English lower leagues

[bowes]

Basically the RLC had expanded too far to make sense as one league and had naturally drifted into regional leagues anyway. The better teams joining CLS is the reason the Midlands premier folded but it was already a struggling league. Also with leagues switching to summer from winter the format needed to be adjusted to the new pyramid. The problem is the RLC should have been replaced with something better but they instead kept a similar format with different branding. There really was no need to keep the Harry Jepson Trophy as a knock out for some leagues but not others at tier 5. It should have been restructured into an open cup for all southern and Midlands clubs

I would look to recreate the Midlands premier and a London, East and South East premier but there would be a risk of leaving the clubs that don't make the cut without a league to play in. It also wouldn't provide a full season.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Why exactly can't clubs who want to play a full season in a CLS type comp not do so? Why does it require financial support from the rfl? Surely if clubs can pay insurance, find refs and cover the other normal costs they shouldn't need a governing body paying their way. How do all other leagues exist there?

 

[Evil Homer]

Why exactly can't clubs who want to play a full season in a CLS type comp not do so? Why does it require financial support from the rfl? Surely if clubs can pay insurance, find refs and cover the other normal costs they shouldn't need a governing body paying their way. How do all other leagues exist there?

Because there are only 2-3 teams that want to. The problem with the CLS was that the geographic spread was way too big for it to be viable. Teams were looking at 5-6 hour journeys each way for some matches, it just wasn't a viable league.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

So the rfl hasn't abolished it, it just died on its own.

 

[Evil Homer]

So the rfl hasn't abolished it, it just died on its own.

Yes, it was discontinued by the representatives of the league, who are involved with the RFL because that is the governing body for the sport. Nigel Wood hasn't just randomly decided to axe an obscure amateur league for no reason. The people who were involved with running it couldn't find a way to make it work. Which TBH was inevitable given the geographic distances involved.

 

[bowes]

The RFL tried to split the league into west and east divisions but there were hardly any clubs interested in stepping up so that fell through. I think a large part of the demise of the league is the Welsh deciding to go it alone and create a stronger domestic league. Gloucestershire All Golds are furious the RFL can't provide a league for their reserve team and Nottingham and to a lesser extnet London Chargers have no credible league to go into

 

[East Coast Tiger]

So what's the plan for the Welsh league? They had three teams in this CLS. Does this mean they will have their own full season league?

 

[Evil Homer]

The RFL tried to split the league into west and east divisions but there were hardly any clubs interested in stepping up so that fell through. I think a large part of the demise of the league is the Welsh deciding to go it alone and create a stronger domestic league. Gloucestershire All Golds are furious the RFL can't provide a league for their reserve team and Nottingham and to a lesser extnet London Chargers have no credible league to go into

Nottingham should try to enter the Conference leagues or even the Yorkshire Men's League, more suitable opposition and traveling distances would be less than they were in the CLS.

 

[CC_Roosters]

Basically the RLC had expanded too far to make sense as one league and had naturally drifted into regional leagues anyway. The better teams joining CLS is the reason the Midlands premier folded but it was already a struggling league. Also with leagues switching to summer from winter the format needed to be adjusted to the new pyramid. The problem is the RLC should have been replaced with something better but they instead kept a similar format with different branding. There really was no need to keep the Harry Jepson Trophy as a knock out for some leagues but not others at tier 5. It should have been restructured into an open cup for all southern and Midlands clubs

I would look to recreate the Midlands premier and a London, East and South East premier but there would be a risk of leaving the clubs that don't make the cut without a league to play in. It also wouldn't provide a full season.

A lot of the time I don't think they are thinking strategically or with any sort of planning process. first they need to decide what the purpose of the southern leagues is, to me it looks like they are there to cater for open age amateur competition and as opportunities for the league one sides reserves. therefore a regional setup makes sense it's just about where to draw the lines.
it also seems to me that there needs to be two tiers- elite amateur along 3-4 larger regions and then open/social leagues in smaller regions.

The elite regions should be broken along something like
West- south West, optional welsh clubs.
East- London, south East, east
Central- Midlands, south Yorkshire, welsh borders

What are the differences in terms of quality and payments between the national conference leagues, the Yorkshire and North West comps and what was the conference south?

