Well common sense seems to have finally prevailed however, we are clearly still in the firing line and it seems the clubs who have had a reprieve will have to improve without the same level of funding. You have to have a sense of humour following this sport don't you?

You can have two years to improve but you will have to do it with one arm tied behind your back compared to the other teams.. still it is better than the alternative of losing the academy.

Congratulations, the games run by idiots.

Time to get behind BullBuilder.

Done.

Sounds like typical RFL logic doesnt it. We don't think your spending enough on your academy so you've got two years to spend more but we're removing the central funding during that period.

wonder if the withheld funding will be shared out amongst other academies or just go into RFLs coffers.

It's actually just a sneaky way of doing it, just like the perfect 'Yes, Prime Minister' script book.

It's rather like the episode about the ring road, where the council want to build a ring road but it would mean knocking down the memorial garden in the town centre, which would cause a serious rumpus. So instead, they actually publish a plan which includes knocking down the hospital adjacent to the memorial garden. This creates such an outcry that when the solution is 'found' that they only need to knock down the garden , everyone jumps up and cheers.

If we just assume that the RFL really only wanted to save money on the academy set up, it 's a perfect fit.