Only six academy teams in 2012

[langpark]

It seems Leigh, Dewsbury, York and Whitehaven have all scrapped their academy sides for the coming season, leaving only six from the lower leagues. Terrible news.

Out of the 20 part-time professional clubs in the Championship and Championship one, just six will now run a reserve team next year.
Featherstone Rovers, Keighley Cougars, Sheffield Eagles and Halifax from the Championship along with Rochdale Hornets and Oldham Roughyeds from Championship One will make up the competition.
Dewsbury Rams, York City Knights, Leigh Centurions and Whitehaven have all scrapped their Under-23s side for economic reasons while Widnes Vikings have moved up to Super League.
Rochdale have bucked the trend, launching a Under 23′s side but the rest of Championship One sides are focusing on their first teams in a bid for promotion before 2013 when four new sides are due to join Championship One.
Chris Hamilton, Oldham chairman, is currently part of an RFL group investigating how best to set up a player pathway involving under-18s and reserve teams (under-23s) in the sport’s second and third tiers.
His sides’ Under 23′s beat Widnes in the Grand Final in 2011 and with the he believes it should be mandatory for Championship clubs to have reserve teams, while remaining optional for clubs in the lower division.
This is because of a readjustment RFL’s funding to second and third tier clubs in 2013 seeing Championship clubs get £20,000 per year more than those in Championship One.
However, he believes it’s a “poor reflection” on the game that only Rochdale and Oldham are running a reserves side in the third tier of the game.
He said, “The others say they agree in principle, but they are governed by financial restraints and a desire to put all available funding into their senior sides’ bids for promotion.
“I don’t go along with that. If we can invest in a reserve team, so can others.
“Promotion is obviously top of our priorities as well, but we feel it is also important for the well-being of the club and the sport for us to bring young players through and provide them with a pathway at semi-professional level.”
Clubs have yet to decide when the competition will start and the format it will operate.
Playing each club both home and away, providing each club with 10 games may be considered too few whilst doubling up the fixtures to 20, two more than last year’s competition, may be seen as too many.

http://www.code13rugbyleague.com/2011/12/14/six-championship-reserve-teams-to-compete-in-2012/

 

[Evil Homer]

It's not so terrible, for clubs like Leigh and Dewsbury 99% of talented players will be signed up by the local SL clubs anyway, which to be honest works out a lot better for all parties. I'm not sure I agree with the Oldham chairman that reserve sides should be mandatory - at the moment, the vast majority of of the clubs in the Championship are based in West Yorkshire, where there are already 6 Super League teams and so intense competition for juniors. It's a shame about Whitehaven though, they produced a decent number of players with a lack of SL competition in the area. It's important for outpost teams to have junior set-ups, FWIW South Wales and London Skolars also field reserve teams but they compete as part of the Conference rather than in the reserves league.

 

[langpark]

You make some fair points there Homer, but my biggest concern here is the clubs' "desire to put all available funding into their senior sides’ bids for promotion."

What does this mean? Fill your side with quick-fix imports and neglect your local talent? I don't like that at all. It seems many clubs aren't looking beyond this season...

 

[roughyedspud]

oldham loses alot of its juniors from the town to salford,wigan,st helens & huddersfield......did'nt stop us running a under 18's & under 23's last season.....and we are'nt exactly flush we cash...but we managed it

and chris is right its should be mandatory that all clubs run at least a under 23's

 

[roughyedspud]

You make some fair points there Homer, but my biggest concern here is the clubs' "desire to put all available funding into their senior sides’ bids for promotion."

What does this mean? Fill your side with quick-fix imports and neglect your local talent? I don't like that at all. It seems many clubs aren't looking beyond this season...

championship clubs can't fill their sides with quick fix imports....only 1 off quota player allowed i think?

 

[Evil Homer]

You make some fair points there Homer, but my biggest concern here is the clubs' "desire to put all available funding into their senior sides’ bids for promotion."

What does this mean? Fill your side with quick-fix imports and neglect your local talent? I don't like that at all. It seems many clubs aren't looking beyond this season...

That's only for Championship One clubs. This is a pretty important season for them - with the four new expansion clubs in 2013, any of the heartland teams that don't win promotion this coming season will be pretty much cast adrift in a league of expansion teams. I think it was a big mistake for the RFL to make the Championship a league of 14 and Championship One a league of 10 from 2013 - two leagues of 12 would have been much more sensible and wouldn't have led to the anxiety we are seeing from the likes of Whitehaven. I can understand why they would want to scrap their reserve teams for this year, winning promotion is vital for them.

