Lancashire Rugby Counties Leagues begin new era

At the beginning of the month, the newly former Lancashire Rugby Counties Leagues were launched in Manchester.

Twenty clubs across two divisions will take part in this new format introduced by the Lancashire RFU after they disagreed with the way the current RFU league system is structured.

The likes of Widnes, Tyldesley and Liverpool St Helens will all compete in the ADM Premier Division while teams such as Burnley, Bury and Wigan will ply their trade in the ADM First Division for this upcoming season.

The main motive for this breakaway by the Lancashire clubs was because of the distance teams and players were having to travel on a weekend just to play a fixture.

An example given by Lancashire Rugby was clubs from Cumbria were having to face teams from Manchester on a regular basis instead of those particular clubs facing other local sides which was not logistical and it was also putting a financial strain on the clubs. 

After Lancashire lobbied their concerns to the RFU, they decided that no progress was being made with the governing body and took matters into their own hands to form two new divisions.

Lancashire swiftly decided upon the league structure, fixtures, regulations as well as a website and social media accounts which all culminated in their launch day at the beginning of August which proved to be a success.

Lancashire have also found sponsors for the new leagues, ADM Leisurewear, and they are also offering prize money and equipment worth around £2000 to the Premier Champions at the end of the season.

Chairman of the League Ian Spivey said: "Wherever possible the League will listen to what our clubs want, moreover it is important that as clubs you listen to what your players want as without them we have no team, no club and no competition.

"As a League Management Committee (LMC), we will be fair and equitable to all, our intention is to be less authoritarian and more understanding to the issues all our clubs can face from time to time.

"We don’t believe in fines, we don’t believe in docking points (unless absolutely necessary) and we don’t have to follow strict guidelines like our colleagues who have to unenviable task of running the RFU Leagues. The county leagues will be whatever you the clubs make it, we are here to let you play!"

The new campaign kicks off on September 8^th and full details of the leagues and teams involved can be found here: http://lancashirerfu.pitchero.com/competitions-278/