Lancashire RFU

With the rapid and large expansion of Clubs joining our League system the League Management Committee (LMC) have decided to form another Division within our League System.

Next season we will have the ADM Premier, ADM Championship and the ADM 1st Division, our aim is that all 3 Leagues will be 12 Team based wherever possible, currently we have 34 Clubs officially signed up. Applications will close at 36 Clubs or by the extended Entry deadline on Saturday 2nd May.

We’ve had to redraw some lines and place Clubs in a best fit situation throughout the 3 Divisions, this was not easy, and some Clubs will have a fair argument why they should be placed higher or even lower in the Leagues. That said we would like to think we have both our Clubs and the Leagues long-term interests at stake. We must make special thanks to both Heaton Moor and Littleborough who have taken one for the Team in helping us balance things, that said the ADM Championship looks like a very competitive league.

Indeed, for some of our new Clubs this may well be a halfway-house until the new RFU League Structure appears for Season 2021/22 which may entice some Clubs back to the RFU Framework, we have no issue with this and if this is the case we would wish any and all Clubs well. However, we are committed to providing the best and varied competition as possible for next season.

Our League Cups will continue, Clubs can “opt-out” if they so wish but as in the past two season each Club will play in a Qualifying 3 Team League which will give them one Cup Home game and one Cup Away game before the straight knockout stages. Where numbers dictate otherwise Clubs will be in a two-legged Home/Away tie.

We continually try to find some way to add some innovation Year or Year, our Cup Comps, Take a Break option, Player of the Season and so on have been well received in the past and hopefully this next one will be.

We’ll be adding to the e-Match Card an option to “Rate your Ref”, this WILL NOT be a platform to bash the Match Official after you’ve lost, in fact it will be used to appreciate the sometimes very hard job our Officials do, no Ref = no Game. The options on the Match Card will be - Standard, Very Good and Excellent. At season end our Panel will select the “ADM Match Official of the Season”.

We are sure all our clubs will support this.

In the new setup we do have one or two geographical anomalies, none of which are new, indeed last season in the RFU Leagues most of the long-ish trips occurred there as they will now do in our structure. We have tried to temper this with as many “local derbies” as possible in each league however we’ve stuck 95% to our Service Area and in any league system you will get the odd “stopper” now and again. If Clubs recall in the RFU meetings before Option X was implemented in the RFU Leagues we were told by RFU Competitions that Clubs had stated a maximum travel time of 90 mins one way was acceptable! We disagreed and thought 70 mins should be the maximum that Teams should be sat in Cars travelling, according to Google the longest trip in our Leagues, Thornton Cleveleys to Congleton is 84 minutes so maybe 80 mins would be more accurate than either of the previous stated times.

Our extended entry window closes on Saturday 2nd May, League and Cup Fixtures will be out on Monday 4th May and our new 2nd/3rd XV Combi-Leagues are still open for any interested sides to apply we still have a couple of slots in both Leagues to fill.

We have mentioned previously that with have planned some contingencies for if we don’t get back out on to the paddock until the New Year because of CV-19 with our Micro Leagues, we have also built into our Structured Season another Fall Back plan should we only restart in October to allow for a full league programme but no cups. At the moment all we can do is plan and hope for the best possible outcome.

Finally, stay safe everyone, follow the guidelines laid down by the Government and help protect the NHS who are doing a fantastic job in a scenario no one would have ever hoped to see.

When we are back and dependant on whatever rules are in place, we will have that first Pint after that first game which will taste just like Ambrosia..... the food of the Gods not the Rice Pudding version!

LMC