Promotion is confirmed!

Today the RFL have confirmed that The Championship and League 1 will merge next season to create a league of twenty one teams. There are more details that will be announced in October around the structure and fixtures. There's been a mixed reaction across the rugby league family, but for one I welcome that we have a decision and finally some clarity.

From a Newcastle Thunder perspective I'll have a look at what this could mean.

Trust the process

Already there's been some comments around Thunder and that'll be that. As I said in my preview for the Whitehaven game, we've been written off so many times as a club yet we're still here flying the flag for rugby league in the north east. The volunteers who run the club have shown that their interest is to continue to secure the future of rugby league in the north east. I for one trust them to do what's right for the club going forward.

We know the plan around developing north east talent with Graham Steadman at the forefront of that and I'm sure the club won't go away from that. The development of local talent and coaches is crucial to the future sustainability of the club.

For those who care about the club and have concerns, trust the process and get ready to commit to next season and get ready to get behind the team in an even bigger way! There will be doomsayers from the outside but let's ignore that and channel our energy to the club.

The York partnership

This is where things get interesting, my thinking is that hopefully York make Super League which could see more benefits of our partnership going forward. York Valkyrie playing their home game and Clint Goodchild being in attendance at a couple of home games recently shows that this is being taken seriously. A York team in Super League could lead to more players becoming available to Thunder who have Championship experience.

The ground

As I said post-Whitehaven the addition of a marquee and some toilets pitch side does make a huge difference to the experience and look of Blaydon.

There's enough room at Blaydon for our need but if money wasn't an issue I'd like to the see the stand replaced with something more modern including changing rooms below and some form of hospitality at the back with a covered standing area behind the posts backing onto the second team pitch. You could add a couple of turnstile boxes just to add what we need.

A more realistic thing might be to have prefab changing rooms pitchside just to save a walk across the car park. The marquee could well be back and add some more toilets by the pitch too. All this would depend on Blaydon being in agreement of course.

Time to be positive

To me having clarity today does bring excitement and I hope that some of those fans who have waned look and think now is the time to get back and support the club. Next season will bring a higher standard of rugby league to Blaydon and it presents an opportunity to attract more people to be involved in the club from supporting to sponsoring and volunteering. If you are a rugby league fan reading this in the north east then come down and get involved and support rugby league in the north east.

We're used to being underdogs and let's relish that and get behind the club!