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After more than 30 years of nomadic existence, Nottingham Outlaws have finally secured a permanent home for rugby league in Nottingham. Nottingham Outlaws are delighted to announce that they have acquired the former Greenwood Meadows football ground on Lenton Lane and have moved in with immediate effect. Lenton Lane is in close proximity to both universities, meaning even closer links to the university teams. It also provides us with long-term security, and further opportunity to expand our successful youth and juniors sections. For anyone interested, our 1st game at our new home is Saturday 7th April, kicking off the Yorkshire Premier season against Upton. For more details, see here - http://www.nottinghamrl.co.uk/2018/03/29/outlaws-secure-permanent-home/ If anyone wants to donate and help us turn Lenton Lane into a venue that both Nottingham Outlaws and rugby league can be proud of, you can do so here - http://www.nottinghamrl.co.uk/project-30/

Please indulge a rant. You often get folk on here moaning that rugby games are up against this union international, or that football final. Quite rightly, the answer comes back that there are very few weekends when there is little other competing sport. Well, this was it. No Premier League or Championship, no showpiece events (the Boat Race is no longer that, if it ever was). But instead of using the free Saturday to put our game in the spotlight, we put all of our games up against the England international on a Friday night, including four matches at the same time as the game we were trying to big up, namely Leeds v Cas (which was a good event). Meanwhile, I switch on to Channel 5 to see Saracens v somebody in front of a full London stadium. As much as I enjoyed York Acorn v Dudley Hill on FreeSports, I couldn't get past a slight sense of inferiority. My point is this. We really seem to have lost a collective sense of self-confidence as a game, and a sense of leadership in the game. Consequently, any innovation comes from individual clubs or people, and all too infrequently. Well led, our game would have seen a massive opportunity to give our leagues a profile boost this weekend with a big match on Friday, and Saturday late afternoon, around a full set of fixtures. Instead, all of our matches were tucked away on Friday night to ensure an extra day's rest ahead of Easter.

Ontario Rugby League have a plan to run a four team league this summer with a mid term goal of having Six clubs by 2020.

Could York make an SL team, probably yes. Should York be an SL team, for me no. I think SL teams should be big profitable money making clubs with crowds upwards of 10,000 with good commercial arms and a recognisable brand, although that vision is a long way off and probably never likely to come into fruition. The game is held back by the clubs pinioning themselves and those who have the potential to grow. Regarding York, I would love the Knights to be an SL side, there is no better place in the country (proven) and for me, the world to live in or visit, but as I have written above I just don’t think a York club would have the potential the be a viable ‘super’ club. I think they could and should be one of the top championship clubs. Realistically I think we could attract crowds of 3000-4000 in the top echelons of the 2nd division and be in and around the top of the table each year, truthfully I think we should be bigger than Batley, Dewsbury and probably even Fev but we have a long way to go before we reach those levels. I would love to be proven wrong and in a decades time we are threatening to outgrow the new stadium and happily competing in SL. For now though we need to get out of League 1 in the next couple of years and continue to grow our crowd and bring back our reserves / academy which has produced some cracking players overs the past few years. Team wise, I think we have the potential to go up this year and in James Ford we have an excellent coach who has a keen eye for good young (and even the right ‘experienced’) players and the nous to bring them on and help them fulfil their potential. Club wise, we are in a very good place in fact we are in Nirvana to where we were 2 years ago. I believe in John Flatman we have a very astute owner who knows where he wants to take the club and the potential of it. We have of course this boards own Gav Wilson, pushing our brand and doing an incredible job of it too. There is also the foundation run by Neil Gulliver and Adam Prentis who are doing some fantastic work in and around the schools of York and into North Yorkshire. I am also sure everyone else involved with the club are working extremely hard and most importantly all seem to have the same remit and goals for the club. As I have mentioned above I really do feel we need to reintroduce the academy / reserves (the game as a whole need to), we have had some great success here in previous years with the likes of Greg Minikin, Kriss Brining, Ed Smith, Harry Carter et al coming through recently Fordy has dipped into the amateur game unearthing star forward Joe Porter and this year half back Liam Jackson who has bags of potential, he also has given trails to other quality York lads such as Matt Chilton but rather than keep them hanging on and not playing the game he has released them back to their clubs where they are monitored and I believe still in touch about their progress. There is lots of prospective pro’s in York in fact you could probably make competitive League 1 side out of the talent running around with the amateur clubs in the York & District. Over the years there have been a lot of York juniors go to SL academies in Hull, Leeds, Cas, Bradford etc. although some return to the game after been ‘let go’ a lot do not return to playing and are lost to the game, these are the players York need to be picking up and been local I believe they will be treated better and encouraged a lot more to stay with the game rather than just be dumped. There are 4 amateur clubs in the city, Acorn, Heworth, Lokos and New Earswick as well as other clubs in the area in which the Knights should be looking to, Catterick, Scarborough, Sherburn, Selby, Wetherby and also they should be trying to poach the best RU talent from the area too where there are many good clubs in York, Malton, Pocklington, Harrogate, Wharfedale etc. Crowd wise, I think we are at about 1000-1200 average and I think we can mobilise 1500-2000 for bigger games and surpass 2500-3000 for the biggest games, this I believe is no way near our potential. There are many rugby fans and the city who do not attend every game or even every other, I myself are one of these people. I probably go to maybe 5-6 games a season then there are players at my amateur club that go maybe once or twice or even never at all, and mine is by far the smallest amateur club in the city so this will be replicated tenfold at the other clubs. Then you have the fans of SL clubs in the city, I know of many that go to Leeds, Hull, Cas and even Bradford religiously, the club need to somehow capture these people before they get tied into clubs out of the city. As for potential fans York has a population of just under 200,000 the nearby Selby District 80,000, Ryedale 50,000, Scarborough around 60,000, Harrogate and District 80,000. North Yorkshire as a whole is around 600,000 added to York’s population that gives us a county wide 800,000 (I do realise a lot of these places are nearer to other clubs than York) to go at so there is the potential to grow. So to recap York easily has the potential to be an SL club in their current guise, I just think that we don’t have the potential to be what an SL club should be, that is definitely not to say we shouldn’t try to be.

