Trouble At Mill?

The above phrase is North English in origin, suitable as RL is basically a North English sport. It goes back to the mill factories in the area and how there were disputes between workers and owners. The lives of poor workers revolved around the mill and trouble there could affect their lives in a major way.

Fast forward to 2018 and with regard to UK RL, there could be trouble at t' mill again. A brief background. A few years back, a new format was introduced where two thirds of the way through a season the two professional/semi-pro leagues became three. It had mixed reviews as to its success.

More recently there has also been a shift in power as the professional clubs have taken control of decision making for themselves at the expense of the game's overall authority, the RFL. However, before the trouble an oveview of the present system.

Overview:

The top eight sides from the top division continue for another 7 weeks. That later becomes a top four, who go for the grand final victory.

The bottom four from the top division join the top four from the second division, becoming the middle eights. The top four from this group go into the top flight the following season and the bottom four move into the second division.

A lower eight from the second division play on to win that group, the bottom team relegated and the second to bottom in a playoff match.

Situation:

The problem I feel with the top eights is the teams carries over points from the league. That means little changes as it is too much to ask teams with fewer points to overhaul teams that have performed better all season up until then. It becomes a procession, waiting for the final four playoffs.

The middle eights are exciting as anything from none to four teams can be promoted or relegated. In reality at best only one side in a season swaps places with a team above. However, it gets teams in the first division rattled and nervous with the uncertainty. It gives much hope to teams wanting promotion, so a two edged sword.

The lower eights are somewhat depreciated with the best sides moving into the middle eights and it doesn't garner too much excitement.

Development: An announcement has been made by the newly appointed chief executive of the first division Super League that the system will revert to not having a dividing of teams into three playoff divisions and that there will be one team up, one down between div 1 and div 2 without a playoff match required.

Also, in such a physical game, an opportunity has opened up for less matches per season, which would be kinder on battered bodies. Unfortunately, it seems a long season will still exist, perhaps to give the TV paymasters a longer season of games. The same TV people who buy all the games in the UK, yet show so few each week.

Trouble at mill: The problem is one chief executive of a SL club has come out immediately after the above mentioned official SL announcement and said some pro clubs are enforcing their new found power. They are coming out with their new scheme that hasn't been agreed to by everyone. A statement from the Leeds club as quoted from the BBC:

"Today's announcement regarding plans for next season appear to be an absurd grab for power for the game by a small group of men who think they own the game. Leeds Rhinos are not party to this and are totally against the creation of a separate Super League executive".

Summary: This sort of thing goes on in governing bodies but RL manages to play it out in public. I have no problem with that as we all know power produces this sort of behaviour, although not a good look in a pc world. What we see is SL clubs marginalising the governing body (RFL) and key players in SL having a lobby group that is now getting what they want, without sufficient dialogue with all stakeholders.

The fact is the professional SL is the pinnacle of the RL system and generates the money. It wants to use that position to run things its way and the rest of the sport has to follow. Even a minority within SL who disagree will have to yield to their wishes.

The risk is vested interests will prevail at the expense of the overall good for the game. If SL has sufficient pragmatism to protect the game as a whole, then no need for concern. If self interest is the over riding mentality, the game below the top level will suffer. Time will tell. Indeed, trouble at t'mill.

UK Elite Teams By Season : 1982-83

Oldham, Carlisle, Workington and Halifax came up from the second division for the 82-83 season. Fulham, Wakefield, York and Whitehaven had gone down.

The League. Hull FC came top of the first division with 47 points from town rivals Hull KR (43), with Wigan (43) third. Then came St Helens (39), Widnes and leeds (38), Castleford (37) and Oldham (32). They were the teams to play the Premiership Finals.

Barrow, Workington, Halifax and Carlisle were the teams to be relegated, three of the four that came up.

The Challenge Cup. The third round quarter finals went: St Helens 10-11 Featherstone, Hunslet 8-13 Castleford, Warrington 4-10 Hull FC, Workington 0-17 Bradford.

The last four were all Yorkshire sides: Bradford 6-11 Featherstone and Castleford 7-14 Hull FC. The final at Wembley Stadium, London hosted 85,000. There Featherstone won 14-12 over Hull FC in an upset result (see video below).

The League Cup. In the quarter finals, the scores were Salford 4-5 Wigan, Barrow 8-13 Leeds, Warrington 11-10 Hull KR, Widnes 16-10 Bradford. The semi finals had Leeds winning 8-2 at the expense of Widnes and Wigan taking the game narrowly 15-14 over Warrington.

The final was at Elland Rd, Leeds with close to 20,000 in attendance. Wigan won 15-4 against Leeds.

Lancashire Cup: For the last four, it went St Helens 7-7 and 9-5 against Carlisle. Then Warrington defeated Fulham 17-8. I thought they were a London outfit? Anyway, Warrington outplayed Saints in taking the trophy with a 16-0 victory at Central park, Wigan in front of nearly 12,000 fans.

Yorkshire Cup: The semi finals had Featherstone get beaten by Bradford 0-11 and Keighley suffered the same fate against Hull FC 3-23. Just under 12,000 also went to the final at Elland Rd where Hull prevailed over Bradford 18-7.

The Premiership Finals. The first round results were: Hull FC 24-21 Oldham, Hull KR 35-14 Castleford, St Helens 7-11 Widnes, Wigan 9-12 Leeds. In the semi finals Hull KR lost out to Widnes 10-21 while Hull FC defeated Leeds 19-5.

