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I'm currently writing this from our teams base in Toronto. i know the Wolfpack have got some stick from one league one club, but I can honestly say what a fantastic experience The Wolfpack put us up in a fantastic city centre location, it's the same place where the refs and home team stay, they put on breakfast and a couple of lunches for all the players and staff they paid for busses to take us up to the stadium and train, provided water and gatorade, after the game they provided food and enough drinks tokens to last a lifetime. The whole match day was incredible!!! It's something Rugby League fans will struggle to understand because It's so positive and the crowd was huge!!!!! Our game clashed at the same time as a Canadian Football League game but there was still over 7,000 fans all loving the sport! We have had a fantastic trip and the Toronto Wolfpacks hospitality has been outstanding! Teams should go over and embrace it rather then moan about it

I didn’t want to post this in a thread where it would get bogged down in all the ... I’m struggling for words right now to describe today. i have never experienced anything like that atmosphere. I can’t even put into words what an absolute privilege it was to be there. I was so happy for them when they scored what I thought was a consolation try 😳. And then that last five minutes!! 😱😱😱😱😳 but even afterwards, bloody hell do the Tongans celebrate! I’ll never forget leaving the stadium with that beautiful sound of the Tongans singing. it was a special, special day. And bloody hell, I love this game!!

It's great to see the game growing in the North East The Alnwick Bears will be launched in 2018 creating the most northern RL club in England In 2017 we seen the creation of Yarm Wolves who started with an u14's side, they loved the sport that much that next year they are already putting plans in place to run U12's, u14's and u16's 2017 seen the least amount of games cancelled and the highest participation rates ever recorded with other 600 juniors playing the game The North East now runs Primary RL u7,8,9,10's, friendlies plus a cup at u12's and full league and cups at u14 and u16 This years men's competition has seen a league of 8 compete and it's all going down to the last game of the weekend between Jarrow Vikings and Wallsend Eagles to decide who will take on Cramlington Rockets in the Final, next year sees plans in place for form a second team league. After the regular season we will again have the third annual North East Origin which will be a 3 game series between the best players North and South of the Tyne! With crowds at Thunder games on the up and the school game booming things are looking bright for the game in the North East Apologies for the positive story

Happy to report that traffic on the website has never been higher than it is now. TRL is independently ranked in the Top 1500 websites in the UK and inside the top 40k worldwide. Considering how many sites there are out there, we're fairly pleased with that. https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/totalrl.com Not everyone who visits the forum will choose to post on it, so judging popularity by number of threads/posts isn't always an accurate guide, and as has already been mentioned there are a growing number of places on t'internet where people can spout off and not be constrained by the kind of terms & conditions we have in place here. We're proud of the environment we have created on TRL, and we work hard to maintain it, with the support of our forum members. It is a place where foul and abusive language, trolling and the sort of general nastiness that prevails on the internet is not tolerated. If that means we get a bit less traffic, it's a price worth paying.

Thought I'd start a new thread rather than comment on some of the posts in the super 8s thread I was a referee for 23 years in both the amateur and pro games. I can honestly state that in that time neither myself or any of the officials I worked alongside ever cheated any individual or team. Yeah I had bad games, yeah I missed stuff, just like the players do eh? I get more than a bit ticked off when I read on here that"(name of ref) has never liked us" or that "SL don't want us to win anything" There were and are clubs I didn't like but I was professional enough to leave that in the dressing room, just as all my colleagues did. There's one or two on here really need to take a look at what they are saying and at how daft it makes them look.