There needs to be alot more respect shown to the refs in Rugby League...THEY DO A DIFFICULT JOB! . One of the things that stands out for me as a relatively new fan to League is the constant bemoaning and criticism of the ref and touch judges.....this is poorly done and a sad reflection on the current game....it needs to be cleaned up and quick for the good of the game. Some clubs seem to have a default position that, if they lose, its always the refs fault. This is troubling since it has become ingrained in some clubs; it is childish behaviour especially when espoused by management. The current standard of referring in League is very high, mistakes will be made sometimes, but match refs are never biased or crooked. They are to be beyond reproach in this regard and they have their own internal means of quality control; leave them to it, they are professionals. I wish to thank all the refs and touch judges for their participation in the game, your efforts are appreciated greatly by the silent majority. The outstanding games you officiate could not go forward without you. THANK YOU!

Some RL players are some right namby pamby's for big blokes. Soccer players move all over the world in totally alien cultures and languages. Normal folks move half way around the world for a minumum wage job .Yet a RL player can't go from one Anglo country to another for 8 months a year to play a game and train a few times a week. You don't go a season without hearing about a homesick RL player. I have never heard it from any other type of sportsman.

So I did it!! The weather was absolutely brutal - there was just no respite at all and simply couldn't take on enough water. Seeing Shadow at mile 25 was incredible - the power of the internet!! I was totally blown away by the support from mile 1 to the end, there really is no event like it in the world. The heat slowed me down by about 30 mins so slightly frustrated but not disappointed- in fact I'm over the bloody moon!

Great news for International Rugby League in general and Tonga in particular if true but I am very worried about the welfare of the Australian players https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/australia-set-to-play-tonga-in-qatar-this-year/

Just want to say thank you to every single person who got behind a player,a fan, a friend and the directors of this great club. We live for these days! Thank you WTRLFC WEBSITE

I live in Scunthorpe, and I attend about 20 RL games a season, even though I have no allegiance to any specific club ( although I admit to a particular liking for Catalans because it means I have to go to the South of France to watch them ). This Sunday's game has been on my calendar since the cup draw was made, but because of other commitments I wasn't in a position to book a ticket until Thursday morning. When I looked to buy a ticket online I could see no option to collect the ticket from the ground on game day, before committing to buying, even though I had done exactly this before last season's Toronto game, so I emailed the club just to confirm this was possible. 10 or so minutes after sending the email I received a phone call from John Flatman saying he would personally ensure a ticket was left for me at the ticket office to collect. I do not know John, I have never met him or spoken to him before, but we had a short conversation during which I said how impressed I was with the progress the Knights were making on and off the field. It was a pleasure to speak to John, this to me epitomises the true spirit and enthusiasm of the club,following it's emergence from less enlightened times. I'm sure there are people like John giving unstintingly of their time and efforts at most Championship and League 1 clubs ( I went to Batley Toulouse last week, it gladdened my heart to appreciate first hand the lovely set up there), so good luck to John and all the volunteers at York and elsewhere, doing much unheralded work throughout our great game. I saw the Knights at Doncaster earlier this season but this will be my 1st visit to Bootham Crescent since the Toronto game last July. I hope everybody's efforts are rewarded with a bumper crowd, good luck for the rest of the season.

