It's so typical of Rugby League. Not a fortnight after the RFL proudly announced that the creation of a three division National League was on-track, the NFP is rent asunder over the proposed split into two divisions.

Where common sense suggests that the grouping of teams able to compete effectively against each other in order to produce a vibrant competition with things to play for, the self interest of certain parties thinks otherwise.

Led by Sheffield Chairman Ian Swire, the detractors have already got their doom and gloom hats on. Swire is already questioning the viability of two divisions based upon blind supposition of "...what happens if one of the teams in the top ten goes bust?" Ever the optimist, then.

And Swire's solution to the dilemma? "...two parallel regional conferences east & west, with the clubs to play the the others in their own region home and away, with one game against the clubs in the other conference giving 28 games in total."

Ah, simplicity itself - so the likes of Sheffield wouldn't be encumbered with a visit to us, Leigh, Cumbria and - perhaps - Salford. Still, gives 'em a chance I suppose.

But that's not all - Swire's got loads of ideas.

"We could have play-offs in each conference with a guaranteed east-west final", he went on - neglecting to realise that the best two teams in the competition might actually be in the same division and should have the right to scrap for a promotion place. But there's more!

"We could still have the Buddies Cup, which could be played as a midweek knockout competition with one game per week reminiscent of the old Floodlit competition." Yes - we look forward to his suggestion for three point tries, competitive scrums and unlimited tackles too.

Barrow's Chairman Alan Tucker (man or rhyming slang?) can't make his mind up about the split - except to say that he doesn't believe it's '...financially viable...'. He backs up his anti-split stance with hardly an unequivocable damnation. "...the proposal to split the NFP into two divisions based on merit has much to recommend it. You give more clubs promotion/relegation issues to fight and keep the interest going right to the end of the season." Hmm.

But like Mr Swire, he worries that clubs could be forced out of business because "...the game is in too fragile a state to endure the lower gate revenue deriving from (the split) if they are in the lowest division."

What he singularly fails to, realise is that if his club was top of National league 2, winning almost every week and needed to win the last home game of the season to get promoted, he'd probably have a bigger attendance than any game Barrow's likely to host this season.

The last time Rugby league had three divisions, the clubs pushing to get out of the bottom tier - Workington, Keighley, even us! - enjoyed buoyant seasons, great excitement and - on occasion - the odd decent attendance. What would Gatesghead fans rather watch. 28 weeks of relentless pannings or a season where they stand a decent chance of winning as many as they lose.

If the game is serious about genuine expansion, it needs a vibrant National League that offers clubs the chance to compete and succeed at a level befitting their ability and status. The bottom half dozen clubs in the current NFP are already batting out dead weeks with nothing to play for and providing cannon fodder for the top half dozen.

If Mr Swire and Mr Tucker are genuinely ambitious, they should welcome the arrival of Nat. League 2, get stuck in, win it and give their supporters something to feel proud about.