Not sure you can blame the RFL for the Rebels. The club showed a valid plan with the right financial backing. That the soccer club chairman changed his mind (for whatever reason, yet to be properly understood) can hardly be blamed on the RFL.

We, at the Demons and Knights amateur club, will carry on. Midlands regional champs. National champs at regional division level twice. 13 players onto pro club academies via us. One current SL first team regular from us, one SL U20 academy regular from us, two SL academy U18s from us. We've only been open age since 2007 and running juniors since 2008, so shows what's around here. Pity the proposed pro club couldn't make use of that.

You'd think they'd maybe have some guarantees in place from the chairman though before announcing their entry. What if he'd just changed his mind mid season?

Its not so much for the individual failure, its for the way they have gone about it, announcing 4 new clubs before they have any sorted is basically stupid

What guarantees can you have? I understand the Rebels paid their bond, and the RLF keep kit.

Spot on. The RFL announced four new clubs, without having viable options. Only Hemel have any structure and have any chance of not being added to the list of failed expansion clubs. From the outside it appears they were struggling to fill the fourth spot, now they have two clubs to 'find' I would be very concerned if I was connected to long time established clubs Rochdale Hornets and Oldham.

Not just Oldham and Rochdale but even Skolars and Crusaders.

It seems they are confident there will still be 2 as yet unamed clubs ready to step up but with the time constraints involved it seems unlikely they will be in a good position to start next season and are going to be on a hiding to nothing at least in the short term.

Coventry has seemed a logical choice for a long time but has not yet been announced which might be a sign they are not going to be the 4th (now 3rd choice) and I just wonder if Gloucestershire will not be the only University connected team being introduced as Loughborough have the ground and experience of running a team at a high level in RU's league system and bringing them in be it as a wholly student side or an open team under the umbrella of the University (perhaps with the help of Nottingham Outlaws) would suit the RFL's need for a side in the Midlands and get them out of a big hole.

Not a good state to be in at all and Skolars showed last night that Championship 1 has alot to offer and having seen games there and at Crusaders and Scorpions I know there is life outside Cumbria and South Yorkshire this season but if the progress that has been made in North London and Wrexham is going to go to waste with a f of a league next seaon the RFL will have no one but themselves to blame.

www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/26 ... -completed On the plus side Hemel have a new stand and a house hold name for a sponsor. Hemel have looked ready for a while to become a semi pro side.

www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/26 ... -completed On the plus side Hemel have a new stand and a house hold name for a sponsor. Hemel have looked ready for a while to become a semi pro side.

True and that should have been the way to go not creating new clubs out of nothing and stepping on the toes of existing clubs as happened in Northampton.

Lets hope these ' credible alternatives ' are announced soon, then everybody will know the structures for next year

I hooe the RFL don't panic and put a team that isn't capable. The clubs should be as strong as Hemel coming into CH1. Some good stuff happening at Hemel.

They've done that times 2, arguably times 3.

They have come up with 2 but one is a bid that previously collapsed and the other wasn't even considered til Rebels collapsed (arguably because of Rebels). All assuming both clubs accept.