LEAGUE - Exclusion disappoints local teams

Northland's rugby league fraternity is struggling to come to terms with a severe blow to their status this week after confirmation that their provincial sides will definitely be excluded from national competition this season.
It is a long way for Northland league to fall in terms of national status, with the province riding high in recent years with their own Bartercard franchise and with their age-group teams consistently rated among the top in the country.
The absence of "meaningful and stable" age-group competition in the region is the main reason given by NZRL general manager Peter Cordtz as to why Northland has been excluded from the national elite competition.
"The key criteria for participation this year was that there were stable, meaningful local competitions particularly for teenagers and at the senior level," he said.
While Northland junior teams have been strong there has been a lack of regular competition for junior players outside the National Junior Competition (NJC), with many players playing rugby union for their schools and then switching to league to play representative football.
"The focus for those districts (who have missed out) should be about rebuilding local junior competitions before they're distracted by national elite competitions," Cordtz said.
Northland officials had been hoping that their appeals to the New Zealand Rugby League board for continued inclusion in the junior competitions, at the very least, might be heard - but on Saturday an email to Whangarei and Districts Junior chairperson Rere-Moana Lee brought a negative response from Cordtz.
"We knew we probably wouldn't get in, but we had to make one last effort," she said.
Lee said the junior board had started up an under-16 competition this season in response to NZRL concerns, but they only were able to attract four teams to the competition which fell short of what the NZRL wanted.
"That in itself wasn't enough, it's a huge disappointment to miss out, I can see what the NZRL are talking about, but I don't like the way they went about it," she said.
Lee said that discussion about new competitions was on the agenda at the Conference of Leagues annual meeting in March, but instead of discussion, the new competition format was presented to the meeting of delegates from around the country.
A three-tier national competition, featuring senior, under-18 and under-16 teams, will include Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, Wellington and Canterbury.
It will start at the completion of senior club competition and run for six weeks with Maori Television reportedly interested in broadcasting one or two games every week.
Cordtz admitted that the contraction of the competition from 2007 was linked to the NZRL's poor financial performance over the past few years.
"Yes that's true in as far as everything that we invest in, needs to deliver a return for the game and we couldn't say that eight years of Bartercard Cup, six years of NJC and five years of Northern Alliance competition was money well spent because what it hasn't delivered (in Northland) is infrastructure," he said.
The next chance of Northland achieving "national elite" status will for the 2009 season.
The make-up of the competition will be discussed again at the next national Conference of Leagues in October.
In the meantime, Lee said, Northland would be sending out letters to all of the provinces, seeking expressions of interest for a national under-18 and under-16 tournament later to be held in Whangarei later in the year.