Thank you everybody and thanks to Robert who wrote the article. My main hope is that is raises awareness about Myeloma Cancer. The other thing is that people with an incurable Cancer, are able to live a relatively normal life. Yes how you do things changes as does your thinking etc. But also you can adapt and still do things to a certain extent. Life is not over when you are diagnosed. Whether you have a couple of months or a few years to live its important to live it to the full. Matt Callender the Rugby League personality who sdadly died recently from Brain Cancer was an inspiration. He did his best to promote the disease and gave his family a positive time during the last few months. At the moment the Chemo and Stem Cell has worked and I am in Remission and things looking good. But how long that will stay for nobody knows. None of us knows what will happen tomorrow or next week etc. I try and remain hopefuly that I have a few years yet. Many on here have various problems with health and I am not anything special. But I think its important for me to help others to be aware of a Cancer many know little about and I thank Robert for coming to me and asking if he could do an article. He is also respeonsible to a large degree for the games development in South America.

Newcastle thunders squad against Hemel Stags will feature 10 local based players with 3 players from the U19s academy making first team debuts A tremendously positive stat that shows the good work that’s going on within the academy and the local clubs in the area. https://www.thunderrugby.co.uk/on-field/thunder-announce-squad-for-hemel-stags-clash/

This thread isn't about you. Please don't try and turn it into a thread about you by goading such responses. Thank you.

This is possibly one of the most negative articles written on the Welsh game. Was the writer determined to write something negative about a non traditional Rugby League area? Yes many of the facts are correct, at least we believe they are correct, especially about the early years but this article is so imbalanced, is without a satisfactory conclusion and has a number of inaccuracies. For a start, yes there are many negatives but there are plenty of positives right now in Wales like the continuation of junior development, the 20 plus lads in Super League acadamies, the success at schools level with Cardiff's Glantaf school only ever losing one game in three years (same lads from year 7-9 now in year 10) and never being outscored on tries and the production of our own players for the full Wales side, lots more than Scotland and Ireland for example. The Crusaders "disaster" produced tons of Welsh players and it was because of their work that we actually have a Wales side full of Welsh born players who won the European Championship two years ago. Wales' current failings as a nation is we don't have enough Super League players, something addressed in a statement by WRL recently which the writer has ignored. Talking about the South Wales 1996 side, he said "the first home game played at Aberavon on 31 March 1996 attracted just 1,876 spectators" - In that 1996 Division Two season, it was one of the highest crowds - more than any crowd at Barrow, Bramley, Carlisle, Chorley, Doncaster, Prescot and York. In fact it was the league's seventh highest attendance of the season. It's League 1 level, not Super League and again the writer was looking for a negative where there wasn't one. Plus this club held a successful double header at Cardiff Arms Park with South Wales v Carlisle being played before St Helens v Sheffield and attracting 6,708 fans. This was the 1996 season too, not 1995-96 and the club were given a Super League franchise for 1997 pending acceptance from the then current SL clubs. The clubs decided not to admit South Wales despite a solid business plan so there was a set-back. The South Wales club legacy became Cardiff Demons which created the strong community set up in the south which has produced a number of Welsh international players, again ignored by the writer. He states the Scorpions' attendances "did not improve" after getting over 500 to their first ever game, a win over Workington Town. Well research again shows that they got 625 for the next game which was against London Skolars, 798 v Hunslet, 625 v Oldham, 623 v Blackpool and 890 v Swinton. Average attendance for 2010 was 631 as the Scorpions reached the play-offs and their coach Anthony Seibold, now head coach at South Sydney Rabbitohs, won Coach of the Year. Well promoted on the road games in Cardiff in future seasons produced crowds of 1025 and 925. There's even the headings - Crusaders were obviously not "The Last Stand" as clubs are still going. He finalises with "Will Wales Ever Succeed?" without even an attempt to answer it properly. Plus there are no mentions of North Wales Crusaders' promotion years and their League 1 Cup and Northern Rail Bowl wins as well as their successful attempts to produce high attendances, amongst the best in League 1 as well as their outstanding travelling support. Yes we all know there are and always have been issues in Wales and people always look to address them, just like in many areas of the north of England which I won't name now. But we've developed players like Regan Grace who started in the acadamies in South Wales aged 13, and those like Ben Flower, Gil Dudson, Lloyd White, Elliot Kear etc who also came through local youth sides. The article is imbalanced, looking for negatives and inaccurate in places which is my issue. It needed positives and paragraphs about the many successes happening in the country right now. The fact that it didn't, makes it a very poor piece of work.

