From
Super League led the way with a switch to summer in 1996 and was followed by the semi-professional Championship and the pioneering Rugby League Conference, leaving the rest of the amateur game and the junior and schools competitions ploughing a lone furrow in the winter.

David Gent, the Rugby Football League's director of participation and strategic partnerships, is leading a consultation exercise with amateur governing bodies and youth organisations to assess the mood of the game and have an April 30 deadline to gauge support for the move.

RFL national development manager Andy Harland said

So, do we all yearn for summer rugby? Will players chose NWC, Yorkshire, Cumbria leagues etc. over RLC? Are we diluting the player base even further?

It might not be a distinction between summer conference or NWC etc. in winter. The exercise is involving the Barla leagues too and asking them to consider a switch.

NWC secretaries have been asked to discuss the 4 options with their players and provide NWC with a view.

I first asked my players last month, pretty comprehensive support for summer then. yet one of the alternative options (i.e. which involve having mid-winter breaks) is leading the way on our facebook vote...

having played in the summer conference for the past 2 seasons i fully regret playing last season as it didnt allow me any time to recover so i have had a season were i have missed a few games and carried knocks through out the season. i blame this on the hardness of the grounds in the summer, a longer winter break is the way forward winter rugby is what it is 34 player gettin rotten shower afterwards then a pint afterwards dont change things because few faries dont like the cold.

The concept of summer rugby is fantastic: blue skies, sun, almost no postponements due to weather, etc, etc...but the reality is different. We played in the Merit League last year and while it's true the weather was better, remember a dry pitch can be as hard as a frozen pitch, and often won't take a stud, and the weather can be too hot to run around in. Professional and bigger teams can water their pitches and have groundsmen to keep them lush, unlike us lot further down running around on threadbare school and council pitches. The major benefit of summer rugby for me however would be training in a decent environment on week nights.

I'm undecided - I think I'd prefer to play winter rugby with structured breaks to avoid the maddening frustration of so many last-minute cancellations due to weather, but I'd prefer to train in the summer!

the problem with the winter break west bank is how many lads would turn up to train knowing that theres gunna be no game for at least 2 months. for us and im sure its the same at most clubs in the lower leagues, some lads cant be d training when they know theres a game on saturday let alone knowing that theres no game for 2 months. and that to me is not fair on the lads that want to train to keep fit and try tomake the team perform better on the field. so for me id rather keep it as it is and then lads who want to play winter and summer (like my good self) can have the choice to do that.

Im sorry but do not agree with you about hard ground , how do you think the kids in brisbane cope with the ground, their is also such thing as firm ground boots and soft ground boots if you look carefully when buying.As for millys point i think if you started the league at the right time just as junior football finishes i think you will have kids banging on your door to join, i no if my son wished to try the sport i would be knocking and ringing local clubs in warrington.

Hard ground isn't the problem, it's the cr*p state of the pitch in the first place thats the problem. Some of the pitches are quite frankly disgraceful through poor maintenance and probably over use through the winter. Maybe if they weren't used during the winter they would be in an inherently better condition come summer time?

Summer rugby, or the RLC shouldn't be dismissed because it has brought some benefits for the game in general - a way of introducing new lads to the game in a way where they can easily find their 'feet' level wise and also the merit system. This is something the NWC should take on board for their division 6. It would really give new start teams a way of getting established without the pressure of having to play every week with all the issues that come with that.

I do know my bloody forearms and knees were lacerated to buggery a few weeks ago after playing our final game on a very dry and hard surface.

I like the dry pitches...i can then use my speed and side-step

Would a break from Nov 1st say to the end of Jan amke that much a difference to things anyway?....I don't think so.

Our last scheduled game this season should have been on Sat 27th February.

Our LAST game in fact ending up being on 1st May.

