Martyn Sadler

An interesting post. I've noted for a long time that tourist literature for regions in the north of England make absolutely no mention of Rugby League, despite the fact that we play the game in summer, when most people want to come to the region to experience what it has to offer. Perhaps we need someone to create a travel company that would bring people to matches to experience what Rugby League is all about, perhaps incorporating a chance to meet the players and so on. I'm not sure what the demand would be but I've think it would be worth a punt for someone. When we switched to summer I was always convinced that Rugby League could become a potential tourist draw but it simply hasn't happened.

Since you asked.

A slight correction. They were going to go hurriedly with another system. But after carefully and unhurriedly considering my suggestion, they changed their opinion. The best way to hold any organisation to account is to look at what it is proposing to do and point out its defects. It is then to the organisation's credit that it takes criticism on board and changes its policy before it is announced. On the other hand, the RFL didn't take on board my view that Super League shouldn't move to 14 clubs until 2027. The reason given was that the clubs urgently wanted to make the change. On this occasion the RFL took the clubs' view on board rather than mine. I could spend the next 52 weeks writing a weekly column about why that was a bad decision. But I'm not sure what the point would be and it would soon get rather boring.

No doubt you will continue ad infinitum. You can question a decision. But if you can't change it, then it becomes more useful to focus on the decisions that haven't yet been made. And if you want to know what they are, ask @Gingerjon.

Anyone who suggests that Australia is a classless society presumably hasn't been there.

I would have preferred them to move to 14 in 2027 but they didn't. Whether it was a rash decision will be proved over time but it's a decision that has now been made. Get over it!

You're a bit behind the times. I can exclusively reveal on this forum that Nigel has already put plans in place for Bradford being given a bye into next year's Grand Final.

That is where V'landys is very effective.

Chris Hamilton is doing his best in a difficult situation.

See my comment above to @Worzel. Basically my advice to Nigel would be to always make positives out of negatives. We might have lost the Ashes, but we scored the best try - ensure that they show the try while the interview is taking place. Reveal how many people from the southeast of England bought tickets for Wembley to give some idea of the growing popularity of the game and emphasise once again that it was a record crowd for an Ashes Test. Make it clear, in relation to the coach, that due process has to be followed and that process will be established in the near future, so he can't anticipate what the outcome will be. And make the point, in relation to the NRL, that the potential for Rugby League in Europe is vast if it can get its act together. In other words, always make statements that can't be contradicted.

Because they were taken up by the club owners.

I don't disagree with the gist of your comments, although he performed better than he would have done when he was the RFL CEO. He is learning to smile, at least, which is quite important. It's part of a 30-minute long interview, more of which may appear in the next few days.

I'll take you at your word about your business experience. But if you have run a business for any length of time, you will know that sometimes short-term decisions have to be made to protect long term viability. It would be marvellous to believe that you always have plenty of time to think through major decisions, and to plan them fully, but that is not always how business (and life) works out. Opportunities and threats don't always happen just when we would like them to.

I think you have an eccentric idea of what "holding them to account" actually means. Having said that, my criticisms of Nigel Wood and Rob Elstone were highly significant in forcing them out of the RFL and Super League respectively. Do you think that is "holding them to account"? "all of this, including your idea, with respect, is back of a fag packet stuff" In fact it was very carefully thought out to deal with a specific problem. It's easy to criticise, but much harder to be constructive, which you illustrate very well.

Here is Nigel Wood talking to the BBC. What do you think of this interview? I have quite strong views on how he handled it.