A reminder of what happens now

Having clinched the Betfred League One title with two games to spare, it is timely to remind everyone of what will happen now in terms of the ambitious Roughyeds and, hopefully, their journey to the top of all that Rugby League has to offer.

First of all, we must confirm that we will be in the Championship next season, promotion from League One being automatic for the team finishing top. We have two games left, both at Boundary Park, against Cornwall this Sunday (1pm kick-off) and the final game of the season (for us, at least) against Workington Town on the following Sunday, September 1.

Our season will end with the Workington game – and the club hopes to drop the curtain on a memorable 2024 with a celebration for all fans to enjoy. Before then, however, we have Cornwall visiting this Sunday, with an early kick-off, and that's a game, notwithstanding the early start, that some fans might feel they can miss.

There is little point in the club trying to build up these games into something they are not. Suffice to reiterate here that HOME GAMES are our biggest source of income and if some supporters take the view that our job is already done and that they can save money by giving us a miss, might we advance the view that the club would thus be penalised for its own success.

Apart from IMG, and the need for us to show good attendance figures, the best and most consistently successful clubs are those which know their fans will back them whenever they play at home, irrespective of what is at stake. Oldham Athletic are a shining example of that and so were Manchester City in the days when they were still at Maine Road and playing well down the divisions. Look at City now. What a transformation!

OUR FANS THIS SEASON HAVE BEEN FAN—TASTIC ! THEIR SUPPORT AT KEIGHLEY WAS EVEN BETTER AND THIS SUNDAY THEY HAVE A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW PLAYERS AND CLUB THEIR APPRECIATION BY SUPPORTING THEM AGAINST CORNWALL. BILL QUINN, MIKE FORD, SEAN LONG AND CO HAVE WORKED WONDERS TO TRANSFORM OUR CLUB.

Off the field, new sponsors have come on board; the club is working desperately hard on building relations with local clubs and local lads; what's going on at Melrose is exemplary and you've only to look at what happens at Boundary Park on match days to see the club is going places.

On the field, Longy and his troops have delivered. They went public months ago with the belief that they would win this league (thus putting themselves and the club under pressure) but they have done it with two games to spare, an amazing defensive campaign and with attacking figures of more than 42 points a game on average.,

With Bill's money, Mike's expertise and Sean's pulling power, they have signed quality players to do it – and that's fulfilling a promise, no danger.

The Championship is a different animal and it will be difficult to say the least. But so far, so good. The club has delivered beyond expectation and now is the time, with the title and promotion in the bag, for fans to stand up and be counted.

Just a reminder of what happens generally.

Teams 2 to 6 will take part in a play-off and the overall winning club will play the team finishing 12th in the Championship to determine whether two or three teams come down and whether one or two clubs go up.

Definitely down will be the bottom two teams, currently Whitehaven and Dewsbury, but in the last few games clubs like Barrow, Halifax and maybe even Doncaster will be looking over their shoulders at what is happening in Cumbria and at Swinton, currently 12th.

The RFL plans to have 12 teams in the Championship and 12 in League One by 2026, taking two seasons to achieve their objective and appointing the required number of newcomers to League One, possibly starting by naming the first of the new boys as early as next month.

There will be no automatic promotion from the Championship to Super League (that will largely depend on IMG) but in 2025 there will be relegation and promotion between League One and the Championship on a Super 8-syle comp.

Everything will be sorted by 2026 – possibly with 12 teams in each of the three divisions.

An RFL statement is expected next month with IMG largely responsible for what happens in Super League . . .as London Broncos will readily testify.