Perez seems to think it's possible for the new team to be up and running in League one by 2019. That should just about give Barrow enough time to get their visas sorted out !

Hello Everyone, Seems to be a bit of anti-Coventry feeling. I am the guy who writes articles for Coventry Bears, and am a passionate fan of the game. What I thought may be a reasonable discussion amongst like minded friends turned earlier into a personal attack against me and the job I do (completely unpaid) for Coventry Bears. Some thirty years ago I was a founder member of Redditch Halcyon, and played against Pittville Pirates and other MASWARLA teams, such as Plymouth, West Midlands Police etc. Now as a volunteer I give my time to the Bears. I am not a journalist, and if a missing space between words is bringing the game into disrepute, then so be it!! When writing a preview, I look for the backstory and insight into what is going on. For the Bears v All Golds home game this season, I wrote an article linking the events in Cheltenham in 1908 with Coventry first RL team in 1910-13, stressing the heritage and previous amateur rivalry. This was picked up by Love Rugby League as a story as well as the local free paper and radio. For the recent game, I picked up on some of the issues facing the All Golds to give purpose and meaning to the game, and to generate interest among fans of the Bears who might travel. Should I have just said it was a meaningless fixture at the end of the season? Great. And then when it comes to reporting, I mention things like the weather, the crowd reaction etc., again to give context and flesh to a report. It would have been a lie to talk of a stadium packed to the rafters and creating a cauldron of atmosphere!!! Also, Moscow should note that the reports are not aimed at people who frequent this website or even support other clubs. The Bears have been totally ignored by the city's daily paper and this has brought about a complete rethink of social media and broadcast media strategy. The main outlet for our news is a weekly freesheet circulated in an area dominated by football, and the tone of writing and it's sometimes partizan nature reflects this, and it's target audience to whom we are still introducing the game. We now regularly get half page prime slots, all good for the game. We are building something here which is on solid foundations on and off the pitch. I feel it would be good if volunteers at clubs could get together, learn from each other and move forward. Incestuous, internecine bickering amongst keyboard warriors saps energy and achieves little, which is why I rarely post.

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/

It is just starting to hit home to me how much I loved the 2013 RLWC. This upcoming tournament has the potential to be even better. Of course I am pumped about England (even without a bloody mug) but stuff to warm the hearts of all RL fans must be live games from PNG (so excited for the Wales game), double header in Perth and the NZ, Tonga, Samoa group will be awesome. I simply cannot wait for it all to start. Kid in a sweet shop kinda stuff! I hope that is okay with everybody? Bloke excited about RL tournament thread.

