THE Rugby Football League’s ‘More Than A Sport – 2025 End of Year Report’ certainly makes interesting reading – all 36 pages of it.
I’ve included a summary here although, of necessity, I’ve had to leave some sections on the back burner for now, to be addressed as and when pertinent factors arise (for example in the Women’s Student arena, which reached its 2025-26 climax with yesterday’s Grand Final).
More will follow over the next few weeks and months but, for now, it has to be said that the RFL have produced a monumental report.
I can only begin to imagine the number of hours of work that will have gone into it, although I can certainly imagine that such as Sport England and relevant Government and other central agencies will be suitably impressed.
That will definitely be the case, I’d say, regarding the RFL’s approach to issues that most if not all of us feel should be supported, not least ones which would once have been viewed as unfashionable but which are now seen completely differently.
For all the worthwhile and absolutely proactive actions being taken by the RFL, I’m surprised that a number of organisations are noticeable by their absence from the report in what, to my mind, is an echo of how rugby union clubs used to pretend that players who left them for Rugby League never existed (even, I believe, occasionally ‘airbrushing’ such men from old team photos, although that might be anecdotal).
Anyway, much was made when the National Leagues and Regional Conferences were first mooted that this year’s 40th anniversary of the National Conference League would be duly recognised, not least with a celebratory logo.
That notion seems to have been jettisoned as the RFL and the NCL fell out big-time, with the NCL dissolving themselves back in January as relations grew increasingly bitter.
Indeed, at the time of going to press the RFL had failed to answer my query as to whether, as originally envisaged, the National League should be described, this year, in honour of the NCL, or even whether the logo should be used at all. Perhaps relations had deteriorated to such a degree that the goodwill gesture had to be shelved.
Similarly, the Pennine League and the Women’s Amateur Rugby League Association have found themselves on the outside looking in, while it’s no secret that deep antipathy exists to the RFL’s National Community Rugby League strategy, not least in West Cumbria and Furness.
You wouldn’t know any of that from the RFL’s report, though, and I suppose you can’t really blame the authors. After all, you have to show a positive front in this world.
Nevertheless, while the report is an impressive document, for sure, there will be some who will interpret it (or at least documentation regarding the NCRL) as, to quote the former Labour MP Gerald Kaufmann back in 1983 on his party’s election manifesto, “the longest suicide note in history”.
We shall see.
Meanwhile, actual action is now upon us, and I’ll be reporting as best I can on how teams fare in the National Leagues and in the Regional Conferences, although it’s certainly the case that the old certainties, under the National Conference League, regarding clubs’ need to file reports (and how) to the media (ie. me) no longer seem to quite be in place.
In fact Saturday evening’s experience in fielding the reports that found their way to me revived memories of when I visited Red Hall a few years ago, on several occasions, mainly to address the many problems caused by the GameDay reports system (they were never resolved, incidentally).
I also, on those jaunts, lamented the fact that, following the effective ‘takeover’ by the RFL of competitions such as the Hull, North West Counties and CMS Yorkshire Leagues (all of whose volunteers supplied round-ups for me each and every Saturday evening) I got zilch from the replacement competitions (the North West Men’s and Yorkshire Men’s Leagues).
I put this down to my belief that the RFL, having sidelined enthusiastic volunteers, would have had to pay staff to do the same work and, let’s face it, be prepared to speak to me up to midnight each Saturday and in the early hours – certainly from 7.00am – every Sunday.
Readers may note that, now that the National Community Rugby League era has arrived, there are – in stark contrast to previously – gaps in coverage in such as the National and Regional Conference Leagues (which have replaced the National Conference Leagues) and the Cumbria Conference (the latter led to the demise of the Cumberland League, which was very well reported up to last season).
It’s all very sad. There are more pressing matters, obviously, than providing the media with details of scorers. Nevertheless, I hold to the mantra that publicity is oxygen.
Perhaps the RFL, judging by their actions (or inactions) of recent years, don’t agree. It doesn’t augur well for the ‘brave new world’ though.
In some instances regarding the RFL’s annexation of the grassroots game, things are decidedly flaky. It will be an interesting few months.