37 replies to this topic

[trakl]

RLW is a good magazine in many ways and I wouldn't want to be without it but it means a lot less to me than did Harry Edgar's Open Rugby.

A soft Southerner brought up in a resolutely non-rugby league environment, I fell in love with the game through the telly. Somehow - maybe through the much-missed Sportspages bookshop off Charing Cross Road? - I grabbed hold of a copy of Open Rugby as if it were a lifeline. I soon subscribed to it and even sent off for some precious back copies.

Harry Edgar's love for the game, his passion for all of those great players who went through their careers without any acknowledgement from the wider public and his pioneering spirit were all things that struck me most. The magazine was unapologetic, unafraid to claim its social space and campaigning. The health of the game in France and Cumbria mattered to him ( he wrote some magical essays detailing his experiences) and the game's mis-treatment by the press or the universities or the Armed Forces was challenged. I was one of many who sent rugby league magazines, books, (rugby union) boots and VHS videos(!) of BBC matches to South Africa after reading about efforts to take the game to youngsters keen to give the game a try...

The current magazine, for me, is somewhat bland or neutral and lacks (true) colour and vividness. Everything about John Drake indicates he's a great bloke but little in the magazine suggests a strong editorial presence. Why give the game in France so few pages when the history of the game is littered with some remarkable characters whose stories are crying out to be told? The pages on Australian rugby league are gossipy and lack substance. New Zealand rugby league never gets a mention. Dave Hadfield cracks a few good jokes - but he needs to be given space to show just what a good writer his books prove him to be. Why can't an interview be conducted with Steve McNamara that places him under the kind of scrutiny national coaches in other sports are used to? There are some tough questions that need to be asked - and his answers then have to be challenged. Has the RFL ever been asked to justify its position vis-a-vis the apparent disappearance of GB? Would any other sporting body have made such a decision with so little input from the game's followers? Tony Collins should be brought back forthwith. And John, I think you should write more...

[Bob8]

RLW is a good magazine in many ways and I wouldn't want to be without it but it means a lot less to me than did Harry Edgar's Open Rugby.

A soft Southerner brought up in a resolutely non-rugby league environment, I fell in love with the game through the telly. Somehow - maybe through the much-missed Sportspages bookshop off Charing Cross Road? - I grabbed hold of a copy of Open Rugby as if it were a lifeline. I soon subscribed to it and even sent off for some precious back copies.

Harry Edgar's love for the game, his passion for all of those great players who went through their careers without any acknowledgement from the wider public and his pioneering spirit were all things that struck me most. The magazine was unapologetic, unafraid to claim its social space and campaigning. The health of the game in France and Cumbria mattered to him ( he wrote some magical essays detailing his experiences) and the game's mis-treatment by the press or the universities or the Armed Forces was challenged. I was one of many who sent rugby league magazines, books, (rugby union) boots and VHS videos(!) of BBC matches to South Africa after reading about efforts to take the game to youngsters keen to give the game a try...

The current magazine, for me, is somewhat bland or neutral and lacks (true) colour and vividness. Everything about John Drake indicates he's a great bloke but little in the magazine suggests a strong editorial presence. Why give the game in France so few pages when the history of the game is littered with some remarkable characters whose stories are crying out to be told? The pages on Australian rugby league are gossipy and lack substance. New Zealand rugby league never gets a mention. Dave Hadfield cracks a few good jokes - but he needs to be given space to show just what a good writer his books prove him to be. Why can't an interview be conducted with Steve McNamara that places him under the kind of scrutiny national coaches in other sports are used to? There are some tough questions that need to be asked - and his answers then have to be challenged. Has the RFL ever been asked to justify its position vis-a-vis the apparent disappearance of GB? Would any other sporting body have made such a decision with so little input from the game's followers? Tony Collins should be brought back forthwith. And John, I think you should write more...

The great tribute to the likes of Edgar is that what was then a loud, but single, voice, is now more mainstream. I remember when getting a pub in London to show a rugby league match was a huge deal, now is would not be worth mentioning. John Drake will remember when his forum would have people targeting a pub and we would persuade them to show a match.

The situation is better now, we are not shat on like we were twenty or twelve years ago and I am glad. It does mean we lose the cliqueiness, but that is progress.

[oiseau]

Out of interest, what did you make of the 7-page grassroots section in the current issue? It's something I'm keen to develop, so feedback would be useful. Thanks.

I would love to be able to comment John but,as usual i'm still waiting to recieve my copy......

I the Royal Mail on strike yet again ?

[deluded pom?]

I would love to be able to comment John but,as usual i'm still waiting to recieve my copy......

I the Royal Mail on strike yet again ?

Not yet oiseau. They are just jacking the price of a stamp up by 30%.