I was at the Widnes game and proud to be supporting Coventry. And yes it was boys against men, but boys grow up, get stronger and go on to greater things. This was the first time the Bears have been this far in the Cup, the first time a coach of supporters has followed them away (plus other fans too), and above all this was our very own team, not mercenaries. Support is strong, there were 1,400 for a pre season friendly. Just give the project another five years...

This should be based on more then just results and league standings we currently average around 900 at games and is growing, we have a fully staffed academy set up that plays in the Super League academy structure just look at the recent results from our under 16 academy with wins over London, Widnes Vikings, Wakefield Trinity and Leeds Rhinos and our u19’s with wins over Wakefield and London so far. The club administrates and runs the the community game in the whole region and employs staff to grow the club and school game

Wow would have been great to see that finish live. Has anyone thought about live streaming L1 games?

My word that's an hilarious effort, I saw a poster for Workington v Bradford an hour ago, I'm now questioning both clubs actually involvement in the game on Sunday as there's no real evidence.

Toulouse promoting Canadians visit as some thing rather special –none British involvement and international. A first too with Bein Sports televising live and direct both games Monday from Toulouse and Perpignan. With Stade Toulousain not playing this weekend and TFC out of town TO got the ‘ville rose’ to itself. Heady days. Elsewhere the club house at the old Stade Minimes now being demolished. New facility to offer so much more at circa €5M including new changing rooms, office space, gym,boutique and sponsors lounges. A new dimension for the club. Contrasting perspectives this Easter. TO top of the Championship and the Dragons rock bottom of SL. Back in 2010 Catalans finished bottom of the pile under Walters and TO nowhere in the Championship. That year though Guasch got the green light for the new stand behind the posts – a facility to date which annually turns over around €4M supported by both private and public money anddriven by Christophe Levy and his team. Yes presently Dragons cannot buy a win on the field but Monday will field three teams. Their reserves top of Elite 1 play Avignon in the Cup quarter finals as a curtain raiser at Brutus while the Academy team entertain Huddersfield across the road.

Broadcast the other evening, "Roger Millward slow in both directions, Clive Sullivan flowing freely".

I'm saying nothing 'til a NRL doctor advises us all of the terrible, life-threatening risks of playing tests outside Sydney.

Definitely a chance of an upset in this game, Catalans might actually win one

Getting on an aeroplane? Playing a test match outside Sydney? Truly, their bravery is an inspiration to us all.

We've purchased the assets from Greenwood Meadows FC, but have the ground on a 40 year lease from the council.

In addition this is also a thread to emphasise why the lower league clubs should NEVER be cut off.

I cannot understand why the Dutch are not bidding for Super League. It is the obvious place for rugby league.

Coventry Bears continue their community work. The latest venture saw 25 new U8's turn up tonight for a taste of rugby league. My youngest grandson was amongst them. He was buzzing after the session. That of course is where non heartland clubs differ from the heartlands clubs. The pro heartland clubs have established amatuer clubs doing that work for them. The non heartland clubs have to set up the infrastructure to give the kids a pathway. Those kids that turned up tonight will have to be nurtured for 10-15 years to come on stream. There is no quick fix, it needs patience. If the RFL throw out the ( League 1) bathwater the baby will definitely go down the plughole with the water. So, in the short term there may well be some distorted scorelines, is that a reason to pull the plug on the initiatives? We need 10-15 year plans if we are ever to catch up with the Aussies.

Probably didn't send someone because the risks associated with international travel are too great.