Edit
Could Gloucester not play in what will be a strong welsh conference resulting from the demise of CLS? same for Nottingham, if they have ambition would a step up to national conference level not be a more suitable paths for them if they are going to be far too strong for many Midlands sides. that being said couldn't the Midlands have multiple leagues e.g premier, div 1 if there are sufficient clubs?

 

[bowes]

So what's the plan for the Welsh league? They had three teams in this CLS. Does this mean they will have their own full season league?

The league I heard mentioned was Valley Cougars, West Wales Raiders and Torfaen Tigers from CLS; Cardiff City, Bridgend Blue Bulls and Aber Valley Wolves from the Welsh league and possible two clubs from North Wales (though they may choose to enter the North Wales clubs in one of the lower divisions in the North West instead). I don't know if Bridgend or Aber Valley could commit to a full season. I think they're aiming for something longer than the Welsh conference but shorter than CLS

 

[bowes]

Nottingham should try to enter the Conference leagues or even the Yorkshire Men's League, more suitable opposition and traveling distances would be less than they were in the CLS.

Nottingham have said they're not ready for the NCL but I see no reason why they couldn't enter the premier division in the Yorkshire Men's league or possibly division 1 for the first season to find their feet.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

The league I heard mentioned was Valley Cougars, West Wales Raiders and Torfaen Tigers from CLS; Cardiff City, Bridgend Blue Bulls and Aber Valley Wolves from the Welsh league and possible two clubs from North Wales (though they may choose to enter the North Wales clubs in one of the lower divisions in the North West instead). I don't know if Bridgend or Aber Valley could commit to a full season. I think they're aiming for something longer than the Welsh conference but shorter than CLS

It would be good for Wales to have more clubs playing more games. Will there still be a conference below that and how many teams is it likely to have? You can't really blame the Welsh clubs for choosing something like this for travel reasons over an English-based league. And the fact the rfl has hung the WRL out to dry funding wise adds a bit of karma.

 

[bowes]

It would be good for Wales to have more clubs playing more games. Will there still be a conference below that and how many teams is it likely to have? You can't really blame the Welsh clubs for choosing something like this for travel reasons over an English-based league. And the fact the rfl has hung the WRL out to dry funding wise adds a bit of karma.

This would be the only league. The Welsh conference last year had five teams and the other two were a reserve team for West Wales Raiders and a new club called Blaenau Gwent Sharks who struggled to raise a team. Maybe they'd look at a mini merit league or something if there's the interest. There may well be new teams pop up of course for the main league between now and the start of the season

 

[East Coast Tiger]

This would be the only league. The Welsh conference last year had five teams and the other two were a reserve team for West Wales Raiders and a new club called Blaenau Gwent Sharks who struggled to raise a team. Maybe they'd look at a mini merit league or something if there's the interest. There may well be new teams pop up of course for the main league between now and the start of the season

That's a bit disappointing. There needs to be a league for new clubs and reserve teams. The CLS clubs will lose players on top of losing games. Seems like just about everywhere is going backwards over there. What about North Wales? Did they have a league of their own this year?

 

[bowes]

The North Wales conference has long since folded. They had viable seasons in 2012 and 2013 but the league collapsed in the 2014 season with only two clubs left and there have just been a handful of friendlies since. There just aren't remotely enough clubs to run a league in North Wales or a second South Wales division. The game's effectively dead in Scotland as well, there's only two clubs there.

The only region outside the heartlands with more than one fixtured division is the East. London and the South East has a second merit division and the East has a third merit league competition for reserve teams. Nowhere else outside the heartlands has anything at all beneath the 'premier' division.

 

[roughyedspud]

Manchester rangers have applied to join league one..

 

[CC_Roosters]

Manchester rangers have applied to join league one..

Source?

 

[Tigers1986]

If Manchester get accepted then League One would have 17 teams. Christ that's overkill.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

They'll have to promote a heap of teams to the Championship at the end of next year, especially if Bradford folds and if they still relegate from the Championship, although it would be harsh to relegate someone while expanding the league to, say, 14 teams.

 

[CC_Roosters]

They'll have to promote a heap of teams to the Championship at the end of next year, especially if Bradford folds and if they still relegate from the Championship, although it would be harsh to relegate someone while expanding the league to, say, 14 teams.

Honestly I would make the championship a 10 team competition (triple round robin 27 games). We should be trying to make that level more elite so that it closes the gap with super league. 2 less teams equates to more grant money per club, which I would hope allows clubs at this level to field academy and potentially reserve sides depending on individual club budgets.