[oiseau]

Not yet oiseau. They are just jacking the price of a stamp up by 30%.

blimey,that's one heck of a hike ?

my mate sends me the RLE plus the latest Donny programme on the monday and I get it two or three days later which is brill so what's the problem with the RLW ?

please investigate John !

[deluded pom?]

blimey,that's one heck of a hike ?

People are stuffing jerry cans full of stamps and storing them in their garages.

[oiseau]

People are stuffing jerry cans full of stamps and storing them in their garages.

I remember my mum buying up all the bags of sugar in the local shops when it was rumoured there would be a sugar shortage in the 80s - she had a wardrobe filled with bags of sugar - but really,choc a bloc with bags of Tate & Lyle !

pity my dad wasn't a sugar daddy though.......

[Saintslass]

I'm a bit of an addict when it comes to my rugby league reading. I buy both weeklies every week and both monthlies every month. I like them all but they are all different. However, RLW, like League Express, is never controversial. I don't expect to read anything in either publication that challenges the party line. That is probably my only real criticism as for me the press should be about pushing things sometimes (not just for the sake of it though).

For my taste there are probably too many player interviews in RLW and probably too little on the Championships. However, they are merely observations rather than criticisms. I do enjoy the magazine, finding it a comfortable read with some fun features in it as well as informative ones. And I thought the article on the grassroots game was very good. I look forward to reading subsequent articles in future editions.

Because I also read Forty20 and League Weekly, I get broad coverage and perhaps that is why I can't agree with the OP in this instance. Surely we don't want all our publications to be the same? That there is variation in emphasis, style and message I think is just great and I wouldn't have it any other way.

[deluded pom?]

Obviously RLW isn't going to please everyone and I wouldn't expect it to. I'm very much in the same camp as trakl having bought the various different versions since the days of HE's Open Rugby. Whereas OR fed my lust for information from the furthest corners of the RL world I find that RLW doesn't do that for me. This in an era when communications are so much better and the game itself is far more widespread than it was in the days of OR. After becoming a lapsed buyer several years ago, after falling into the loyal follower trap, I took the plunge this year with a subscription. As it stands at the moment I won't be renewing my subscription for 2013. RLW just doesn't have enough international articles in it for me. As I said previously I don't expect RLW to appeal to everyone but I'm one of the people who it doesn't particularly appeal to.

[John Drake]

Obviously RLW isn't going to please everyone and I wouldn't expect it to. I'm very much in the same camp as trakl having bought the various different versions since the days of HE's Open Rugby. Whereas OR fed my lust for information from the furthest corners of the RL world I find that RLW doesn't do that for me. This in an era when communications are so much better and the game itself is far more widespread than it was in the days of OR. After becoming a lapsed buyer several years ago, after falling into the loyal follower trap, I took the plunge this year with a subscription. As it stands at the moment I won't be renewing my subscription for 2013. RLW just doesn't have enough international articles in it for me. As I said previously I don't expect RLW to appeal to everyone but I'm one of the people who it doesn't particularly appeal to.

RLW operates in a completely different market to the one OR existed in. The internet really has changed everything. When there is so much information so readily available for free online, from all parts of the world, you can't just reprint that in a magazine and expect people to buy it. We could fill Planet League with press releases to give the impression of a busy international section and to a large extent, that's what used to happen. Since I became editor, I've put the emphasis on running original pieces from around the world, with the aim of telling readers something they didn't already know and couldn't find out from other sources or online. That kind of stuff is much harder to do these days, and much more expensive to source, but I think it is more worthwhile and represents better value for readers.

Though I have a great deal of respect for the history of the mag, I think there is sometimes an element of nostalgia surrounding its content in the 'golden days' which doesn't bear up to close scrutiny if you look at it now. I have a complete set of them at the side of my desk for reference purposes, and if anyone can point me to a specific issue in which OR or earlier editions of RLW did something better than we are doing it now, or devoted significantly more space to a certain element of the game than we do now, I'll happily take a look at that issue and see what we can do to emulate it in future.

[Bob8]

I was speaking abou the magazine with a barman in Boston today. I, like many on hear, value the stuff about the amateur scene and the international stuff. He was not keen on RLW as there was lots of boring amateur stuff and bits on small European countries, whereas he wanted lots on Super League and the NRL.

It is not possible to pelase everyone.

[oiseau]

well John,finally received my copy today

the thing that struck me was the front cover which one of the earlier posters alluded to as looking like a cover of a gay mag ! I have to say he (or she) does have a point but that's about the only criticism I can make.

the player interviews are excellent (pity about the JJB Westwood/Lestrange cock up !) - the more interviews the merrier for me

thanks to the usual high quality contributions from Hadfield,Wells,Caplan & co

thanks for binning the RDH

Great to see Stevie Mac at Swinton getting some well deserved coverage - who says Britain can't produce top class RL coaches ?

