When the development officers got cut in the midlands the Under 16s league shrunk from 9 to 4 teams and the Under 18 league folded. Having said that the introduction of a professional academy in the midlands is partly responsible and it is better to have players playing a proper rugby league structure than having RU players get a run out in summer. Furthermore one club (North Derbyshire Chargers) fielding a team in Yorkshire and recruited from other clubs in the region, having a good go of things.

The Welsh and Irish leagues are pretty fragile as things are but probably should scrape through, Scotland is slightly more stable IMO.

Looks like several cut backs though with French clubs ditched from the Challenge Cup and the possible scrapping of the Northern Rail Cup. Also it seems likely the Challenge Cup will have fewer entrants as they had to start qualifying now last season (but maybe that's just because of the world cup) and amateurs not told if they're in.

The Conference League South introduced last year appears to be losing the one sole representative from the greater south east area, but probably not a bad thing if the London Premier can be considered a parallel league (there are lots of strong enough clubs in the South East but 4 out of 5 withdrew their bids last year when the RFL withdrew proposed travel subsidies). The Under 19s academy is probably being cut back to 10 teams but this should hopefully strengthen the amateur game and the quality of the academy league

I suspect non-heartland expansion will increasingly be carried out through Championship 1 clubs with an academy structure propped up by 2 elite amateur divisions (one for Midlands/South West/South Wales and one for London/East/South East) with less emphasis on cramming as many teams as possible into a 10 game RU off season (whilst letting that level of the game continue). Good news in this respect is that Valley Cougars have been accepted from Wales into the Conference League South.

The RLEF won a grant from the EU, the 'Celtic nations' will get a proportion of that, plus the RLEFs own funding and funding from the RLIF. There was an article on their website not so log ago.

The RFL haven't left them and high and dry. It's not their job to develop other nations.

www.rlef.eu.com/news/article/716 ... pean-union

www.rlef.eu.com/news/article/716 ... pean-union

rlhttps://www.therfl.co.uk/the-rfl/about_the_rflrl

Thanks for that. Nothing in there about a responsibility to develop the game outside of England, just that the RFL are the governing body and 'govern' in those countries at all levels. This thread is about grassroots development, right? See the link kn the RLEF and the funds specifically for development at grassroots.

Seeing as next season Wigan will have the Wales and Scotland coaches both on the books, there's still a way to help develop the nations.

At the end of the day they can try and develop it anywhere they like but even as much as people think there nations are improving NZ & Aus are streets ahead even over England. And its through signing overseas at club level hence why we are playing non english players like Roger Chase in our squad. imho.

So the governing body has no responsibility for the growth of the game it governs in the regions it governs? That's a novel approach......someone should talk to the FA, the LTA, the RFU and other governance bodies about the way RL is run by the RFL......
The EU grant is just that...a Grant and it should in no way take away the responsibility of the RFL to govern the game in the regions under its control. We are told the RFL have been too busy to concentrate on revenue generation because they are dealing with failing SL clubs....now they are passing the buck on 3 of the 4 countries they represent.....what exactly is it that they do at Red Hall?

I've been told it's an RLEF and RLIF decision (agreed by the RFL) to develop seperate governing bodies in those regions. Changes in the structure of the RLIF mean they will provide most of the funding for development rather than the RFL. It's also hoped that this will lead to more funding in these areas in total due to potential grants/funding now being available from the nations governments and sports agencies

Indeed. If the RFL were to carry on as before, what other activities should they cut instead?

Bailing out SL clubs for a start.

As long as the money is spent on overseas crocks and not development of the game as a whole, I cannot see the problem.
SL clubs are firm believers in that.
Why anyone thinks that development should be funded at all is beyond me. It should be done free of charge, using facilities the RSPCA would ban from keeping animals in.
Don't forget that is easier to buy something than apply hard work and do it yourself and if it doesn't work blame someone else.