it appears the RFL want to completely wipe all non stupor league professional rugby off the map,

as for the dual registration thing, any coincidence that leeds have made an agreement with whitehaven????

Becoming a feeder club is the wrongway to look at it. Sure, Widnes could become Warrington Under21s, but I'm not suggesting a firesale of SL's young players.

Maybe 3 or 4 could be brought in.

No it's long term thinking.

Why go to the expense of running academies when you can just dip into SL academies and save the money to bring in better players?

Trying to continue as before is no longer an option because the situation has now changed. With the introduction of a £300,000 SC and the ability to sign dual registered youngsters, we now face a very different environment in which to be competitive; an environment that will suit smaller clubs far better than clubs with ambition. Fans will turn away from clubs once they become feeder clubs. If this does happen to Widnes, then I've finished with the game for good too.

2012 will probably be the last chance for a heartland club to move up to SL. After that there probably will not be a club capable of meeting the criteria. Sadly I include Widnes in that also.

That's a feeder club. You'll also find that any decent youngsters we bring through will also end up on dual registration contracts. We will no longer be producing players for our own long term benefit, but for the benefit of local SL clubs. Therefore there will be little point in running academies in the Championship.

It's been clear for some time what the Championship is destined to become, and the clubs within it. Every new diktat and rule change from the RFL has reinforced that view.

We will be a much lower level area of the sport, limited with what it can spend, limited in what wealth it can create, with no future outside of the Championships. We may well end up being a more competitive league, with the possibility of previously bigger clubs annually fighting relegation battles, and possibly even losing them.

True, long term, planning is something Championship clubs can no longer contemplate. With promotion decided on the whim of an RFL committee, it is actually pointless anyway.

So we are to be feeder clubs with a lower standard of play and finance that will make it easier, and cheaper, for new expansion clubs to use as a stepping stone.

The fans will vote with their feet.