THE Times newspaper, The Thunderer itself, has dispensed with its dedicated rugby league writer.

I am not sure whether that was a reflection of the quality of the journalism or their wider disregard for our sport.

Despite this totally unacceptable position, there are still articles worth reading in the publication including on other sports which carry great lessons, indeed warnings for rugby league.

One such article was penned by 'Rugby writer of the year' Owen Slot on Tuesday, September 4. By 'Rugby', I am compelled to add 'Union' but they, shamefully, are not unique in trying to let the 15-a-side game claim sole rights to that title.

The gist of Slot's article was the panic among rugby union Premiership at the prospect of little and unfancied Ealing Trail finders possibly defying the odds and winning promotion to next season's competition.

Perhaps the easiest way is to simple reproduce, with due acknowledgement, Slot's own paragraph describing the biggest game of the club rugby union that actually had no Premiership element.

“The game is Ealing versus London Irish. Irish have just been relegated from the Premiership and are the favourites to return; the relegated team are always the favourites to return and they pretty much always do. That is why the Green King IPA Championship is a non-event."

Non-event. Sobering stuff, which should be burnt large on the front on every Rugby League Championship and League One club chairman.

The whole article should be compulsory reading from every club ahead of next Friday's emergency general meeting called by the RFL to attempt to unblock the disagreements impacting our sport going forward.

The article went to explain quite how rugby union had managed to rig their top two divisions so that a single club, armed with parachute payment and exceptional shareholder rights, leaving Ealing’s director of rugby saying they are battling against a cartel.

That the RFL Board could conceive that such a system is worth copying is a shameful abandonment on the Championship and League One clubs, representing by number, the majority of members of the RFL.

It would represent a disastrous outcome for Championship, and the beginning of the league for part-time rugby league for most clubs.

More unforgivably it is a system, I understand previously used and disregarded by rugby league.

It cannot do anything but lock in the Super League clubs, who can protest there is still a gangway, but only theoretically. They said the same, of course, about the middle eights until hey presto, rugby league gets two up and now probably three with Widnes’s impending demotion.

As I have said all along, the current stand-off is about much more than competition structures.

It is about power and control because that results in authority and the discretion for vested self interest to prevail, and prevail it will. The RFL’s proposal, if indeed it is the RFLs’ given it looks identical to Super League's proposal would, if passed, represent an irreversible and irrevocable transfer of power and authority away from the RFL and into the hands of a private limited company.

It is that profound. Like them or loathe them, respect them or despise them, the RFL is ostensibly a not-for-profit organisation which spends all of its resource, whatever that may be supporting and developing the sport; effectively or not.

There are no private shareholders to milk the sport and take the cream for themselves. That could never happen, could it?

The other significant announcement in The Thunderer came the following day, by way of an exclusive tweet.

I’ll repeat it here. “The Premiership is on the verge of completing a game-changing, historic deal for rugby union, by selling controlling ownership of the league to a private equity firm.”

So there you have our rugby union equivalent of Super League, rigging the system so they deny access to the rest of the sport then selling their closed league to a private equity player.

Anything in there for community rugby league or the international game, doesn’t appear so.

What about Championship Rugby Union? Sorry old chaps, your role is to provide a modest competition to allow our 13th club to have a year out before re-joining the gang while someone else takes a year out.

Its like the old dance hall with an extra man standing out by rotation.

The sale of our own elite competition to a private equity firm could conceivably value Super League up towards a billion pounds, to the right strategic partners, creating huge pay-offs for the lucky 12 clubs.

A concerning transfer of intellectual property and value away from the RFL, and the game as a whole.

I’m sure none of this is driving the unbelievable urgency and haste being shown by the Super League clubs.

If I recall, Wigan boss Ian Lenagan said it was so Mary, knew with certainty which club Wigan was playing in round 26 next year, so she could plan her summer holiday. Yeah Right.

I have no objection to the Super League clubs trying their luck, pushing the envelope to improve their position.

But the RFL Board, must not contemplate surrendering the game, and throwing the keys to Red Hall to Robert Elstone in the process.

Their job is to look after the whole game and the current proposal is an outrageous abandonment of those obligations.

The Championship and League clubs must fight for their very existence. I hope they appreciate the stakes.

Contrary to the inaccurate observations by at least one leading commentator, the Championship and League One clubs have offered solutions and they will, I am sure repeat them.

But don’t expect them to sign their own death warrants to solve a dispute that was not of their own making.