Significant reconstruction of Scotland’s club rugby leagues is back on the agenda with at least three clubs-two from the Caledonia region-known to have warned the Scottish Rugby Union that the crippling travel costs from the present structure are close to putting them out of business.
With ambitious Ayr pushing their own reconstruction at the higher end of the club game proposing a reduced Premier One of eight teams run on semi-professional lines with minimum standards of facilities the clubs in the sprawling Caledonia district, which covers the area from the Forth to Shetland, have taken matters into their own hands.
The clubs in the regionalised Caley leagues have circulated three options for reconstruction, one of which would see travel distances drop by a quarter over a season, and for some member clubs by over 60%.
Second and third teams of some Midlands clubs who do not play in the national reserve leagues will be invited to join the regionalised leagues.
The move comes as two Caley clubs, both currently in the National League set-up, are understood to have approached the SRU warning that travel distances to fulfill fixtures in the present league structure are close to making it financially impossible to continue.
Huge disruption to the club schedule by a two-month shutdown for the severe winter weather conditions has left many facing financial hardship.
In addition, the long travel distances for many clubs make it harder to retain players at a time when overall participation at senior levels is at its lowest point for many years.SupportA proposal to regionalise club rugby below Premier club level, thereby bringing the three National League divisions into a broader regional set-up, was given unanimous support by a meeting of Caledonia clubs in Perth last month, and three options have been put to the Midlands member clubs by a committee chaired by Don Burns, the Midlands representative on the SRU council.
The first envisages one all-Caledonia division, with three Midlands divisions below it, the second two all-Caledonia divisions and the third a conference system that would see six clubs from the Midlands and the North play 10 fixtures locally for the first half of the season, and then split to contest promotion and relegation for the final six fixtures.
In the final option, Midlands clubs in Caledonia Division One would face a maximum of three trips to the north for league rugby a season, with the estimate that the current average of 2200 miles a season in Caledonia One would be reduced by a quarter.
Clubs in the Midlands-only structure would face season travel distances of less than 700 miles.
The problem for the third option reconstruction plans could come from whether the North clubs will agree to a similar structure given that a conference system for the New Caledonia Division One would see six North clubs currently in National League rugby being placed against six from the Midlands, all from the regional division.
In addition, the proposal to regionalise the National Leagues might see Dunfermline or Perthshire, currently battling relegation from Premier Division Three, dropping more than 50 places in the league pyramid into a regional system if they go down.
Clubs are being asked to give support to one of the options by the end of this month, with a view to having some sort of joint proposal with the North representatives to go to the SRU general meeting at the end of April.