If locals would rather watch a small, often fairly blurry picture on a computer screen, than turn out to support the game, doesn’t that suggest that whatever the club have done to promote it hasn’t been enough? York City Knights allowed their game v Bulls to be live streamed, and were rewarded with a record crowd. Keighley Cougars also allowed it for what was a highly anticipated derby, and the Bulls stream all their home games at Odsal, but still pulled in over 4K on Good Friday, which was bigger than most Championship crowds and a few SL too. Live streaming at this level of the game is about catching the attention of people who wouldn’t already be going to the game. Its not sophisticated enough to be an alternative to watching it in person. It’s not exactly Sky Sports in HD. If people want to go to the match, they’ll go. If they don’t, they won’t, regardless of this streaming service. To me, it’s about putting League 1 in the shop window where more people can see it. That should be part and parcel of promoting a game. I think Workington are actually missing an opportunity to show themselves off to a new audience, for fear of losing a handful of people at the gate. I’m driving up for the game myself tomorrow, btw. Looking forward to it!

We are awaiting neither the AntiChrist nor the Messiah. So far, TWP have exceeded most expectations. As for the future...as ever that waits to be seen. My view FWIW is that 7 000 new people watched RL each week last season who wouldn't have. That is a good thing.

Unfortunately you've chosen the road of providing evidence in support of your argument but you need far more than any silly absolute proof to combat ...... Forum Goggles! Now available on Ebay and all good Brexit Surplus Stores !

Thank you for all the encouraging words everyone, I can confirm that everyone at the club is absolutely delighted to finally get a secure home for the club. I started playing rugby league in Nottingham in 1987 with what was then Nottingham Crusaders and in subsequent years we must have played at more than 20 different venues across the city and outside the city in that time! We have always been at our landlords mercy but not any more! We realised as a club that we would never reach our potential without a place to call our own so in 2014 (30th anniversary of rugby league in Nottingham) we launched Project 30 in a bid to start raising money for our own home. it took us over 4 years and countless hours of searching, looking at sites, hitting brick wall after brick wall until we finally got lucky with the Lenton Lane site. Even then it has taken us from June of last year until this week to get the lease and asset transfer sorted! in terms of what we bought, I think Saint 1 listed most of them although he missed the ride on mower. Lots of offers already from people who want to drive it! we did pay a significant sum for these assets, more than they are physically worth but the opportunity to obtain the site was so great that we didn't risk the haggle and grabbed it before any other club could beat us to it! our plan now is to first get in and get it playable and fit to host games. The clubhouse is a mess and the posts are yet to be concreted in. However we will do it despite the hard work needed and hope to be playing on it soon Longer term we are already drawing up plans to build a touch line club house and spectator area. So fundraising will start again tomorrow!

Hi All, Just here to say a big THANK YOU/ DIOCH YN FAWR for the hospitality shown to our travelling fans yesterday. We ignored the rogue poster encouraging us to go to the Railway Club and spent our hard earned in your bar. As always a good rapport with your fans who were very complimentary about how well Crusaders played yesterday. Oh....An I think we all agree about the referee... truely terrible. See you all at our place - don't forget we've moved - to Queensway Stadium, Queensway, Wrexham LL13 8UH - a warm welcome and a well stocked bar awaits!

I am in my late fifties and still love and enjoy the game but I can see one of our problems, too many moaners complaining everything is poorer than the past yet when I see old matches from bygone years I cringe and think how poor was that. And for the poster who prefers football now I use to watch all sports football included now I haven't sat through a football game for years it bores me. The game needs new fans not the many moaners who shout the loudest in our game.

