THE CHAMPIONSHIP and League One are set to be merged next season – but a decision is yet to be made on the exact future structure below Super League.
Lower-league clubs met in Oldham today (Wednesday) to discuss a number of options proposed by Nigel Wood’s strategic review committee.
They included maintaining the status quo of two divisions, but with the expansion of Super League next season set to leave just 21 clubs across them, the majority were in favour of a merger.
Further discussions will now be held to decide what shape the new Championship will take, with a single division, a split into eastern and western conferences, and three conferences of seven all under consideration.
Clubs will offer feedback and indicate their preference over the next week, with the final decision in the hands of the RFL board.
A decision will need to be made imminently as it affects this season as well as the next, primarily promotion and relegation issues.
With a merger of some form incoming, the planned Super Eights competition could be scrapped altogether.
In a fast-changing landscape even by rugby league’s standards, the last restructure of the lower leagues hasn’t even yet been completed.
In March 2024 clubs agreed to move to a structure of three divisions of twelve. Goole Vikings were elevated to the professional ranks as a 36th team for this season, but then Cornwall withdrew from League One in April.
An extra team was relegated from the Championship last year to reduce that competition to 13, with the intention of taking a further team out at the end of this season.
That was to happen via a newly-introduced, post-season Super Eights competition, involving the Championship bottom four along with League One’s top four.
The top two after four rounds of fixtures secured second-tier places, along with the winners of a play-off between third and fourth.
A similar structure was then to be used to determined promotion and relegation between the two leagues in future years, like the Qualifiers and Million Pound Game settled such issues between Super League and the Championship from 2015 to 2018.
That will now be consigned to history like many other competition formats before it, potentially without a single one being played.
The professional game has had three divisions since 2003 when the Northern Ford Premiership – which at its peak contained 19 teams – was divided into National Leagues One and Two.