As released on Facebook: THE FINAL MESSAGE FROM THE OWNER Well here it is. The final game as the South Wales Ironmen is almost upon us, and I won’t lie, it has been a tough 2 months. When we took over, the club was in a poor state, with debt, no way of generating revenue, players abandoning the club for one reason or another and, to top it all off, only 6 days to transfer deadline. All that said and done it has been an exciting challenge and I would like to thank all the players, staff and supporters who have continued to make sure the club continues in South Wales. It’s not all doom and gloom though, we have managed to pick up a win and a draw and given some of the young lads the exposure they need to move up a level. These are the positives, however with the positives come the negatives and, with the world of social media, the negatives seem to be more prominent. From the outside, people will have their own opinions about how the club has been run before and after the takeover and what we should do going forward. As with all clubs wishing to improve, the constructive comments will always be taken on board and, where possible, be introduced into the club. For myself and my fellow directors, the staff and players have done really well, doing exactly what was needed to see this year through with zero budget, and that was to give it everything they had and to look ahead to next year, because let’s be honest, they could have all deserted a sinking ship. So now to the positives. Due to the hard work on and off the pitch we can safely say that the club is out of debt and, has even made some profit on our recent home games at Stebonheath. We now have a home ground we can call our own, and at the last game against North Wales Crusader, our hospitality package was fully booked. We have had an average gate of 200 – 250 in our last three games and, while people think that is poor, just remember that we only moved there two months ago, and to top it all off we have already secured some sponsorship for next season. Considering we took the club over with less than 2 months of the season remaining I would say that is a successful end to a season that almost saw rugby league in South Wales disappear. So what next?? Well, we know we have a steep hill to climb to get things back on track. The club has obviously moved to West Wales, almost back to where the journey started, and we have to engage with the old, the existing and the new fans, as well as continuing our work with all the schools that we started 4 years ago. People have different thoughts on this but, for us, it is the juniors and younger players that need the opportunities, and we have to find the balance of young and old . Unfortunately, the club will be rebranded once again, and will pick up the name West Wales Raiders, although this is part of a long term plan that we have put in place. There has been some considerable debate over this but, as the raiders are already established in the West, it is the most logical choice. The Director of Rugby will be working hard to establish the coaching pathways from Juniors all the way to the 1st Team and this will consist of the schools, the colleges, universities and community clubs, and the club will also offer any assistance possible to the aforementioned. The commercial team will be working hard trying to raise the profile of the sport, and gain some investment in the club and the sport as a whole in South Wales . Personally, I think they have the hardest job in the shortest space of time. For the board, and the club, the biggest thing of all is to build bridges with everyone from community clubs to suppliers and, hopefully, try and bring the sport together, oh and of course win a few games along the way. As soon as everything is sorted you will all be the first to know. We hope we can count on your support to help build this fantastic sport of rugby league and put Wales on the map, because I know we have the talent, as the juniors have shown this year. We now just have to make ourselves stand up and be noticed.

Right, This is different to how we do it in England. Last night we went to watch the baseball. 42000 people spending big bucks ( (not on tickets, prices started at 6 dollars. But a bottle of water at the game cost that with beer st 14 dollars a 440ml can). People were not even watching the game they were there in their thousands for the event. They dont gjve a flying fcuk if the players are from Toronto or Timbukto. They just enjoy a sports night out. The Wolfpack are buying into the sports culture of a sports mad city. It is not Batley, Barrow or Bradford. Its a " a whole new ball game". They do not carry baggage. The atmosphere in the ground before during and after the game is DIFFERENT. The party carried on to the Brazen Head, and the to the Love Belfast night club with fans and players buying into the game and the accessibility of the players, match officials and opponents. The only problem they have and I cannot see how it fits in is that they are positive about rugby league and want to accentuate the positives. Before today I thought that the Americas could take the game to a diffrent level. I don't think that now.....I know it!!!

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.

The North East Rugby League are pleased to welcome both the Edinburgh Eagles and the Stathmore Silverbacks into the NERL family!! They will both be entered into the NE cup, take par in the Dacia 9’s tournament and play a series of friendly/merit games against North East opposition In another positive more to help strengthen ties between the region and Scotland we will also be welcoming a Scotland u16’s side into the u16’s cup All Fixtures will be released next week

I must admit I am becoming exasperated at the tone often used on here and on many social media platforms with regards to anything that is considered club "expansion". I can't imagine how it must appear to non-RL folk seeing the dismissive and sometimes disdainful comments to anything that appears to be outside a core set of clubs (mostly on the M62) that have largely made up the top couple of divisions in the last 30 years or so. It is becoming increasingly common to see Toronto, Toulouse, Catalans, London and even the likes of Coventry and Skolars uttered in the same style of insular rants. As if anything further away than Sheffield isn't worthy of the RFL's time and money - even if it is not costing the RFL a penny. Some of these clubs are over 20 years old yet they get dismissed as a fad or failures or too high maintenance. At the same time, some of the "proper" clubs are on V2, V3 or even V4 after continually going #### up. What do these posters actually want? Anyone who browses other platforms can see RL people with this train of thought are not small in number. I do understand it is largely through fear and self preservation but it seems to go beyond that. I've heard coaches of "traditional RL clubs" give disrespectful interviews following trips to so called "non-traditional" areas. I see the constant bleating about away fans - as if Wakefield fans going to Cas, Cas fans going to Leeds and Leeds fans going to Huddersfield et al makes our sport bigger, wealthier and higher profile. I started a thread about the BBC's pathetic coverage yesterday. There is a case that we get what we deserve isn't there? If we think we can have things how they used to be in the 1980s and 1990s, still have the TV cash, coverage and wider appeal then we are naive to say the least. It is tiresome and the sporting world is evolving around RL - rapidly! Have I missed something? Is club RL an exclusive members club for founders and acceptable others?

