So if my team (Doncaster) don’t get promotion next year we might as well shut up shop and die, as we will be stuck in a league of glorified amateurs with zero away support watching a lower standard of rugby than we already are. Also thanks a bunch for blowing the cost of away travel through the roof for the fans.If this was happening in SL this forum would be in meltdown by now, but it’s only CC! so it doesn’t matter. I believe this is a long term plan by the RFL to get rid of what they perceive to be the scrag end clubs in CC1. They will run it for two or three years and then announce that it doesn’t work and everyone left in this division will revert to the amateur game including the current CC1 semi pro clubs!

Fair point and will be a mad scramble to get out of the third tier next season for the long established clubs. Then again these "new" teams are hardly likely to be ready for 2013 as they will in the main be stepping up two or three levels (assuming they are not being put into the Conference for 2012) and you would have Doncaster, Oldham, Workington or whoever misses out as strong fancies to put it right in 2013 if they are not one of the 4 that go up.

Firstly, I doubt there will be much, if any, correlation between the current 1st team squads of these clubs, and the 1st team squads that would play in 2013.

Being semi-pro will require adding a few experienced RL players, but more importantly (certainly for the RU hotbed of the Midlands anyway) allow clubs to sign some higher level RU players who prefer or are more suited to RL. We get a few of these into the amateur game now, but a higher level of competition will mean more of those.

More important than 1st team rugby though is what this can mean for junior development. Looking at Northampton, despite only having run junior teams for four years, and playing a short summer season, we have put eleven players into pro RL club academies (3 at Quins, 2 at St Helens including their U20s top try scorer this year, and six at Sheffield)
I'm sure Coventry have done similar.
Imagine what we could do for the sport of RL if we could offer a longer season, a more local pro facility, and that attraction of a local pro team. If either Northampton or Coventry get promoted, that's there for the Midlands.

It's that, that's going to spread the game, and increase the player base.

How are these clubs going to be financed ?

Who is going to pay these players ?

Will the people of these towns/cities pay 10/15 quid to watch these players ?

Or is this yet another Celtic Crusaders X 4 ?

If they can manage to stay in business , when their supporters drop off due to playing amatuers all season

This smacks to me of a total knee jerk reaction to the problems highlighted by Championship clubs this season regarding lack of matches , but they still dont grasp the situation , yes we need more games , but we need games against strong stable clubs , games that will encourage people to watch

No disrespect but lumping in 4 clubs all at once will not achieve that , yes the Championship clubs will have their extra matches , but whoever is left behind will suffer

A long term plan to build up all the clubs in all the competitions and slowly drip feed in new clubs , and help those clubs become sustainable is what is required

This will fail

Alternatively, you could view it as Doncaster playing (and beating) teams from a bunch of places that the man in the street has actually heard of. Surely that's got to be better for attracting new fans. And you're already in a league with zero away support.

Nottingham, Northampton, Oxford, Coventry or wherever must be cheaper/quicker to get to from Doncaster than Whitehaven or Workington would be? I bet even Hemel is an hour shorter drive than West Cumbria.

Key thing is obviously that the clubs in CC1 (old & new) are there for the long term. The track record with Crusaders doesn't fill me with confidence that the RFL can make the new entrants stick.

Me neither , especially when they already have 4 clubs in that competition that dont seem to be progressing much [ on the business side , as lets not forget they are businesses in a supposedly proffessional sports competition ] and lumping another 4 , probably even weaker ones in there all at once is not a good idea

You will need to go to each individual club and ask to look at their business plan.



You will need to go to each individual club and ask to look at their business plan.



You will need to go to each individual club and ask to look at their business plan.



You will need to go to each individual club and the Celtic Crusaders and ask to look at their business plans.

Ahh Starbug. You could find yourself on a desert island with 50 beautiful women and you'd still moan about the quality of the coconuts.

I'll let you into a little secret , Business plans are generally not worth the paper they are written on

Its all right Steve ferres has checked them out , he has experience of setting up new clubs , Carlisle and Kent Invicta are progressing well

Teams such as Doncaster , Workington, Oldham etc will get no benefit from this. We need to be playing the better teams to improve our standards rather than playing teams who with all due respect would not cut it up here in the amateur game. For the northern teams left in CC1 this is a death sentence.

Really? I missed the mention of demoting clubs to the RLCN. What I saw were plans to expand the semi-pro game.


Oh, you're trying to pretend that CC1 will be amateur? Another example of you refusing to recognise the game outside your own parochial league. Silly of me … I thought your reference to FT pro, PT semi pro and amateur was a reference to the actual reality, rather than your warped vision which only encompasses the SL and the two divisions of the semi-pro league.

Considering you're a Leigh fan some of the stuff you've come out with on here is incredible.


Is that what happened at Leigh, too much positivity?