IN this week’s debate on the future of rugby league beneath Super League, Oldham will press for whatever option is considered to be the best option for the good of the whole game, confirmed managing director Mike Ford.
Speaking from Marseille in France, where he is supporting England and his middle son George in the RU World Cup, Ford said it was time to put club interests on the back burner and to vote for the game’s welfare, to such an extent that clubs should be prepared to help each other.
He said:
For example, why couldn’t we all get together and help Newcastle? Rugby Union has lost four clubs in the last few months and we now face a situation in which Rugby League is losing three teams from Betfred League One — London Skolars and relegated Newcastle Thunder joining West Wales Raiders, who left the semi-pro ranks before the start of the 2023 season.
We are all in this together. And while we can all find reasons to put our own club first, we need to vote for whatever option is considered best for the game as a whole. We’ve discussed this at board level and it’s the board’s view as well as mine.
Others to go from the pro ranks in recent years, writes ROGER HALSTEAD, were Gloucester All Golds, Hemel Stags, Oxford and Toronto Wolfpack. Only Cornwall, who have completed two seasons and, on the face of it, look to be going from strength to strength, have reversed that trend.
Ford said that, at a meeting of the RL Council on October 4, there was a discussion on the future of Championship and League One clubs but at that stage no voting took place on the options available and at that stage Newcastle had not dropped their bombshell.
He added:
We are now having a Zoom meeting on Thursday to discuss all options. In the first place there were six or seven options, but I am sure they were reduced in number. We still have options, but fewer than that. We need a decision on Thursday. The Oldham stance, as I say, is to vote for the good of the game.
