North West grassroots rugby set to kick off in January

GRASSROOTS rugby is set for a return as teams throughout the North West of England prepare for a kick off in January, Covid rules permitting.

More than 125 club sides will be dusting off the boots from Saturday, January 16 when the Halbro North West Leagues get their revised competitions under way.

Clubs from Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cumbria and Cheshire will take part.

Leagues chairman Fred Swarbrick said: “A tremendous amount of background work has been carried out in preparation for the restart, especially by our fixtures secretary John Powell, who has spent many hours devising the team clusters and bashing away at the numbers involved.

“We are now setting up the detailed fixtures for all our sides, in itself no mean task involving detailed analysis to produce acceptable home and away patterns that preserve Covid tier restrictions.”

Swarbrick added: “The Leagues Committee is looking forward to the start.

“There will be no promotion or relegation in the coming season as the main object to get players out on the park playing.”

Teams in each pod will play each other twice up to to the end of the season, both home and away, which will see the season ending in May.

Teams involved with a 1st XV that is not in the RFU National Leagues will start their fixtures on January 16. Teams whose 1st XVs play in the RFU National Leagues will start their fixtures a week later, in line with the national start for the game.

Revised rules to make the game Covid safer have been introduced along the lines of the changes at national level, and there will be no penalties for teams who concede games.

Leagues president Peter Rhodes welcomed the news of the restart: “It has been a hard time for clubs in the north west, and I hope that the ability to play rugby again will provide a welcome break from all the restrictions.”