I agree, damned if you do etc So the question becomes not why should we but why don't we, a subtle but significant shift. Traditionally we have looked at expansion and either thrown the doors wide open to what then appeared to be badly administered attempts or kept it tightly shut For the first time L1 gives a testing ground for teams that want to try We now start to widen the 'why...' question to why don't we let them join and fail if that's what is to happen? In business entrepreneurs know failure very well, its what they learn from and the better ones make sure the failures are quick and cheap so they can progress on. Sport is a business, never more so than now. If we start at the point where we say why don't we let them try instead of why should we, then the question about teams in L1 and their 'relevance' to the wider sport answers itself - you test the team, the administration, the local markets you are in. If it fails get over it, review the failure and look at what if anything you have as a legacy, such as a junior set up, any community work, school work etc. Bristol is a strategic objective, but will take cash. Diverting the energies of administrators in that area into the start up of Bristol generates some cash and interest. That allows a team to be raised and play out of Bristol, a team that should have been in place post 2013 RLWC. The fact it is being done now is down to politics in that area and the game following the cash to Gloucester instead. Gloucester and Oxford should inform the start up and growth of Bristol. Is that being done? Back to L1 and we now see if you allow teams to join having a standard criteria for joining, hitting the relevant expansion indicators and having cash ring fenced to finish any given season as per Toronto and their 'due diligence' tests and 'bond' lodged with the RFL, you start to say why shouldn't we rather than why should we. The bottom line is not affected negatively and the reputation of the sport is enhanced through clear governance and testing of each business plan. If they grow the game at that level bringing value to the traditional teams and the game as a whole, they are a success. What the RFL don't do is have a measure for that and an idea of what consistent success looks like as a strategic objective for the whole sport. Then its a question of making that a growth business and enhance the value to the game. Everywhere Toronto go they enhance the experience, crowds grow, people want to watch it. People spend money. It creates more interest in papers and online. In areas that a few years ago didn't know and couldn't give a hoot about our game. That's one team! Following the 'lets dump a team here' model into super league without paying due diligence to start up principles and testing the plan will always cost huge amounts of cash to work and be a failure as often as not. L1 is our testing ground and the teams already in there are a stern test for any team on their day and are none the less relevant for that. L1 currently hold a lot of teams struggling for organic growth and that's OK, but if they do fail there has to be a strategic review of the sport in that area, what's left after the headline club goes, what can be utilised in another team in the same area, is there a case to carry that on or move on? L1 should not be defined by the clubs in there, the game should be brave enough to accept it wont be a success everywhere all the time and failure there is far better than failure at SL level, where the reputational damage is huge. What I am trying to say is that clubs failing in L1 isn't a problem if there is learning from that failure. The reviews should be carried out, stringently, by the RFL who provide governance and strategic lead for the sport as a whole. The reason it is a 'poor' business in my view is that they appear to follow a very Victorian view of sport, if you want to join the party front up, if you fail thanks for coming. No learning. Certainly no transparency which is as good a reason to criticise as any other. If I was looking at investing in this sport I would use the business principles that had brought me the wealth to invest, remove the emotion from it and run it as a business. Argyle appears to have done this very well. Here's the cash, here are the business team, I can now be a fan. Good for him, but I bet he had really clear and firm strategic objectives at the start and had done his research before he invested. Certainly Perez was very strategically astute and perhaps that's why we don't see him more often now, job done move on. The RFL should be very interested in how that business is being run and what is successful and what isn't. Bring in more teams to L1 and let them follow the same model but provide governance and guidance to improve on the Toronto model for success. Use it to help teams like York and Bradford learn what needs to be done to refresh renew and grow the sport again in their own areas. Learn from what York are doing. Follow that through to Wales and the south west, the logical outcome is a sport with a cohesive business structure and support network that capitalises on the good will and hard bloody work of individuals across the UK because the clubs lower down the ladder don't have that business acumen or experience and cant grow without it. Winning something is a pyrrhic victory if you cant sustain the business. Just ask a Bulls supporter. The end of L1 is potentially the end of our sports wish to expand and cant be left behind. the Championship is too hard a nut to crack straight off. In business confidence and momentum is everything. Look at the Bulls now, a better team with a better support now than in the years they fell down the ladder. Looking up with some confidence is better than looking around and down with no idea where you go next. I am a Giants fan, I know all about that! Anyway targets out, have a shot!

Red Devils Launch 2018 Charity Magic Shirt for Arena victims Well done SRD even if it looks like a Cas kit! This was added later, but I did think when I saw this that a charities/caring weekend would be a good idea for the Magic!

I wonder if the NRL and RLPA will be... “concerned that the commercial considerations that have motivated (New Zealand Australia and England Tonga) to schedule the match may have unreasonably prevailed over a considered and balanced assessment of the risks to the health and safety of NRL players who will play in the match"

Wow, talk about being a bit premature. This fixture is over 80 days away. TBH I was amazed any have been sold at this stage with all the #### thrown at it to derail it.

For me, coming over from Toronto for this, having the Bash a week after Magic Weekend makes it possible to attend both (and explore part of Scotland with my girlfriend in between!), and I am very excited about it! As a newer fan of RL (I have been watching for well under a century), I am still learning about all the teams, and it will be great to get to see both all the teams in our league, and all the teams in the league we are aiming at (some of whom we hope to challenge in the qualifiers this summer!) in just two weekends. I am surprised and disappointed to hear that the crowds at Summer Bash might be so small. I hope you're wrong. Some of the ties look very compelling to me, especially Leigh/Toronto and Toulouse/London. C'mon everyone, please turn up at Blackpool to support a team, or to support RL in general, or just to complain about Toronto being a fake team with no away fans. These weekends are a new twist for me that I have not seen done in any other sport, and I can't wait to see them!

