It would seem the RFL have decided that non SL clubs will no longer be allowed to run scholarship programmes , except Widnes

So with no starting point , how exactly is any club able to attempt to bring through junior players of their own ?

Will this also apply to whichever club drops down from SL in 2012 ?

Only conclusion I can make is that this will further weaken heartland clubs when competing for any future SL application against a potential expansion club

It's just disgracegful, I am slowly losing faith with RL altogether.

I'm sure some on here will want to see written proof before believing it though!

... and that's wrong because?

Why would Championship sides need to have a scholarship programs. The best kids are going to sign for Superleague teams and drop down to Championship academies if they dont make the grade.

The real disgrace is that you are capped to 10 a year on the your scholarship program. Surely if there are 15-20 good players in your area then you should be allowed to take them on.

It may come as a BIG surprise but not everyone thinks sooooperdoooooper league is the be all and end all of Rugby League.

Not every kid WANTS or NEEDS to play soooperdoooper league, quite a lot are content to play amateur or semi pro.

Why should that kind of information prevent clubs running whatever system to TEACH/TRAIN youngsters the game.

Any other system smacks of elitism and that is something that used to mark RL as different to a lot of sports.

Sadly only elitism is what the powers that be, see or require and the devil take the hindmost.

This game, that I grew up with and respected for all it's positives is slowly but surely turning away from its roots and the very things that made it the "Greatest Game"

If it carrys on with this kind of elistist thinking all it will suceed in doing is driving kids/people away and then where is the future of the game?

To a point I agree , however if clubs are also being ' marked ' on their junior development , how do you ' develop junior talent ' if you are not allowed to have the most junior level of development

As I suggested , it does even out the scoring between heartland and expansion clubs

Starbug, it is illogical for the RFL to do this, it seems unlikely, and I've heard it chucked about very recently with absolutely nothing in the way of proof, evidence, even so much as a newspaper report. It seems to have been plucked out of some Leigh fan's .

I don't think it's too much to ask for some evidence and context in this case before we start reacting to this. If Widnes are the only club allowed, why is that? What seperates us from you? Maybe even if there is a grain of truth to it there is more to it that you're making out?

I can't see it being true, and until we have more than just fans on here stating it without anything to back it up I'd suggest it be treated with the amount of respect it deserves. Not that I particularly trust the RFL, I just don't understand why they'd be biased towards my club in particular.

Even if it is true, the whole Scholarship/Service Area system should have been scrapped long ago anyway. Replace it with regular competitive games at a representative club level with the best players playing each other for more than just six weeks a year.

Trust me, it's true. I was speaking to the development manager at a CC club about it just yesterday.

I can see both sides of the argument, but I think that of a club can afford to run a scholarship programme, and the standard of coaching and other training is up to scratch, they should be allowed to.

It does sound bizarre. The only reason I could think of for it occuring is if the RFL was funding all the scholarships and was cutting back. It's clearly bonkers to prevent any club - professional or amateur - from running a junoir team.

I'd want to see something in writing from the RFL. This sounds like rhubarb to me.

What are both sides to the argument? I want to get to the bottom of this.