THE 2026 National Leagues season, at Premier and Division One levels, is heading into the final straight.
While nothing in terms of titles, promotions, relegations or play-off inclusion has yet been totally settled, the coming weeks will certainly see a whole range of issues surrounding the competition’s inaugural campaign resolved.
The destination of the Premier Division League Leaders’ Shield – for me, the most important trophy of the lot – will be one of them.
West Hull, who won the National Conference League’s last championship by beating table-toppers Siddal in the Grand Final last October, are a whisker away from clinching pole position.
The Green and Golds, after beating relegation-haunted Heworth on Saturday, remain eight points clear of Hunslet ARLFC, who saw off bottom side Rochdale Mayfield.
But the south Leeds outfit have only four games left and would have to win all of them while Wests, who enjoy a 100 percent success return this time, would have to lose all four of theirs – and by significant margins, given their huge advantage in the points difference column – for Ryan Steen and his men to be denied.
Everything else is very much up in the air, but it won’t be for long. Check out your League Express every Monday – I’ll be aiming to highlight the various celebrations and commiserations.
What I can say after Saturday’s results is that, as previously mentioned, only West Hull or Hunslet ARLFC can top the Premier Division.
The top-six championship play-offs will include that pair together with Waterhead Warriors and Siddal, plus any two of Thatto Heath Crusaders, Wath Brow Hornets, Wigan St Judes and, if only mathematically, West Bowling and York Acorn.
Who will go down from the top flight? The reality is that bottom side Rochdale Mayfield have looked doomed for some time, while the other team to drop could be any one of Heworth, York Acorn and Lock Lane.
In purely mathematical terms, though (I never discount that factor until everything is done and dusted) West Bowling or even Wigan St Judes could yet fall through the trapdoor, although that’s unlikely in the extreme.
The top team in Division One will be automatically promoted and it’s hard to see past Kells or Dewsbury Celtic, especially as third-placed Dewsbury Moor Maroons lost at Oulton on Saturday.
The Maroons are likely to be involved in top-six play-offs, with the Grand Final winner joining the eventual table-toppers in being elevated (if one side comes top and also wins the Grand Final, the second-placed team will be promoted).
Much, therefore, depends on who finishes in the top six. As it stands Kells, Dewsbury Celtic and Dewsbury Moor are certain to finish in that group. East Leeds will take some stopping in the bid to feature in the play-offs while the other two could be any of Oulton Raiders, Leigh Miners Rangers, Egremont Rangers, Shaw Cross Sharks and Stanningley, while Wigan St Patricks have a mathematical chance, albeit not much more than that.
Who will be relegated to the Regional Conferences? It’s hard to see Oldham St Annes and Pilkington Recs avoiding finishing in the bottom two, while Pats are too close to the drop zone for comfort, but Stanningley put paid to any lingering trapdoor woes by scuttling Shaw Cross at the weekend.
Meanwhile, as I feared, Scotland Rugby League have been compelled to cancel their Grand Final.
The game, which should have taken place at Hawick RUFC between Edinburgh Eagles and Border Raiders, didn’t go ahead and I wasn’t sure whether the fixture had merely been postponed, or shelved entirely.
Sadly, it’s been confirmed that it’s the latter.
The immediate problems regarding the action which had been scheduled for Saturday, August 15 were, firstly, that the pitch at Hawick was – like so many others given the sustained lack of rain – rock hard and, secondly, that the Raiders (who had stepped in at short notice following the withdrawal of original finalists Tayside Silverbacks) found that too many members of their squad already had rugby union commitments.
Scotland Rugby League’s operations and league director Barry McGuffog told me during last week: “The Grand Final is cancelled due to little opportunity to reschedule – rugby union and rock-solid pitches. Plus two internationals.”
Those internationals are a bright spot, that’s for sure.
Scotland played Ireland Wolfhounds on Saturday at Edinburgh and the return will take place in Dublin on Saturday week.
Sadly, though, several months of action at domestic level in Scotland has ended with, well, nothing, which is to say the least dispiriting.
It’s also dispiriting that the winter-based Pennine League won’t be happening – for the first time since the competition was launched in the early 1970s.
I checked, early last week, with secretary Sue Taylor what, if anything, was happening. She confirmed that there has been no change since the start of the year when, in the League Express of February 2, she stated: “It is with a heavy heart that the management have to announce that under the recent National Community Rugby League structure, under the helm of Martin Coyd, it has been decided there is no longer room for the Pennine ARL.
“The Pennine Rugby League was formed in 1974, when local district leagues got together and pooled their experience and resources to provide competitive structured Rugby League within the Pennine area (Yorkshire and Lancashire).
“In its prime, the league management compiled their own league fixtures for no fewer than 118 teams, compiled league tables and appointed match officials, all on a voluntary basis.
“The league conducted their own strict discipline and ran three cup competitions – the President’s Cup, Andrew Bennett Memorial Trophy and the Supplementary Cup.
“And the league was the first to implement player ID cards.
“Thank you to all the clubs, players, match officials and volunteers who have contributed to the league’s 52-year history.”
A long-cherished competition which continues to take place is the Barton Townley Cup, which is the knockout prize for those sides that used to be members of the Barrow and District League (I think that organisation might now have been sidelined through the National Community Rugby League restructuring initiative).
I’m grateful to Barrow journalist Paddy McAteer for confirming to me that this Friday’s game at the Speed Competitions Stadium (aka Barrow’s Craven Park) between Barrow Island and Millom, which kicks off at 7.30pm, is in fact the final.
Sadly, but true to form, GameDay provided no such information when issuing fixtures on Friday. The match should be a classic – get there if you can.
The following day the place to be, I think, is the Millennium Stadium (aka Post Office Road), Featherstone.
There’s plenty of action to savour, and it’s all in a very good cause, with a third of the six quid admission charge to be passed to Featherstone Rovers fans’ True Blue fund.
And the action? Well, the main event will be German Exiles against a Germany ‘domestic’ side, which will kick-off at 6.00pm.
Immediately before that, the under tens of Kippax and Knottingley Mustangs will parade their skills while, to open proceedings, Boothtown Terriers and Methley Warriors will play a friendly.
That should be a cracking day, on a ‘proper’ Rugby League ground which the lads from Germany will surely enjoy.
And, finally, the South of England team is, in my opinion, an important component in the Rugby League structure.
The side beat Wales Dragonhearts, after having been edged by the Australia and New Zealand Exiles, last year, and the team will renew acquaintance with those two this autumn, in addition to playing Scotland Bravehearts.
The selection process, by the way, is very similar to that utilised very successfully for many years by England Universities, with regional teams meeting each other to offer coaches valuable insights into the abilities and characters of the hopefuls.
It’s more than a month before East of England, Midlands and South and East will square up in Oxford while serious moves are afoot to resurrect the West and Southwest team. I really do hope that those plans come to fruition.