tim2

Makes a change from finding dog sh*t on the pre-match inspection. Or my personal favourite from my reffing days, a broken bottle jammed into the ground with the jagged point upwards.

FRIDAY 27th MARCH Salford v Halifax Panthers by 30 SUNDAY 29th MARCH Dewsbury Rams v Sheffield Eagles by 20 Doncaster by 60 v Swinton Lions Keighley Cougars v Midlands Hurricanes by 10 London Broncos by 30 v Batley Bulldogs Newcastle Thunder by 20 v Workington Town KO 15:00 North Wales Crusaders by 6 v Whitehaven Oldham by 12 v Hunslet Rochdale Hornets v Goole Vikings by 10

It seems that the Councils and Environment Agency tend to bounce the responsibility between themselves while the problem literally piles up.

Sheffield are improving and should have beaten Oldham. Their discipline fell apart for 20 minutes and they forgot that they were supposed to be setting up for a drop goal at 30-30 with 3 minutes to go. The ref seemed to have a different interpretation of holding down in the first 30 minutes and the last 10 compared to the middle section. The 6 agains and penalties for both sides, but especially Sheffield, went through the roof. I couldn't see much difference - I know the instruction is to speed things up but this basketball/touch rugby mode is losing something in the game. it's becoming a test of aerobic fitness. So, I still see Sheffield as underdogs in the derby game, especially as Matty Marsh looks gone for the season (based on my uninformed medical opinion from 50 yards away) but it looks like the team is just starting to gel - not just with each other, but with a set of fans that lost the connection for a while.

I went to see a Scottish Lowland League game the other week. Excellent value at £8, it was University of Stirling v Broxburn, played at the home of Stirling Albion, a tidy ground that would be fantastic for a Championship side in RL (they have 2 stands, Stirling Albion average 500-1000 but can take 3000+ if they get a big team visiting). The Uni team took a 2-0 lead, Broxburn pegged them back to 2-2, looked like they would win but gave away a really sloppy goal in added time to lose 3-2. The students looked about 12. There were a few older heads in the Broxburn side and I think they should probably have won. As did their fans, who formed the majority of the crowd of about 150. The officials were really good, which helped the entertainment value. One of the ARs was a woman - there was an offside call that she didn't give at first and one of the fans shouted "are ye blind, ye.." then realised it was a woman and stopped himself. She then put her flag up when the Uni player touched the ball. He then shouted "Aye, great decision hen"

And I answered that. But then you need to define 'heartland'.

That's why I said "wouldn't", but 40 years of history means they should be, IMO. I would say only Newcastle, Midlands and North Wales would count as true non-heartland clubs in all of pro RL.

If they play an English club, there are none that aren't pretty close to the M62. Even York is only 30 minutes. RL has been around in Toulouse and Perpignan for 90 years. The likes of London and Sheffield wouldn't be counted, with their mere 40 years of recent activity.

Solid win for Sheffield today - I had to miss it but reports are that we were fairly rusty after a stop-start beginning to the season where we played Whitehaven twice, then Warrington, with a bye week and the postponed Fax game. Good win for Goole too.

It's not just the RFL, though, or indeed BARLA, who refused to co-operate with anything and were as stubborn as a donkey with its hooves in its ears. All sports that rely on occupying a full Saturday are struggling. Except maybe football, but their main grass roots action is Sunday morning. My local golf club used to have a massive waiting list for membership. Then it was fairly easy to get in, then they were advertising, then they were almost begging, then it shut. Tennis leagues are smaller, and have drastically reduced the length of matches to make it acceptable. Something like Padel, on the other hand, is booming. You can play for an hour, any time between 7am and 10pm, and you only need 4 people, and there are apps that match you up with equal standard players. My son played the other night after his kids were in bed. I reffed for a few years in the Pennine League. Divisions 5-7. It was occasionally hairy and I visited some places in South and West Yorkshire that were like a massive set of some dystopian Ken Loach nightmare, but I also had a lot of good days helping lads get a game. I've written a poem about those days called "Another Bloody Saturday".

My guess is that no-one wants to enter it and when they did they ended up not being able to field teams.

It was actually the only set of fixtures that avoided a team playing another for a third time.

Harry Brook's antics just get worse as his team starts doing better. I'm struggling to see how he can avoid getting sacked as captain for lying to the team management.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ce3z390d5klt Catherine O'Hara - (Home Alone, Schitts Creek and Beetlejuice) - aged 71

Correct. If anyone thinks a club can be run as a semi-pro rugby league outfit using solely their matchday and sponsorship income streams they are massively deluded. That's the model of an amateur club. Even teams with their own ground have to pay to maintain that ground. Featherstone have gone (*), and our opponents yesterday, Whitehaven, have clung on by their fingertips. Back to Sheffield - a lot of fans who backed Mark Aston and believe the club didn't back him up are staying away. They seem to think this will help but the actual outcome might be that the plug is pulled forever. (*) Edit: for now - I think that they'll be back