Granted we did lose out on games through playing 4 in the Lancashire Cup, but why can the Lancae cup/Bowl etc not start at the beginning of August....That would give teams more of an incentive to enter, and guarantee's sides of all levels a competative pre season. Look how many times the final got postponed because of the weather.

In my opinion a 3 month winter break (there or there abouts), makes sense.

To inherit a break would ensure the transissional period would not see sides without league rugby for the best part of twelve months or playing back to back seasons, I think you could have the leagues wrapped up mid May, giving sides the best part of 3 months off pre season.

I know people worry about the pitches in summer, and I did before RL in the south switched to summer, but in all honesty it's been a non-issue. The grounds are harder, but so are well-drained grounds in winter. However, this is an English summer we're talking about, so you tend to only get a few weekends of serious heat, and plenty of rain. Boots are simply dealt with - there are plenty of cheap astroturf and hard ground boots on sale. I've been playing and refereeing for more than a decade down here now, and I've never seen any issues regarding hard dry grounds. However, I do remember lots of issues in winter when grounds were frozen, rutted or waterlogged.

It is also worth mentioning that the skill level and speed really does rise when playing in dry conditions. Couple that with a far higher likelihood of getting people to training on light, warm evenings, and the only downside left is that plenty of people go away in August. But effective fixture planning can deal with that, and it's a far lesser disruptive issue than dealing with postponed and cancelled games due to winter pitch conditions and/or players not turning up in the freezing rain.

For youth rugby in particular, our experience here is that it's far, far easier to get kids in and hook them when it's warmer and drier than it is in winter.

When I opposed the change originally, I don't think I had a better reason than "it's not what I'm used to", although I tried to justify it referring to hard grounds. But it's clearly been a good move. I support it fully.

Speaking from a club who already plays there rugby in the summer months. Its generally ok with the weather but take last weekend for example, it was horrendous playing in 27 degrees, yes it allowed more open expensive rugby to be played, but the effect on some of the players bodies was much more playing in Winter and i can only think in the long term it will have an effect playing of "dust bowl" surfaces.

There's pro's and cons of all the options being put forward

Summer rugby has the weather on its side, better for training (light nights etc) but on the down side has the rock hard and badly managed pitches and also (especially with youth sides) the fact that there are school holidays and families going away during July/August and hence possibel issues with numbers.

The current setup with a two month gap in January/ February is also problematic as this can prove a distraction as kids lose focus. And you have once again the state of the picthes, frozen, rutted, waterlogged etc.

Having a continuous winter season can also be probelmatic, especially for the more successfull clubs who have extended cup runs.

Why not split the current league season into two halves with a gap mid season which is dedicated to cup competitions. Might it also be prudent to look at restructuring the size of the leagues to allow for the flexibility in case matches are cancelled.

Obviously the Super League summer model includes well looked after picthes, regularly watered etc. Maybe summer rugby is the answer but the compromise is that the RL must invest at grass roots level (no pun intended) in ensurimg pitches are of a certain standard. Many clubs can't afford this luxury and see summer as a time their pitches can recover.

Looks like it is a done deal anyway.

rlhttp://www.therfl.co.uk/home/news_item_top.php?id

So, what are the RFL going to do to help clubs whose council have said no to summer rugby?

Seeing as we have a lack of match officials in the overlap periods between summer and winter, where are we going to get all the necessary match officials from?

Apparently we can play mid-week to help with match officials etc. but will work allow that? I'm not sure that having been at work since 8.30am I would want to get home at 5.30pm and start preparing for a game at 6.30pm.

Have they got a glut of volunteers lined up to take the place of people who don't want to give up the whole of their summer and decide to leave the game?

If it is all about recruiting more players, we don't get masses training in pre-season as it is, so where are all these extra players going to come from when you now have to recruit in the winter?

Are they ignoring the summer teams that fold in order to sell the idea that summer rugby will save the game?

Will they accept the responsibility when it goes wrong, or it will be the club volunteers fault?

On the positive..........

.........I'm struggling!