Fylde RFC are keen to enter a new competition

Having scrapped all 2020/21 adult leagues below Championship level due to the pandemic, the governing body is sounding out clubs on a new tournament to begin as early as possible in the New Year.

It would see Fylde play 10 games under ‘hybrid’ rules in a six-team North West group, paving the way for a national knockout.

It provides some light at the end of the tunnel for Spragg, whose players have been forced to stop training by the lockdown as the game reverses to stage one on its ‘roadmap’ for a return.

He told The Gazette: “It is frustrating but what is happening in rugby is mirroring the rest of society, with one step forward and two back.

“We have to stay positive and plan for what it will look like on the other side.

“We hope to resume training in December if that is allowed.

“We’ve recently had an email from the National Clubs Association, which governs our level, asking clubs for expressions of interest in the new competition.

“It is at the consultation stage but we want to be part of it, though we do need a discussion on the return to rugby.”

The new competition replaces the proposal to stage a 15-game National Two North competition in which Fylde would have played every other club in their league once.

That option appealed to Spragg but he understands the change of heart.

He added: “My own preference would be for a competition that resembled the league we were in.

“I feel that is the most attractive competition for the club as a business and for the players, with one shot at everyone else in the league.

“But you assume they don’t want National League clubs travelling up and down the country on Saturdays, so a competition which keeps travel to the shortest distances with relatively local games does make sense and we do want to play.”

Spragg has floated the idea of Fylde and Preston Grasshoppers warming up for the new competition with two money-spinning games against each other if this is feasible.

“It depends on the window they give us,” he says.

“That would be the ideal scenario for us because there would be a lot of interest in those games.

“If it is possible to squeeze games in before the competition we would be daft not to look at adding meaningful fixtures which generate interest.”

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