All 38 professional clubs will sit down together today (Wednesday) at the Rugby Football League’s annual Council meeting – but any definitive decision on the league structure for 2019 is almost certainly unlikely to be reached, League Express understands.
Sources on both sides of the divide have indicated to League Express that they do not expect a resolution on the ongoing debate about which league structure to implement from next season onwards – despite increasing pressure from the RFL to reach an amicable conclusion.
League Express was informed several weeks ago that the RFL – who last week confirmed Ralph Rimmer would be the permanent CEO of the governing body moving forward – were keen to ensure talks drew to a close before next month’s Challenge Cup semi-finals.
With no progress whatsoever since then, however – and the Championship and League 1 clubs remaining united in their desire to keep the Super 8s – no outcome is expected to be reached at Council.
League Express has seen a copy of the agenda for the meeting, which will be held in Lincoln on Wednesday – and there is no segment set aside to discuss the league structure.
What will be discussed in detail, however, are the RFL’s latest accounts – the finer points of which were revealed by League Express last week.
Those accounts show a loss in excess of £2million – which includes the payout of over £328,000 to former chief executive Nigel Wood upon him leaving the RFL at the beginning of this year.
The RFL insist they expect to return to a surplus this year, with a £372,000 write down in the value of Odsal Stadium also listed as a major contributory factor for the losses.