One thing I found interesting having spent many years as a groundsman/greenkeeper was the piece about turf care in the Grass Roots section - more of the same please for us technically minded fans.Why not interview a different groundsman each month to find out what happens behind the scenes and under the ground ? This may actually make the readers/fans understand the pressures put on the groundstaff under by their employers to provide the best possible playing surface at all times,usually with the minimum of equipment and resources.I recall chatting with the groundsman at Wakefield who came to Perpignan for the game with the squad etc A really interesting chap who is or at least, was trying to produce miracles with an almost zero budget.

my other idea would be to have more input from fans in an interview form (not a letters section).Every fan has a story to tell you know,the 15 minutes of fame thingy ? Players & coaching staff come and go but fans are usually always there so they will have a wealth of experiences to share.

Finally, following a previous poster I would like to see a few more pages from the editor.

[tw15]

Request for a feature on tactics and positions. I still have no idea how a hooker and a centre differ in their roles.

[hindle xiii]

I've had an idea (to add to my many (few) for RLW);

In the space that was Red Hall Diaries and is now a cartoon, why not have a law featured each month?

We all think we know the rules inside and out, how about what the Rules of the Game define for 'Momentum rule'/forward pass, or crossing and 'shepherding', or out-lawed tackling techniques*, etc.

Or off-field issues like the rules applied when loaning a player.

I know a lot of this can be found on-line, and it might be a cut and paste jobby, but not everyone has access to the official laws of the game. There's a pdf version but I assume there are editions that go even further.

*(I still don't know wtf a 'ninja tackle' is)

Edited by hindle xiii, 17 April 2012 - 08:14 AM.

[Futtocks]

Because I also read Forty20 and League Weekly, I get broad coverage and perhaps that is why I can't agree with the OP in this instance. Surely we don't want all our publications to be the same? That there is variation in emphasis, style and message I think is just great and I wouldn't have it any other way.

One thing to consider is that, in most areas of the UK, RLW is the only RL publication you can get without taking out a subscription*. In other words, for the non-committed shelf-browser, who might, on the eve of (for instance) the CC Final, buy a copy out of casual interest, this is Rugby League's only national media outlet. Quite a responsibility, John.

I like the magazine, but I'd like to see more international news.

*I had a LE subscription for a while, but the unreliability of the postal services where I live meant that I didn't renew the sub.

[RP London]

People are stuffing jerry cans full of stamps and storing them in their garages.

They'd be fools that glue on the back could go up like an oil rig!!!

anyway...

Although i'm going to sound like a bit of a suck up i used to slag the magazine off in its last incarnation but since Mr Drake has taken over it has really upped its game.. some of the bits of it i didnt like from before were still t here for a few months but i am sure they had either already had them submitted or already paid for hte work to be done (or similar) but these are all pretty much gone now.. JJB has really upped his game and it is much better, Dave Hadfield is (as others have said) always worth a read. Some of hte interviews of players arent great but thats the way it goes.. if they commision one and it turns out not so good how much time do they have to do another, including the reshoot of a front cover sometimes??

All in all i have gone back to being a big fan of it. loved the grass roots bit this time round and agree that this should ocntinue on with case studies etc thorugh the year.. although i am still confused by the league set up a little..

would love to hear more from the NRL (not masses more but a little) and would be interesting to hear a bit of a treziste type page on New Zealand and maybe the states too with NZ being similar to France in its "professional" set up and America ever changing and expanding.

All in though i think it is much better than it has been for some time and John is doing a fantastic job... though i am not a big fan of his mug shot that he uses on the editorial peice.. its as if he is staring straight at me going "read it, go on read it.. i'm going to stare at you till you read it!!" its like his heads popping out of hte paper which is a bit unnerving to say the least..

[oiseau]

i'd never suck up to an editor like John,however good looking,suave,debonair,young looking,talented,interesting and all round good egg he may be.....

no sir,not me.......

[tonyXIII]

I've had an idea (to add to my many (few) for RLW);

In the space that was Red Hall Diaries and is now a cartoon, why not have a law featured each month?

We all think we know the rules inside and out, how about what the Rules of the Game define for 'Momentum rule'/forward pass, or crossing and 'shepherding', or out-lawed tackling techniques*, etc.

Or off-field issues like the rules applied when loaning a player.

I know a lot of this can be found on-line, and it might be a cut and paste jobby, but not everyone has access to the official laws of the game. There's a pdf version but I assume there are editions that go even further.

*(I still don't know wtf a 'ninja tackle' is)

That's not a bad idea. Perhaps Mr Cummings could give us the benefit of his rulings on the interpretation. After all, he doesn't seem to be doing much else.