cheers cowies

i was amazed the chose to play it at eccles the place is a s*h*i*t tip

I'll second that. Given that the RFL didn't even produce a trophy for the winners of the NW Merit League last year, it's probably down to it being cheap.

just out of interest, why is it the RFLs responsibility to provide a trophy?

Because the RFL is the governing body of the summer conference maybe???

Are the leagues not independent entities? I'd be pretty sure the merit league is and even the conference? Hence, the governing body is whatever structure the league (made up of member clubs) choose.

As with any league, you are usually constituted independently and then affiliated in some way to the sports governing body. It'd therefore be up to the league, not the sports governing body to provide the trophy...

not being in anyway y, just don’t think it would have been the RFLs responsibility and hence, not their fault if there wasn't a trophy - similarly, the choice of where to play the finals would be up to the league and not the RFL. Can't find the constitution online but the rules of the midlands merit league (which the NW merit kind of league morphed from) can be found and its pretty obvious that that league is independent. It's common for people in our game to just blame the RFL or attribute decisions to the RFL when often its not up to them or anything to do with them!

The leagues aren't independent. Having run the club from inception I have a good knowledge of the structures, they are run in their entirety by the RFL. Last year the RFL decided not to award a trophy to the winners of the NW Final. They had to play the winners of the Yorkshire ML for a trophy. The winners of the Midlands ML received a trophy provided by the RFL. It was a cost issue apparently, a bit lame but there you go. The choice of final venue was also announced by the Regional co-ordinator for the RFL.

Fair enough, but as leagues are made up of their members, isnt there scope for you to include the cost of the trophey in next years admission fee?

Being honest pal the RFL seem to make their structures up on the hoof a bit at present. Although we were consulted about this years league structure at the end of 2009, when they did so the number of clubs they told us were planning to take part was a lot different to those that actually did so. I don't think they know quite what to do with the North West. There's not enough clubs to form two viable leagues but the standard is too varied for one big one such as the Yorkshire Premier. As clubs move up from the Merit League, just as many seem to fold. New Broughton going this year was a real shocker.

With regard to the ML trophy, as they've been included in the finals day (last year we had to host it at Wigan as nothing was forthcoming from the RFL) I presume they have put some money into it this year. So they should it's one of the most positive development tools the game has, allowing clubs to try their hand at RL/Summer Rugby but doing so at their own pace and choosing opposition to fit their standard. The 3 leagues are a great credit to Tim Fellows who started it all off in the Midlands.

We (Bury) played merit league as an extra stepping stone in our development and the work done in the Midlands was really impressive. We spoke to Tim about playing in the Midlands merit league the year before the North West league was set up and were due to play Redditch as our first ever game.

One issue I have now though is that the RFL do seem to be making things up on the hoof. Is it true that the finals structure was only decided very late on? As a club that happily allowed some players to play for a summer side on the assumption they'd be back in August ready for winter, we've (and our players) have found oursleves in an awkward position with this finals structure possibly running into NWC season...

Spot on mate, we had to play the winners of the Yorkshire Merit League in the middle of Yorkshire for the Trophy. Not my favourite subject really!

twice in 4 months i can say this.............. CHAMPIONS... great win for us wigan never looked like winning. we started well and dominated the whole of the first half, in the 2nd half wigan had picked their game up but still wasnt good enough west bank 30- 10 wigan riversiders. still think it should of been wirral in the final but never mind best team won in everything.

Graceful in victory! How can you say that with regards to Wirral? We deserved to be in the final afte beating each other team in the division over the past month, included a more than comfortable win over Wirral.

Your a good team, well drilled and some good individual players, in-perticular your 1 and 7.

I dont think much of your number 8 though

Well done, was a good game to be involved in.

didnt say you didnt deserve to be there you played who you had to and got to the final.

in my opinion the wirral side that we played were the best side we faced this summer that all.

you men have been in the summer for 3 seasons and improved everytime i think you will be more than contenders next year and wish you men all the best.

didnt think much of your hooker myself

If I recall correctly the winners of the North West did receive a trophy. I gave it to them at the match in Halifax, which I can assure you is not in the middle of Yorkshire. I rang 4 Lancashire clubs to get a venue and couldn't get any of them.

It is true that there was only money for one final in the North. We also provided match officials free of charge.

I and a couple of others from the Midlands ran the northern Merit Leagues with minimal assistance from the RFL until this year when they finally took over. It wasn't really our job to do it but we did it anyway and just got sh** about it. Glad to be rid to be honest.

P.S. I'm not in a good mood today as we lost the Midlands final yesterday

One thing from the finals day at Eccles, the staff behind the bar mentioned that the RFL has provided no funds for any after match food for any of the games, fairly poor from my view that 6 teams on the day did not get fed after playing.