CAN it be pure coincidence that hot on the heels of the Rugby Football League’s contentious (and I use that word advisedly) National Community Rugby League initiative, the Wales Rugby League has issued its ‘2025-30 Strategy’?

Perhaps it is, indeed, coincidental. But, other than the fact that the Wales RL’s document spans 19 pages and the RFL’s quite a few more (both daunting enough, to me anyway, when you embark on trying to take it all in, and I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling that way) there is one big difference, at least to my mind.

Whereas in England everything will kick-start next year, the Welsh are planning their strategy over five years.

I have to wonder whether, if the RFL had set out a similar timescale, they wouldn’t be facing anything like the furore that’s surrounding them at the moment, with the NCL meeting this evening (Monday, December 8) to decide whether to press ahead with legal action.

Perhaps there would still have been trouble. I’m conscious of the habit we all can have, in any walk of life, of ‘kicking the can down the road’ (my phrase, not Martin Coyd’s), which is essentially why he’s pressing for quick action, I suppose.

I’m still, however, inclined to learn, over the next few weeks, how those who are most involved (players, coaches and administrators, at club and league levels) feel about it all, in both England and Wales. That surely has to be the litmus test.

The RFL’s exhortations (or, more accurately, instructions, which may actually be another big part of the problem) have not gone down well at all, in fact I’ve struggled to find many at the grassroots who are actually in favour of NCRL, although Lionel Hurst of Bristol All Golds is a notable exception, and I know of one NCL outfit in favour.

So where do we go from here? I honestly don’t know, but I’m increasingly getting the feeling that the future of the sport in England is, as a consequence of this fracas, in jeopardy (and that means the entire code, including Super League and the England or Great Britain side, because the amateur game underpins the whole edifice).

Maybe it’s time that the RFL took a lead from their Welsh counterparts and brought in a planned timetable through which their ambitions for our sport could become reality. As I see it, that’s possibly the only viable route out of this mess.

Meanwhile, let’s hope that London side Elmbridge Eagles’ long-term future can soon be secured.

The Eagles have been based at Old Cranleighans RUFC in Thames Ditton for a few years, after 26,000 tonnes of soil was mistakenly dumped on their pitch at Oaken Lane, Claygate, back in 2016 (I can’t imagine how that happened!).

There have been concerns over whether pitch-sharing at Old Cranleighans could continue next year, but it seems that a ten-year deal could be imminent. Fingers crossed for one of the most proactive clubs in the south!

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