I shall try to respond to as many of the comments as possible: - Let me try and clarify the Manchester thing - The RFL DO see the benefit in having a 'Manchester' club, however, there's no room for Manchester Rangers as it stands or indeed any time soon. They've made it very clear to all, that they see the benefit to the wider game of having the Manchester brand as well as other big city brands as part of the make up of the game, but we don't know how or when this will happen or indeed who this will be. As we see it, unless an existing club re-brands and moves to the city, which in truth looks really unlikely, then their only genuine option would be and should be Rangers. Its currently a stalemate between what they want and what they are willing to do to make it happen and it looks like the sport will lose another huge opportunity. Lets put the Swinton and Salford argument to bed. I've spoken to various members of the Swinton board over the years and they are committed to taking Swinton back to Swinton and the plan is still to build a stadium at Agecroft. The board and the fans are 100% behind Swinton Lions. If anything, they seem to embrace the idea of a Manchester team to play against. As for Salford and Marwan, he's made it clear that he wants Manchester to get behind his club. However, I'm not sure if he's that bothered about a little club like ours parked in the blue side of the city! Anybody with an ounce of sense, will see that the reds of Salford (my childhood team btw) versus the blues of Manchester, could be huge for the game and in time create a rivalry similar to that of the 2 football teams (maybe not to the same scale though!). Lets turn our attention to what we've tried in terms of getting a spot in League 1 or Championship and I can tell you categorically, that we've suggested everything to the RFL, including the option of taking zero central funding during the early days, but we were told that this wasn't an option. Our plan has always been to get a spot purely on our own merit, but as it became clear that this more than likely wouldn't happen, we started to look at other options, one of which I don't mind stating on here as its fairly common knowledge, was the option to merge with swinton and become something like Manchester Lions or a name that would suit the fans and safeguard the heritage of the club, but as already stated, they are firmly and always have been committed to moving back to Swinton and we applaud that. So what do we do that other local teams don't and how do we differ to previous attempts to bring professional RL back to Manchester? Firstly we made a series of pledges to the City of Manchester that we've 100% followed through with and unlike many other clubs, we haven't asked them at any point in time for money to support our club or our ambitions. Everything we do in Manchester is paid for by our directors and sponsors. We've built relationship with our partners on trust and delivering on our promises. We don't treat this as a hobby either, we have a board of professional people with a wealth of experience and huge skill set, these include business people, educational professionals, chartered accountants, sports development professionals and marketing specialists that are involved in the Rangers because we believe that we can add value to the wider game and bring new opportunities to the table to help the sport grow. Even as a lowly amateur club, our partners include Manchester City Council, Manchester Metropolitan university, the University of Manchester, the Manchester College, Eastlands Sports trust and many more. We also have the opportunity to further grow our relationship with Manchester City FC, but this is being held back due to the RFL not having a firm plan on who or what the Manchester team should look like. We have a secure base in the 6,500 capacity Manchester Regional Arena and our landlord wants us there. We also have options in the future to play at other local venues if the club was to ever outgrow the Regional arena. We've started to develop sustainable junior rugby in the city and to say that there are some gems coming through would be an understatement! I could go on for hours..... We also have the one thing that pretty much every sports fan wants, we are actually positioned in a major city and this means that visiting fans can make a day of it or even a weekend away when they come to visit us and also not have to worry about how they get to the ground, as we have a dedicated metrolink station 100 yards away, we are easily accessible by public transport, there's plenty of parking and for those who like a walk, we are only a 10-15 minutes to the heart of Manchester City centre. As for money, that really isn't an issue. We spend as much as or possibly more on our club and community programme than some League 1 clubs and still make a small profit each year. Contrary to popular belief, we receive zero funding from the RFL to run the club, so just imagine what we would do if we were given a pro license!

