National Leagues 2006

[terracesider]

NL1:
HKR 29v22 Widnes
Whitehaven 30v0 Batley

NL2
Sheffield 26 v 16 Celtic
Featherstone 14 v 27 Swinton

NL3
Bramley 30v10 Hemel
Warrington 30v12 St Albans

 

[terracesider]

I think next week's fixtures are:
NL1: Widnes 24v20 Whitehaven; winner to meet HKR in final.
NL2: Celtic 26v27 Swinton; winner to meet Sheffield in the final.
NL3: Hemel 27v16 Warrington

 

[bartman]

So that makes Castleford now a 25% mathematical probability to stay up?

(50% for Haven next week into 50% in the grand final...)

Crunch time for Celtic Crusaders next week too.

 

[bowes]

Apparently St Albans have folded.

NL2 and NL3 are getting rebranded and will come under a different sponsor to NL1. So they won't be called that but will be 2 divisions of one competition (without P&R).

The RLC Premier North is being scrapped and 2 or 3 teams from it are joining whatever NL3 is called. This means de facto regionalisation with Hemel in the north and the north having a longer season than the midlands, south and Wales.
and being a tier higher.

 

[Evil Homer]

Shame about St Albans.I always thought they could have been a future NL2 club.

 

[bowes]

Shame about St Albans.I always thought they could have been a future NL2 club.

No it was pretty obvious they never would be as they're only good on the pitch through signing about a dozen Aussies over. Still shocked to see them fold.

Hemel are a bet for NL2 in the next few years, but no other non-heartland club looks like going semi-pro for a very long time probably never. Although Hemel moving up would mean regionalisation. I can't see any southern clubs joining NL3 under the current format, midlands is an outside bet in the future, although they need a serious rejig.

 

[bartman]

Sounds like NL1 might get more of a push along, if it's being branded and sponsored seperately? Either that or they couldn't get anyone interested to take on NL2/3 as well...

Could the regionalisation just be mainly a cost thing at this stage? Hemel is the only one that can afford/be bothered to travel to the north teams, and the north being the area where more games can be guaranteed is given the nod in status/level, for the time being?

 

[bowes]

Basically it's because no southern teams besides Hemel want to play in NL3. Some southern clubs like South London are good enough but don't want the travelling.

The RLC Premier North nearly collapsed this season with 2 clubs folding and 1 scratching half their games and of the 4 others three are strongly considering NL3 so they have had to scrap that division.

I think it's a case of natural progression that happens to be regionalisation and there wasn't a reason to force Hemel into the southern division and to force the NL3/North clubs into a 4 month season as incorporating it into the RLC (Premier) would do.

officially it's no different to this season hence the status difference between the regions and the difference in season length. If Hemel move up they may (will?) bring the divisions into line I guess.

 

[bowes]

NL1 could be a more significant difference than it seems as the clubs may get the right to control the number of teams and the number/standards on P&R if they are separate competitions, especially with the current standards difference.

 

[bartman]

Interesting. I guess after 2009 they need to ensure NL1 has some separation as a competition, given that Superleague will have?

I think next week's fixtures are:
NL1: Widnes 24v20 Whitehaven; winner to meet HKR in final.
NL2: Celtic 26v27 Swinton; winner to meet Sheffield in the final.
NL3: Hemel 27v16 Warrington

So with Whitehaven's loss Cas are definitely going down.
And Celtic end their season and stay in NL2 next year.

 

[terracesider]

Triple header at Warrington on Sunday for the finals.

NL3: Bramley 30v8 Hemel 1.30

NL2: Sheffield 35v10 Swinton 3.45 Report from SL

NL1 HKR 29v16 Widnes 6.00

 

[terracesider]

And Celtic end their season and stay in NL2 next year.

Not necessarily a bad thing if they can build on the relative success of this year. The worrying thing about their game on Sunday was the gate. I imagine Swinton will have taken a few but it was only 687 according to Sporting Life.

 

[bartman]

Ouch. For the final home game of a successful year, chance to qualify for a shot at promotion... you'd have hoped for a few more. York were getting 1,000-3,000 under those same circumstances last year and the year before.

Hull KR v Widnes should be a decent clash.

 

[bowes]

St Albans haven't folded but there are problems that aren't public. We'll have to wait and see, but hopefully they can still be playing next year, ideally in NL3.

 

[terracesider]

That's something, at least, Bowes.

 

[terracesider]

Final: HKR 29 v 16 Widnes

Batten down the hatches and prepare for two sets of loonies from Hell next year.

 

[terracesider]

If anybody wants a copy of the seasons results I can email them a zipped one; it's an Open Office text file.

 

[bartman]

So ShefField went up, eh?

Caught the highlights of Swinton v Crusaders through Rugby League Raw, talk about a titanic even struggle. If they keep the same promotion system, I'd expect Crusaders and... York to go up at the end of next season.

 

[bowes]

NL3 should have 10 teams next season. It is still running nationally but may be under a new name, depending on sponsorship. The teams have not all yet confirmed so the names haven't been released. Hopefully there will be a press release soon to confirm everything.

 

[terracesider]

An NL3 press release from the RFL? Is that a first? :lol:

What's this East Lancs side that's being mentioned?