RL Conference to expand once more!! : Mon Mar 02, 2009 11:38 am
A team from Clackmannanshire are among the newcomers to the 2009 Co-operative Conference this summer.
Hillfoot Rams, who will compete in the Scottish division, are one of eight new clubs in rugby league's ever-expanding summer amateur competition which gets under way in April.
The arrival of South Dorset Giants, who are based in Weymouth, Southampton Spitfires and Norwich City Saxons further demonstrate the growing spread of the 13-man code while St Clears Wild Boars will increase the game's presence in Wales.
South Dorset will be in the South-West division alongside established clubs Somerset Vikings, Exeter Centurions, Devon Sharks, East Devon Eagles and Plymouth Titans, with Southampton competing in the London and South league.
Among the new clubs in rugby league's traditional heartland, Wigan Riversiders have taken the step up to the North-West division seven years after their formation by a group of Warriors supporters.
"The structured geographical progression of rugby league over the last decade or so has been one of its real success stories," said RFL national development executive Gary Tasker.