I was at the game yesterday and in my 33 years of watching the game I have never experienced anything remotely like it. We parked about a mile away and for blocks around the stadium there were houses decked out in Tongan colours, parties going on everywhere, cars driving up and down covered in flags with music booming out and people of all ages from babes in arms to old folk in wheelchairs dressed in Tongan colours. I have also never experienced so many people come up to me before a game and say may the best team win, or indeed so many people come up to me after a game to say great game and wish England all the best for the final. Even after the match there were flags waving and car horns blaring long into the evening. Lost count of how many people shook my hand walking back to the car, it was a completely unique experience. Tongans are some of the friendliest and loudest people I have ever met, it was the highlight of the trip without a doubt.

Longhorns RL, from Meath, have been awarded a place in the 2018 Challenge Cup, reward for winning the all-ireland title this year. Well done to them. Been a long time since an Irish team has taken part in the cup.

First post on the forum. I'm a long time RL fan from Cambridge, Ontario.. about 60 miles from Toronto. I was transferred to Aus, and I lived in North Sydney, NSW about 20 years ago and got addicted, and really missed it on our return to Canada. My wife and I went to 5-6 Wolfpack matches this year, and are excited about the move up, as well as the new signings.

So, anyway, to respond to what's here. I don't have much of an opinion about the darts walk-on girls (or, as an equivalent) the girls at Speedway Grand Prix who stand there marking the lane choices. I wouldn't miss them if they went because, oddly, I'm watching the darts and the speedway for the darts and the speedway. If you're watching them for women in tight clothes then that's a few seconds of pleasure separated by a lot of sport. It seems an odd thing to do. Cheerleading seems to me to be different in that it's normally led and coached by women. There can be a genuine issue (see stories in America) about how the girls are controlled and what say they have in what they do. But, if everyone's having fun, again, I don't have a problem. No one is talking about shutting down cheerleading but they may wonder if it's middle aged men drooling over barely legal girls whether it can be done better. Rugby league is a tough sport. We called it a Man's Game for All the Family forty years ago. Times change. Women and disabled people do not become some default 'strong straight male' for playing rugby league. They become members of the rugby league family who play the game. On their own terms. The stuff about people covered up in Dewsbury and Batley is just divisive nonsense. If we want people from all communities to embrace our game, and I'll guess that this straight talking no nonsense bloke with a publishing history like his and a charge sheet of racist activities doesn't, then we should be finding ways of working with them not putting out angst about the stuff that makes us different. One of the great things I've found in my (oh god) 31 years of following rugby league is that, by and large, if you like TGG the people around you will accept you whatever. I'm a latte drinking metrosexual (not really) who has never lived in a heartland community and have had a lot of fun with people on here both in real life and online. But I'm also white and male so if I keep my mouth shut I'll not be noticed by the tiny minority of fans who confuse being no-nonsense and proud of their roots with being a grade one cock.

That is the greatest post I have ever heard. I assume you are a fan of a 140 year-old club who has had almost 20-years of central SL TV funding, in a town where no major football team exists. Yet despite this have no stadium to play in and struggle with crowds. How much time do Wakefield and other clubs need to develop?

