionalised competitions, as and when they become reality, will ease the pressures on Conference clubs’ player rosters and hopefully lead to the trend being reversed.