THE WORLD club championships look to be back on the agenda after news that the British Rugby Football League will help to run a proposed 10 team Global League competition in Australia this year.
It will involve the 311 players who have refused to go back and play in the Australian Rugby League following the failure of the Aussie Super League to so far get off the ground.
Details of the new set up which were announced in Sydney yesterday by RFL chief executive Maurice Lindsay, came just 24 hours after peace talks broke down between the rebel players and the ARL.
The new competition, which will kick off on March 29th the same starting date for the European Super League is to have no links with Rupert Murdoch's News Limited which is behind Super League.
If the Global League takes place as outlined, there are plans for a world club championship between global teams from Australia and Europe, with a world final pencilled in for September 27th.
Earlier this month, Australia's federal court banned the start of any News Limited backed Super League competition until the turn of the century and ordered the eight rebel clubs to return to the ARL fold.
The court order did not cover the 311 Super League players who include superstars like Laurie Daley and Ricky Stuart or the two new clubs set up purely for Super League.
Now the disgruntled players have decided to form their own league and they will have the backing although, contrary to reports, not financial of the British RFL.
The 10 Global League teams will come from the same regions as the 10 Super franchised clubs, but the latter will have no involvement in the competition.
Venues have not yet been finalised, but Lindsay has already put together an 18 round fixture and said that talks for free to television coverage were at an advanced stage.
He is also negotiating sponsorship deals for the players and is confident that the income generated from television and sponsorship deals will support the competition.
Speaking from Sydney, Lindsay said "The Rugby Footballs League in England are not actively investing in the competition, although they are of course allowing me to put the Global League structure together.
"The competition will result in an end of season world club championship which will of course protect the international programme required by the European Super League.
Obviously, I am disappointed that the peace talks between the players and the ARL finally broke down, but the truth is that the 311 players and their coaches are determined to run a competition and we must all recognise that.
"11 would appear, therefore, that there will be two competitions in Australia this season and certainly the Rugby Football League wish to play world club championship games against calibre sides such as Canberra Raiders and Brisbane Broncos."
But already, the ARL has warned it will take court action to stop the players' competition, and Lindsay has said that players and coaches would abide by the law if the new competition was stopped by court proceedings.
