In summer of 2009 NCL ran their own Summer season which had any teams from the NCL playing in it if they wished. They did it to see if the NCL were in favour or not.

As I said though we'll have to accept a short season. Soccer will get the first use of the pitches as they're not as terrified of winter as we appear to be and we'll get what's left of the year that they don't want....on council pitches (which covers most Yorkshire teams) anyway.

Its probably the wrong time of the year to be answering this question, especially given the current weather and games off, which ahs always been the case. My own view is that I don't think summer rugby will take off because the drive isn't coming from the tradional clubs & players, its from elsewhere. I've yet to speak to a player from an NCL or NWC club playing above div 2 that has expressed a preference for summer rugby, quite the opposite in fact. The established summer clubs, those that only exist in the summer, might actually suffer most because they naturally rely on players from other clubs to field teams. If those same teams then chose to play in the summer, their playing base would evaporate overnight. That would be really sad to see because they have worked very hard over the years to get established.

With regards pitches my experience of summer rugby is that the playing surfaces from the past few years is that they are actually in worse condition than winter. Someone described them as dust bowls which they predominantly are. The RU clubs we've played at have been hard and rutted but because 'its summer' that seems to be ok and acceptable. Watering just isnt an option, you'd need the fire brigade to sort some of the pitches I've seen games played on.

There's a long way to go on this one but that's my two penneths worth!

I agree. From all the meetings I go to the traditional clubs are resistant, and the more new the club, the more willing to consider the option of switching. That's why I think you'll end up with two distinct and both smaller competitions as it will be individual clubs/players that will make decisions. as for players, it annoys me sometimes to see a summer game where I recognise almost all the players on the field from winter sides...the objective was supposed to be to expand the player base! those clubs would be exposed now if there was a mass switchover and the RFL could be very embarassed - they use the summer numbers as part of the increase in participation justifying their Sport England monies.

mmp I to am disapointed with the way the summer league is now, like you say it was to bring people into the game not just use people from other clubs.
You say traditional clubs are resistant I was wondering what are the problems they see.

it's not so much 'problems' but a case that they have invested a lot of time and effort in getting to the position they are in now and it is inherently a risk to go down another route without having a clear idea of what the benefits might be and what the incentives are to switch. In most cases, the clubs are pretty sustainable based on their current operating model and have structures that will keep them at the top end of the competition (and i sometimes find it curious just how much value is placed on league placings etc. above finance etc - in many sports (take RU), its being financially sound that is seen as more important). Add 'tradition' (which is not a bad thing) into the mix and the bigger question for those clubs is why should we switch?

I really do not feel that the RFL have articulated the benefits enough to those people who will actually have to implement any changes. they are speaking to BARLA, they are surveying players, but it is what the individual club (and its members/players) decides on a case by case basis that will determine whether clubs switch.

Community Board met on Thursday and press release due out today apparently...lets see what is said!

Summer or winter i just want to play every week without missing games due to bad weather/pitches.
i am always hearing how the RFL are not afriad to try things diffrent and that makes us unique in sport. do you think it could be a good option to change to summer rugby for 1 year then have a vote to see which everyone prefers, some players may have visions of summer rugby wont be for them but they may change their mind after a season at it. if not then stick with winter, discussion could then be closed??

Doesn't really matter we think, summer or winter.

The RFL have an agenda and aim to take over the youth game. They already have ear marked three amateur teams per pro club and have put forward proposed free unlimited transfers between the rest of the clubs in that area and the ones linked to the pro teams.

The summer leagues will be run by the RFL (it's part of the proposal not often advertised) and those leagues will be ran by a chairman, a service area co-ordinator and a administrator. No guesses that they will be paid employees and therefore under the control of the RFL.

Already they are ploughing money into those committees and members who they feel are key to getting the switch over made, former volunteers are now getting five figure sums and still calling themselves volunteers.

The so called community forum has a rather large number of paid employees on it, so pinch of salt with what comes out of it, as for the "minutes of the meetings" well they do seem to often miss key facts the are raised against any proposal from an employee and often show a complete difference of opinion by carefully worded paragraphs.

There will be a lot less players taking part in the game when it switches and as the two seasons overlap there will be more 18-0's not less as teams fail to complete their fixtures at each end of the season.

By the way, don't get confused about games that are shown as P-P, many are not weather related and if you look closely some of the teams involved played elsewhere and some fixtures are errors and postponed as they have already been played.

Teams who cannot play in the summer (e.g. Myton Warriors) have been simply told that "there will be casualties - disgraceful!

Just look at the number of paid employees now in ever area and ask if we as the community get value for money. Some areas have combined figures of six figure sums in wages being spent on service area co-ordinators, talent coaches, derivites officers etc etc, one Super League club even pays the wife of a player £10K towards her salary to keep it out of the cap !

I wonder what, given a chance, those former hard working volunteers, who are no longer with game, would have delivered given the same six figures every year to invest in the youth and its clubs which currently goes oin wages of people who spend most of the week in meetings!

They have ran leagues on shoe string budgets for many years producing many great players in the process, 50K to two clubs every year alone would have soon had our community clubs in a better shape than they have been ever!

Makes you wonder

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chaos rules: http://www.nationalconferenceleague.co. ... tions.html