Entry 21, 24th November 2010.
Since Monday when the League Express newspaper carried a story about a review of the Championship competitions, I've been thinking about the best way to go for Rugby League outside of Super League. From 2012, it appears likely that the RFL will make changes to the structure of the competitions.
I believe that the current structure whilst creating a vibrant Championship on the field, hardly packs the punters in and when six clubs over recent times have entered administration it does call into question the longevity of the competition.
I believe that something does need to be done and would propose more local derbies for starters.
When Leigh won the Trans Pennine Cup in 2001, which itself was a pre-cursor to the current Northern Rail Competition, the first seven or eight games of the season were all local derbies and there were some decent crowds against the likes of Oldham and Swinton while I also remember 6,500 on at Widnes for a Boxing Day game.
I do not believe the current structure contains enough games and also there is a difference in geographical spread.
Clubs on the red rose side of the Pennines are currently: Widnes, Leigh, Swinton, Oldham, Rochdale, Workington, Whitehaven and Barrow, while in Yorkshire there is Batley, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Featherstone, Halifax, Hunslet, Keighley, Sheffield and York. Now add to that list the outpost clubs of South Wales, Gateshead and London Skolars, not forgetting French club Toulouse.
I make that eight teams this side of the hills, nine in Yorkshire and four far flung clubs.
Eight teams playing each other home and away would produce 14 games, nine clubs would make 16 fixtures while four clubs would produce just 6 games. Perhaps my initial call for more derby games would not work?
I wonder whether it would be possible for ease of numbers adding South Wales and London Skolars to the Red Rose numbers, therefore meaning that there would be 18 games for each club there and with the inclusion of Toulouse and Gateshead in the Yorkshire ranks, that would mean 20 games in that pool. The demise of the Blackpool club is sure making this difficult. Mulling it over I can see why there is so much debate.
I wonder how strong some of the teams are in the Summer Conference National League? I saw the Grand Final last term when Warrington Wizards defeated Huddersfield Underbank but with the likes of Bramley and Hemel Stags, how far would they be from being able to step up and mix it in a semi-professional environment?
Perhaps the answer lies in just combining the current two divisions. If this was done on a home and away basis that would give a total of 40 league games to each club, which over the space of a season is too many games to fit into a 9 month season, especially when factoring in the Northern Rail Cup and Challenge Cup games, it would then involve a good number of teams having to play a few Sunday-Wednesday-Sunday schedules.
An alternative to that would be home and away to everyone in your current division and a mixture of home and away games (just once) playing against everyone else. This would give 30 and 29 fixtures respectively which would appear to be the best fit, therefore guaranteeing 15 or 14 home league games. With Northern Rail Cup games factored in, and this perhaps returning to geographical spread, I think this would give most teams a 35-36 game season plus any play-offs.
I obviously need to have even more of a think.... No wonder the RFL are asking fans opinions and views! It is more difficult than I originally thought!
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