A move by the Newcastle Rugby League to sever ties with the Country Rugby League will be a major talking point at a meeting of the CRL and the NSW Rugby League in Sydney within the next fortnight.
But the Newcastle RL’s desire to immediate link with the NSWRL could be complicated by on-going merger talks between the two governing bodies.
Newcastle RL clubs voted unanimously late last month to endorse their executive’s decision to dump the CRL and seek affiliation with the NSWRL.
It follows an uneasy relationship between the Newcastle RL and the CRL, highlighted by a drawn-out and ultimately failed attempt to restructure the code at all levels in Newcastle.
Newcastle officials have been in talks with the NSWRL for months and the widely-held belief is the clubs and the competition will benefit far more by the change.
CRL operations manager Bert Lowrie said his executive will meet early next week and seek a meeting with the NSWRL over the future of the Newcastle competition.
“Our executive will meet next week and the outcome of that will be to seek a meeting with the NSWRL to see what is going on,” Lowrie said.
“One of the things that keeps coming out of it is that the CRL won’t help the Newcastle Rugby League.
“We want to know what the problem is. Everything we have offered them, they haven’t accepted. We are just in the dark at the moment.”