For me any club that doesn't pay debts in administration or obviously if they are liquidated should start at the bottom tier. I am a Bulls fan. However it is what it is now. We are in this predicament whether we like it or not. For me we need the bash to come and go quickly. .People are asking for the board to speak to the fans yet Green laid down some tripe for two years (and I was taken in) and look where that got us. Personally I will be there no matter. I 've been there when there was 1500 pre Bulls, was at KR when we nearly went down in the early 90's. Saw us stuffed 71-10 in THAT semi-final. I enjoy it. It's my game and my club. I can still take highlights out of Sunday. Peltier's strong return, Mik Oldeski having a photo with our lad but apologising for the performance, "Veteran" Johnny Campbell being near enough player of the year so far. If we go down so be it. (although I still don't think we will!!). But if we do Oxford away and Gloucester away don't sound too bad for a stop over

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.

Copa, please be careful with your posts. This might be too much of a let down for Lenegan's ultimate sycophant follower, Parky. I'm not sure he can face such stark reality.

As an Oxford season ticket holder I would suggest this isn't a merger - if it happens - but a new club being spun as one to cover up the embarrassement of losing two expansion clubs. I doubt many - if any - of the key club shareholders at Oxford would be involved. Playing wise it makes some sense. Both Oxford and Gloucestershire have players based in the area whilst the South Wales based players are likely to live closer to Bristol than Lanelli. As such you may get a better side out than those three have managed, though I'd still expect day tripping northern lads to be required. In every other way it makes little sense to do this now. Straight after the Cook Islands v USA perhaps but now? Dings RUFC are just opening a new ground outside Bristol they have been RL friendly, a possible base? What I would say is that this is not being talked about at Oxford or, according to an All Golds season ticket holder, there either. If Bristol are planning on playing in 2018 they need to be quite advanced in their plans now or they are setting themselves up for failure yet there is a real lack of substance to these rumours. Multiple sources at two League One clubs have told me that they do not expect compulsory line up changes for 2018 but think there might be for 2019. However I did first hear about this from a club official at another League One team with a good track record of tip offs. Who knows what is going on. If it does happen the RFL need to use the money saved in central payments to fund development officers in Bristol, preferably with one able to spend time in / around Oxford and Cheltenham to support the work underway there. Put simply if this happens the RFL need to support it properly and stop sticking pins in maps of the UK where they want a club so Nigel can announce RL is spreading and then do the square root of nothing to support the clubs, bar central funding which really doesn't go very far.

You dont have to read them. If someone is so enthusiastic they want to post a thread good on 'em. Carry on ojx post what you like!!!

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.

Absolutely, the game is growing at a fast rate in the area, we have three new local clubs starting this year. Yarm Wolves from the Teesside area entered last year with u14’s, they loved the sport so much they now have u9,12,14 and 16’s, we have a new club all the way up in Alnwick and the West Newcastle Magpies who are also Launching this year We have teams like Cramlington Rockets who have won their first two rounds of the National Cup and now face Thatto Heath in the next round And at Open Age we have clubs like Whitley Bay Barbarians who will be returning, and an invite has been sent up to Scotland for the two Scottish clubs to come down and play merit format friendly games and play in the cup it looks like player registrations in the north east will be up over 5% this year and the target is to average over 1,000 at thunder games It’s hard not to be positive about the North East at the moment

I've never heard once Canberra grumble about away fans. Same for Townsville and a few other teams. Fill your ground with your own people and you'll do well.

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!

117 people not paid minimum wage. Completely undefendable in the case of 116 of them. In the case of Jon Wilkin, it's understable.

....then they could be no better than tonight's game in Coventry against Leeds Rhinos. Over150 people enjoying pre match hospitality, great atmosphere, a crowd of 1294 on a freezing cold night. Bar heaving afterwards. This was a game to celebrate the Bears 20 years of existence while also commemorating Leeds record 102-0 victory over the erstwhile Coventry northern union team in 1913. But this was a glimpse into the future, and how Coventry can take it's place in this game. And the score: 14-70, but who's counting?

Come on Sky - give us at least one televised Championship game a week next year! You know it makes sense.

