The new summer rugby season starts this year!

Since the inception of a league in the north west catering for this age group (16 - 18) records have been kept and as many as are known are recorded on the website under Achievements.

Many of our players have gone on to play professional rugby and we are proud of them but we are also proud to say that we cater for all standards of players from those who will become such high flyers, as well as those who like to play a good enjoyable sport for recreation. Many of our administrators have also achieved fame in one way or another and their hard work is also recognised in the same section on the website. Some of our administrators are only with us from the under 16s until their players leave to play open age and some continue with this age group all the time - it all depends on the club structure.

Some might say that this is the most difficult age group to manage - it is likely that all age groups have their own issues with which to deal, but once a player leaves school, there are new things in their lives to attract their attention. This may of course change as the length of compulsory education changes. But once a player can take himself, either by foot, bicycle or car to training and match days, the whole situation changes as players are no longer dependant upon their parents or someone else for lifts.

Indeed only a couple of years into this age group, young men can do many things legally of their own accord. Clubs in this area know to their cost that their players can enrol to become soldiers and fight for their country and we have lost many whilst serving their country in Afghanistan especially. We will always remember these young men who took the skills and unselfish attitudes learned whilst playing rugby league with them to far flung corners of the globe.

We believe that the friendship and team spirit which is formed when playing our game cannot be matched by any other sport. Those who play the community game of rugby league at weekends and who train during the week, we hope will not have either the inclination or the time to become vandals and thieves.

This region stretches from the north of Lancashire to the south of Cheshire and in the east we have teams from the Oldham and Rochdale areas and our most westerly teams play at the seaside in Blackpool. In total we have just over 50 clubs and about 100 teams taking part in our league competition, which this season will start in March 2012 and we will play until almost the end of a November. We are also introducing a Festival Season when no league matches will be played but during this period, clubs will be encouraged to hold their own Festivals and play friendlies - may be even cross county which will be organised by the League Committee.

Fixtures will be scheduled by the League Committee and teams will be expected to fulfil these matches without any postponements. Arrangements may be made to play a scheduled fixture during the previous week on a weekday evening, but these arrangements must be made at least Two weeks in advance. This time constraint is to help with the administration of the league and appointments of referees.

It is likely that this new venture will highlight areas which will need adjustments for the administrators, coaches and players and we hope that we are strong enough to overcome any difficulties which may arise.

This League was the first to be accredited with the RFL League Mark and is now in its fifth full season as such. Part of our development plan is to ensure that all clubs have achieved Club Mark Gold status and each team has at least one Touchline Manager, and one First Aider. We are pleased to say that most of our clubs have achieved this status and all but two of our clubs are in partnership with the RFL.

We wish all the teams in the North West a very enjoyable season - and although our first aim is enjoyment, we wish you all success as well.

Hilary Steel M.B.E.
Chair/Secretary