That only applies for the CC1 clubs though. There isn't really any excuse for the Championship clubs, other than the geographical thing as I mentioned earlier.

 

[langpark]

championship clubs can't fill their sides with quick fix imports....only 1 off quota player allowed i think?

By imports, I didn't necessarily mean Aussies and Kiwis, I also meant SL has-beens etc...

I do agree with the Oldham boss too. Also, I think these expansion teams should have been added two at a time. The two strongest bids should enter in 2013 and then the next two in 2015, something like this. I thought two divisions of 12 was common sense! I didn't realise they were having 10 and 14! I thought the 'big idea' behind franchising was all about adding 'stability'. I can't see how adding four teams and promoting four teams in one season helps 'stabilise' things in any way...

I hope they have a plan of how to offset some of the travel costs for those that will be playing in CC1...

 

[Evil Homer]

The Championship leagues aren't franchised, both are semi-pro so the jump isn't too big and doesn't require massive advancements in the infrastructure of the club. It's not like promoting and relegating clubs between a semi-pro and a full-time league, which was absolutely stupid. As for adding the expansion teams, if four are ready then it doesn't make any sense holding them back, in fact entering four at the same time could be a positive, since the standard will be pretty similar and it won't be a case of a new club coming in and getting flogged by a bunch of established teams. I think the RFL were expecting all seven potential clubs to join within the next couple of years, I guess that's why they had the leagues at 14 and 10 teams, but IMO they shouldn't have made that jump until it was required, because as you say it gives a pretty lop-sided look for 2013.

The RFL are subsidising travel costs yeah.

 

[langpark]

Yeah but come on, you can't tell me the quality of the Championship won't suffer those first few seasons, with an influx of four new teams. That's roughly 80 new players... But, I guess the decision's been made so I hope all goes well...

 

[roughyedspud]

nowt wrong with SL players dropping down to our league...if anything it strengthens our comp...



personally i'd like the RFL to market the championship as a proper league and not just a gateway to super league....

i'd like a 14-16 team,stand alone championship........as a life long oldham fan i can say with my hand on my heart that i don't want oldham in super league,we been there and got the winding up order....i and lot of oldham fans would be perfectly happy to dominate the championship..seriously i would'nt want to move up to SL until we've won 5 or 6 championships in as many years....and as widnes proved a year or 2 ago when they posted a £2.5m turnover and a £1m profit....serious money can be made in the championship..http://www.widnesvikings.co.uk/article.php?id=2519

so it'd beyond me how clubs can't even afford to run a reserve team??

i'd also like championship 1 to be used as a community/development league for our expansion teams like skolars,south wales,northampton, Edinburgh etc and community run sides like rochdale ;-)

 

[Evil Homer]

Yeah but come on, you can't tell me the quality of the Championship won't suffer those first few seasons, with an influx of four new teams. That's roughly 80 new players... But, I guess the decision's been made so I hope all goes well...

Oh yeah, definitely, the RFL have admitted that. That's part of the reason the existing clubs are so desperate to get promotion this year.

personally i'd like the RFL to market the championship as a proper league and not just a gateway to super league....

They do :?

Why should expansion teams be segregated in Championship One? Don't you think that defeats the purpose a little? I hate when heartland Championship fans say things like that.

 

[roughyedspud]

no i mean until they are big enough,strong enough,developed enough to make the step upto the championship.........


and do you really think the RFL market the championship as a stand alone comp? i know thats the aim...but super league still casts a massive shadow over the lower leagues....

you know what...most,if not all, off the clubs in the championship need to realize that this is now our level and work on making the championship the great league it could be....

 

[WireMan]

personally i'd like the RFL to market the championship as a proper league and not just a gateway to super league....

The super league isn't even a proper league so i don't see why they would make the championship one.

 

[bowes]

Only 5 sides now. Rochdale have pulled out.

 

[Johnny_L_O]

The super league isn't even a proper league so i don't see why they would make the championship one.

Was this a reference to your 3rd place finish?

 

[Henson Park Hornets]

Only 5 sides now. Rochdale have pulled out.

Apparently Hornets U23's will still be going but only playing exhibition type games against Army, Navy etc. Due to the costs of away games being too high.

Think it's a good idea running U23's/reserve sides but how much would it really cost to run a side in that comp? Wouldn't have thought it would be too high. Hornets would play their games at Mayfield cutting the cost right down.

 

[bowes]

York are now entering reserves so back up to 6.