Apparently 50 sides committed to NWML next year. Assuming that just means full divisions presumably 15 teams are at least considering winter? Although the NCL have big expansion ambitions so unsure if the 50 includes clubs planning to step up?

As a player who is very much anti-summer and pro-winter rugby I would like a return to winter RL. I'll be honest, my club moving to summer wasn't what I wanted - therefore I left the sport. I was one of only a few who voted against the move. Was I asked why? No. Was I given chance to air my views? No. So I walked away. Call me old fashioned but I weirdly enjoyed winter. Slogging it out every Saturday, freezing cold and all that. Then when April/May hit - season over, summer arrived, time to get my weekends in the beer garden and Blackpool back! What you gonna do at the end of summer season? Freeze in the beer garden? No thankyou.

Now I have purely selfish reasons - working all week and come the weekend when the suns out, it's warm and the lads are down the boozer having a day sesh, going camping somewhere, having a day out somewhere etc etc what am I going to choose? Run around a rugby field for 80mins? Or enjoy summer? Go on holiday? Go away for the weekend?

No brainer for me.

I understand the reasons why amateur RL went summer, perfectly understandable. However, I won't be playing in summer. I might pop down to the local club and watch a few but I'll be otherwise enjoying my summer weekends doing what I want to do.

Is there any start date for winter and has the leagues been set up with what teams are playing winter.
Been looking on the web and cant see anything.
Winter Season normally starts in Sept is that the case this year ?

8th Sept, NWML finishes 13th Oct

Was there not an email saying the start had been put back to the 22nd Sept?
We got some backlog fixtures for the NWML division 3 yesterday and we dont finish now until 27th October and there was a couple of teams who have fixtures for 10th November.

Has any of the teams been told what divisions they are in and how many divs would there be

they meet on Monday I think.

BARLA are now declaring that they have sufficient clubs to run a winter based Youth & Junior League in the NW. They have been asked repeatedly for a list of the clubs and teams to enable the summer based NW leagues to plan for next year but aren't releasing any details and not one NW club has so far come forward to say their junior and youth teams are switching back to a winter based season.

PERSONALLY, I can't help but feel they are trying to snowball a competition together.

They tried that 2 years running with the BARLA Conference and failed both times.

They do have enough teams for one division in winter but no idea if there's enough for two.

Sides I've heard mentioned as playing in winter:
Dalton
Blackpool Scorpions
Irlam Hornets
Langworthy Reds
West Bank Bears *
Albert Park
Moorfield Mallards
Widnes Tigers
Leigh East*
Blackbrook Royals*
Golborne Parkside
Rylands Sharks
Higginshaw

* Means this is a separate winter side not the first team returning to winter

Assume there's more I haven't heard and maybe 1 or 2 of the above won't materialise.

This was always going to happen - some clubs would find summer wasn't for them and go back to winter. I've always said we'll probably end up with two similar sized leagues running consecutively, with a small overlap.

The main problem for most clubs in summer seems to be player numbers - summer holidays, music festival, weddings, etc on top of the usual work and other commitments have meant selection nightmares for a lot of teams. We're exactly the same, one week we have 40+ lads, the next we're down to the bare bones and a scratchy 17.

Still, for us summer is the way forward. Winter seasons were a struggle with facilities and poor numbers whereas we've got great facilities and strong numbers in the summer.

The list seems to be growing all the time

growing?!

the mass ranks of clubs joining the league have been talked up for weeks. the reality is that there are 4 more than first suggested and 3 of them are sides playing a winter side in addition to keeping their main sides in summer!