This is a really exciting thread for me, considering the situation the club found itself in back in 2016. Its a reflection on just how far the Knights have come, that people are even having this conversation! From a rugby league fan POV, in your opinion what do you think a Super League club currently looks like, an what do you think one should look like? The Knights as a club value opinions like this, and will use them as we continue to develop both on and off the field. Cheers!

Schoey to return and set the record straight this time ... he’s got the answers , I saw him on backchat

York could easily be as big as Wakefield or Salford or Huddersfield in terms of crowds and commercial success. We don't even know what is expected of a SL club anymore? One thing for sure is that the Knights have brought a buzz back to rugby followers in the city. Should be a very exciting season for them and a new stadium on the horizon is a great incentive to climb the leagues.

Just wanted to say was very impressed with your support today. Amazed so many made the 700 mile trip and clearly very passionate supporters of Town. Good luck for rest of the season - you should do well.

Interesting read. Lots of comments I agree with, some I dont but I'm just going to post about why I'm backing the North Wales Crusaders -OK last couple of seasons we've not done so well - mainly because we are playing of a debt created by an ex-CEO who has been found guilty of fraud. The debt he mounted up will take us another season to pay off -but in 2013 we won the league (or the then Championship 1). Since our crooked CEO;s demise we have floundered at mid-table, finishing last season in 9th losing out on the top eight by points difference. However as some have pointed out a club shouldn't be judge purely on results. We have initiated an player pathway, with U 16's U18s and now Crusaders A all plying their trade in North West Counties - the best players can go on to play for North Wales Origin - a concept to promote rugby league for local talented player and a patheway into the WRL teams. We have the only wheelchair Rugby League team in Wales, we have a number of mini- teams, touch rugby is starting back next week. After the CEO was found fraudulently using the club accounts the Supporters have set up a Supporters Trust so there is an independent funding source controlled by its membership. Our move to Queensway has led to volunteers running matchday and the icome from the bar and food outlets all coming back into the club. It may take a while until we are back at the top of League 1 but dont write us off. And please, please support League 1. Dont let the SL or the RFL cut us adrift - it would be disasterous for community rugby league.

I’ve just checked google and Utah looks a huge risk with a mean elevation of 6.1k feet above sea level with some parts reaching 13.5k feet. The effects on players could be devastating. New York, at only 33 feet above sea level, is the obvious choice for this match.

This will please RabbitRhino . I was going to put it on the Australian forum but I think it has wider significance. Not a bad sum of money for the State government to contribute! All goes to show how if you align strategies with other stakeholders, you can leverage greater support (funding) http://www.totalrl.com/victorian-government-backs-new-rugby-league-centre/ The government of the Australian state of Victoria has pledged A$12 million to help develop a new Victorian Rugby League State Centre. And NRL Chief Executive Todd Greenberg believes it will be a huge boost for Rugby League in the state. The Andrews Labor Government today announced plans for the facility, which will be delivered in partnership with the NRL, NRL Victoria and the Melbourne Storm. The proposed new Victorian Rugby League State Centre in Broadmeadows will host training camps, state level matches and tournaments, and is likely to host more than 10,000 players per year. It will serve as a dedicated, year-round facility to strengthen player, coach and official development, support female participation while housing Melbourne Storm programs, as well as NRL Victoria and Touch Football Victoria. Greenberg acknowledged the significant contribution from the Victorian Government, which will have enormous benefits for Rugby League in Victoria. “This is a significant development for grassroots Rugby League as well as for the development of the women’s game,” said Greenberg. “This facility has enormous benefits, including the potential for increased participation and improved player identification and recruitment. “NRL Victoria would run all junior elite programs from the facility, while it could host national championships, as well as visiting NRL or State of Origin teams. “It could also host our important community programs including Voice Against Violence, State of Mind and In League in Harmony. “There is also no doubt that this facility could be used in the future for a Melbourne Storm women’s team.”

I'm only 37 but for the first 32 years of supporting Batley I turned up at the mount, and only knew who was playing when I saw them warming up. I always enjoyed supporting my hometown team just as much before the recent listing of the 19 man squad. Cant understand the anger fans have for such minor things, squad listings, music on videos, vital squad membes being kept match fit at another club , blah blah blah. Life is too short for pessimism, just go to the game and enjoy watching whoever pulls on the shirt and be thankfull you weren't born a mile to the East or you'd be a Ram.