The final was played at headingley Stadium, Leeds where Widnes took the title with a 22-10 victory over Hull FC in front of 18,000.

Summary: I've allocated points for results to see how the teams fared. Hull FC were well ahead, courtesy of the league title, Yorkshire Cup win, plus a finalist berth in both Challenge Cup and League Cup. That gave then 64 points. Widnes winning the Premiership final helped them accrue 20 points. Wigan won the league Cup and 38 points. Further down the list, Warrington took the Lancashire Cup.

	Rk	Team	Lge	Fnl	CC	LC	Y/L	Total
	1	Hull FC	20	16	16		12	64
	2	Widnes	12	20		8		40
	3	Wigan	16	6		16		38
	4	Leeds	11	12		12		35
	5	Hull KR	18	12		4		34
	5	St Helens	14	6	6		8	34
	7	Warrington	6		6	8	12	32
	7	Bradford	8		12	4	8	32
	9	Featherstone	5		20		4	29
	10	Castleford	10	6	12			28
	11	Oldham	9	6				15
	11	Workington	3		6			9
	13	Barrow	4			4		8
	14	Leigh	7					7
	15	Hunslet			6			6
	15	Carlisle	1				4	5
	17	Salford				4		4
	17	London					4	4
	17	Keighley					4	4
	20	Halifax	2					2
		Total	146	84	84	60	56	430

To viewing of the 1981-82 season, simply click here.
To see the 1983-84 season, just click here.

UK Elite Teams By Season : 1983-84

The previous season had four teams being relegated from the top flight, Barrow, Workington, Halifax and Carlisle. Up a division came Fulham, Wakefield, Salford and Whitehaven.

The League. Hull KR won with 46 points from Hull FC (45), Warrington (40), Castleford and Widnes (39), St Helens (37) Bradford (36) and Leeds (33). They made up the Premiership Finals series teams.

Relegated were Fulham, Wakefield, Salford and Whitehaven. In other words, the four promoted teams went straight back down again.

The Challenge Cup. The third round went this way: Widnes 21-10 Hull KR, Leeds 13-13 & 12-10 Bradford, St Helens 7-16 Wigan and York 14-12 Castleford. The semi finals had Wigan just getting past York 14-8 and Widnes beating Leeds 15-4. 80,000 went to Wembley Stadium, London to see Widnes defeat Wigan 19-6 in the final.

The League Cup. The quarter finals went accordingly: Widnes 20-15 Wigan, Leigh 12-8 Cardiff City, St Helens 16-12 Featherstone and Swinton 12-16 Leeds. The next round of four teams saw Leigh lose to Leeds 11-18 and Widnes defeating Saints 18-4.

The final at Central Park, Wigan had just 9,500 show up. Those that came saw Leeds take the silverware 18-10 at Widnes' expense.

Lancashire Cup: The first semi final pitted Swinton against Widnes, the latter running out winners 8-22. Meanwhile, Warrington were pipped by Barrow 18-19. Barrow then took the final 12-8 against Widnes. Only 7,000 were at Central Park, Wigan for the match.

Yorkshire Cup: In the first semi final, Wakefield lost to Castleford 12-34 and Leeds likewise in their match with Hull FC 16-20. The final was at Elland Rd, Leeds in front of 14,000 fans. Hull FC were too good, taking the trophy with a 13-2 victory over Cas'.

The Premiership Finals. In the first round, the results were: Castleford 36-4 Widnes, Hull FC 42-12 Bradford, Hull KR 21-16 Leeds and Warrington 13-19 St Helens. On to the last four where Hull KR was too good for Saints, winning 21-16 but Hull FC couldn't make it two Hull clubs in the final, going down 12-22 to Castleford. The final was held at Headingley, Leeds with 12,500 in attendance. Hull KR took the title with an 18-10 victory over Cas'


Summary: I thought this was going to be Hull KR's year but while they won the League and Premiership Final, they did nothing else and ended third with 46 points, according to my points system. The winner was Widnes, who while only winning the Challenge cup were competing to a high standard in everything. Leeds took just the League Cup but again were consistently challenging for honours so came second with 47 points.

Barrow took the Lancashire Cup and 12 points but were nowhere to be seen otherwise. Hull FC were the other trophy winner with the Yorkshire Cup taking pride of place back at the club.

	Rk	Team	Lge	Fnl	CC	LC	Y/L	Total
	1	Widnes	12	6	20	12	8	58
	2	Leeds	9	6	12	16	4	47
	3	Hull KR	20	20	6			46
	4	Castleford	14	16	6		8	44
	5	Hull FC	18	12			12	42
	6	St Helens	11	12	6	8		37
	7	Wigan	8		16	4		28
	8	Warrington	16	6			4	26
	9	Bradford	10	6	6			22
	10	Leigh	6			8		14
	11	Barrow					12	12
	11	York			12			12
	13	Featherstone	5			4		9
	14	Swinton				4	4	8
	15	Oldham	7					7
	15	Wakefield	3				4	7
	17	Fulham	4					4
	17	Cardiff				4		4
	19	Salford	2					2
	20	Whitehaven	1					1
		Total	146	84	84	60	56	430

For the 1982-83 season, simply click here.
To see the 1984-85 season, just click here.