>>55515086Pokemon Gyms where people hone their training skills have seemingly been around for a while, given that Falkner inherited his position from his father, and the whole debacle with Saffron having two Gyms that competed for an official position in the League (and one humiliated the other), it's just that they were absorbed into/started collaborating with the League recently when that sprung up. But the anime (and plenty of other media as well) runs with its own version where the League has been around for a long time, there are more than just eight official gyms, and defeating at least eight gets you into a tournament rather than granting the right to challenge the ones who proclaim themselves the strongest.
