Championship and League One clubs meet in Dewsbury today ahead of next Friday’s crucial extraordinary general meeting on the re-structuring of Rugby League.

Whitehaven chairman Tommy Todd can’t attend today’s get-together but will be there for the main business a week today in Manchester.

“Before the call for an EGM, the Championship and League One clubs were more or less united on rejecting the late proposals for a change this season to promotion and relegation," said Todd.

“But things might have changed and today’s debate will be about how clubs will vote at the EGM.

"Now whether that’s going to be en-bloc, or clubs will have their own decisions to make, I’m not sure."

In times gone by, any rule changes went to the International Federation, involving Great Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand for consideration.

If agreed, they would be implemented 12 months down the line but these days it seems individual Federation members make their own decisions on rule changes and implement them straight away.

At the EGM the 12 Super League clubs will each cast a vote, but as per the RFL’s ruling on situations like this, their votes count double.

Toronto and Toulouse, who are not member clubs of the RFL, don’t have a vote, so there will be 24 votes from the Championship and League One. There are also seven votes from the community game.

Whitehaven say they back the rest of the Championship and League One clubs when they said they were against the proposals.

It’s been suggested that up to three of the 12 Super League clubs could also vote against the new proposals.

The new proposals on promotion from League One would effect both west Cumbrian clubs, giving them both a better chance of promotion, or even just making the play-offs.

Under the proposals two teams would be automatically promoted – which will be York and Bradford – while the play-offs would involve teams third, fourth, fifth and sixth instead of second through to fifth.