My understanding is the Sport England monies are targetted at increasing ADULT participation and the RFL do a pretty good job of getting our sports share of that money.

As its Sport England money and targetted - the RFL cannot divert too much from achieving what Sport England are 'buying' - which is mainly adult participation numbers (hench the touch, masters and other forms that get a lot of attention).

Individual development officers however will be funded by a cocktail of funding - Sport England matched with Pro Club monies, Local Authoriy money, 'project' bids etc. and hence, there is usually different demands by each funder that need meeting. This can be restrictive (if the funders just want adults, then the officer is going to really struggle to justify in-school work). However, it can also build in flexibility...how it has worked in Bury is that there has been in-school work, but in summer there is a mjor concentration on new adult participation through touch and 'try-it' sessions with netball teams and other sports.

Shame to receive a funding cut in the run up to RLWC 2013

I'm in Oxford, so can't speak about other parts of the country. But we've just seen a new Champ 1 team land in the city with funding from the RFL (for 2 years, I believe). And yet the RFL have cut the funding which kept the community clubs in the area viable (helping to cover the costs of coach/ref development, basic equipment etc.) They have also pulled the miniscule amount of cash committed to administrating the league in which my local amateur team plays, and withdrawn all development officer support.

As a volunteer, who puts his own time and money into promoting, and keeping our great game alive in the area (along with a good handful of others, I should add), I can't really see what motivation there is to keep doing so, when the governing body is retreating at a rate of knots.

At least it all makes some sense, now that we know about the Sport England funding cuts. But it seems that tough decisions have already been, or are being made at the RFL. And some of them threaten the immediate future of the game in some parts of the country - including the very city where they're currently making a concerted effort to expand (the professional game).

Worryingly, I've also heard talk (although admit, that's all it is at the moment) that the successful Champion Schools initiative will not happen in 2012. By the RFL's own admission, Champion Schools is "one of the greatest success stories for the sport" and saw nearly 28,000 kids, in over 1,600 teams take part last year. If this is true, what does it mean, and what impact is it likely to have on grassroots RL? Anybody know anything concrete about this, and what, if anything, might replace Champion Schools?

According to this thread, funding is based on participation numbers. The 5 or so London fans keep telling us that there are close to 3.5 billion kids in London Playing RL do surely we should be getting funding that is equivalent to what other minority sports of a similar size to us get, like tennis, polo or chess?

This thread also pointed out that under 16's aren't counted in the Sport England participation stats.

Tennis is to receive £17.4m
Equestrian sports to receive £6m
Chess doesn't get anything as its not an "active" sport. Yet bizarrely Angling is to receive £1.8m while snooker gets nothing.

Rugby League is to receive £17.5m

if you combine the sport england money that league and union get, then its a fair chunk of money for two variations of the same sport.

I suspect the root of the problem with this reduction is that RL, by hook or by crook, massively over-achieved in the last funding round. In its own right the funding being received over the next few years is good money. But look at where RL was in the past round:

Cricket £38.0m
Rugby Union £31.2m
Rugby League £29.4m
Tennis £26.8m
----------------------
Football £25.6m

It's disappointing but in many ways it was an amazing coup to get so much compared to other sports in 2008. Thanks Richard Lewis

Wasn't this Sport England money one of the reasons we abolished GB?

Clearly you have underestimated the number of children in that there London/Home Counties et al as the numbers swell by at least 500M every other month
As far as I have seen the participation figures for u16s(which as pointed out aren't counted for the relvance of SE funding anyway) have increased year on year for quite some time with more and more kids attending 'camps and/or minis/full contact tournaments at all age levels. Medway Dragons being one of the huge success stories with massive increase over the last 3-4 years.
Instead of having a pop at anything you don't understand (seemingly everything) why not try some constructive discussion...just a thought

No otherwise there would be no Olympic Team GB!