I know we shouldn't be shouting for other championship teams but had a look at the table yesterday after the win against Sheffield. Four clubs have pulled away on 12 or 11 points from the rest of the pack, three names will please the RFL, London, Toulouse and Toronto - the favoured three but above Toronto on 12 points with only one defeat are Featherstone Rovers - a proper rugby team ( you know - the sort that the RFL is trying to make extinct ). I hope Feathersone go the season unbeaten ( except for their visit to Craven Park ) and get promoted at the expense of one of the Sky favourites. I'm all for expansion and would love to see the game expand but at the same time we should have a care for our traditional clubs, a resurgent Bramley would cheer me up more than New York winning league 1

Attended your game yesterday against as a Dewsbury supporter, and what a mixed bag of emotions I left with......... We got battered by you : Fair and square, no arguments. The ladies in the Ticket Office were very pleasant and, as I'm now past 60, I saved myself a fiver on the admission prices......... The build up to the game was good, plenty of information from the announcer and a seat in the middle of the stand providing a very good view (what I watched wasn't good for me, but there you go).......... BUT what I don't understand is the amount of whingeing & moaning so many of your speccies did -- It was TEDIOUS !!!! You have a stadium that's the envy of the Championship, food & drink outlets aplenty, decent toilet facilities, a team that's full of promise, strong and plays some good Rugby League and you're winning by a very clear margin -- yet all most of you choose to do is moan.............. Including your Coach, who's throwing his arms about with two minutes to go, acting as if the Referee has given you nothing all afternoon........... UNREAL -- you need to learn how to enjoy what you've got !!!!!! I thought the referee was consistent all afternoon BTW........................ unfortunately, it was consistently poor (for both teams). Good luck for the rest of 2018 -- and enjoy your success............

What makes you think the players didn't WANT to go to Hunslet when not in our 19? Personally, if I had trained all week, I would have been itching for a game, better to play than not, whoever that was for. As stated elsewhere, there is money on offer for playing at Hunslet, there isn't when you are sat in the stands. How else are you going to keep match fit and what better way is there to prove yourself than playing, even if it is at another club. Lots of supporters seem to have the knife in to Diskin, including you Phil, but I'm quite confused as to why. What has he done wrong? He made a couple of mistakes regarding public comments at the start of his tenure, I grant you, but he seems to have realised his error and not done it since. I thought we did okay last season. At the start of last season, I expected us to finish 6th and we did. This year I expect us to be 7th or 8th and from what I've seen so far, we look a decent bet for that, providing we avoid any more serious injuries!!! He has us playing a decent brand of football, something many on here criticised Kear and Harrison for, yet the guy cannot seem to put a foot right. I was thrilled to bits over Easter, the Dewsbury game was not a classic, but it is results that matter over Easter and we got 2 of them. We have backed it up with an excellent display today against one of the best sides in the division. He's doing a decent job IMO.

Fantastic contribution.

I imagine your book is fairly picture-heavy. Toulouse should really be able to come up with a plan to play matches at Ernest Wallon, at least while Minimes is sorted out. As far as I know, the union team are the only team playing out of it, so long as TO are careful to check for broken glass on the pitch before kick-off they should be fine. Toulouse in SL would be magnificent; it is a wonderful city.

Pleased to get another good win and back to the top. Really looking forward to Friday now, huge game and a big chance to open a gap. Disappointed that we're not getting any coverage from rl journos or BBC over our performances. You'd think a London team doing well would generate more interest from casual observers, no? On another note, all but 18 points today were scored by academy products, including a hat trick for Alex Walker. I think he'll be the next one Northern clubs come in for. Also the u19s beat Bradford and the u16s beat Wakefield, so a good few days for our yoof.

It's hilarious when Corbyn does it, though, given his personal history of dissent from official Labour Party policy over the years. He's sacked Smith for articulating the view of the majority of party members on Brexit - whilst resolutely not sacking Diane Abbott for expressing exactly the same view last year. The bloke is an A-Grade hypocrite. And then there's the dubious positioning over anti-Semitism, which, let's be honest, if it was happening in the Tory party, no one would be willing to overlook or make any excuses for on here. He's unfit to lead anything, in my view. Glad I left.