Hello everyone.. finally getting around to this.. We (Wolfcast Toronto) are a pair of new(ish) rugby fans following the Toronto Wolfpack and all things rugby now that we've become hooked. We've managed to book our flights out to Manchester for August 5th and trying to see as much Rugby (and possibly other events when we are there) and would really appreciate any thoughts on what to see / who to see / where to go etc from those of you immersed in the Rugby world. Ideally, something on Twitter (@wolfcastto) would be the best way to communicate to us, as only 1/2 of us is on this site, at least via the login with twitter option. We will be there from the 5-15 of August and have already been in contact with Keighley Cougars (apparently pronounced Keeth-lee?? Not sure how it reads that way.. ) who have set us up for that game and invited us to the post game karaoke with the team. Look forward to a great rugby adventure.. Chris Wolfcast Toronto

Oh dear oh dear oh dear this will have all the cloth cap and ferret brigade moaning and groaning into their beer, they will all be GREEN with envy , heres a club only 125 days old and outselling itself to the tune of more than 99% of the clubs that have been around for 125 years ...eat your heart out PARKSIDER ,.....how dare they

I am new to the forum but a Wolfpack fan and one who played rugby in high school (Ottawa). Professionally I was in corporate banking and corporate finance for many years (but now am a partner in a software/tech enterprise) and I have peripheral contact with some parties doing business with TW. So I have some observations based on my knowledge and experience: 1) TW is very well financed, they already have high quality sponsors, and they are in a very, very affluent city. It would not surprise me if it turned out the TW financial position exceeded all but a few of the Super League clubs. They are doing exceedingly well out of Lamport, for which the rent is very low. The ownership is very people oriented, you see it reflected in the coach, gm and even the players (who all look very happy to be playing for the Wolfpack even though it is in the bottom tier). 2) Rugby does have a base in Canada, I played in high school but the sport lacked a professional high profile club to attach and inspire youth. With the existence of the Wolfpack that will change quickly I believe. 3) the score of games is pretty meaningless for the fans in Toronto. They know the clubs coming here are at a disadvantage and they will support them because of that. When Toronto bumps up to Championship that will cause the Woflpack to blow through the Lamport capacity - it won't require they be in Super League for crowds to grow. Success builds success, and Canadians are generally extremely supportive across a wide array of sports. And this is close enough to hockey and lacrosse in its physicality that its popularity will grow as more of the general population learns about it. 4) Quite simply, this is not a small market team, and Canadians don't even really think the way say Londener's do with their neighborhood mentality. The small market mentality is what is killing the league and why they are hoping for North American expansion. 5) 7pm starting time for games is meaningless. I remember waiting for ice at 2am as a midget hockey player. If you are a Brit, you have no idea of the life of a hockey parent (or curling) in Canada, let alone an adult player on a team in a house league (of which there are millions of participants). The ice runs 24/7/365 and you likely have never experienced anything similar. I will be blunt, and hope this is not taken the wrong way. If your British, throw out almost every convention with which you are familiar when trying to compare Toronto norms and habits to what you are familiar. None of them apply. Canadians think a 9pm start time for a game is perfectly normal and a 7 pm time is likely viewed as early. Canadians think a 5 hour -500km drive to go visit their parents is a commute, not a trip. Canadians think going to see a professional event where they get in for $25 is so cheap they doubt its real. It takes about 24 hours of continuous driving to get from one end of just the Province of Ontario to the other end, so to hear griping about a short plane ride (most of our in-country travel takes longer) will get you no friends. Canadians love wolves and will take to the imagery of the Wolfpack like a fish to water. Beer swilling rugby players fits very nicely into the beer swilling hockey mentality. So unless the league collapses on the UK side, Toronto is the last of anyone's worries. Its us worried about you as we are now becoming aware of just how weak it is on that side of the pond. Really, we should just move the whole league over here, then it would likely do much better financially. We have small towns that draw crowds many times the size of your normal attendance, just to junior hockey. Those are a few thoughts that occur to me based on what I have observed....

Its honestly people like this that need to close their eyes and walk across the M1 or at least leave the sport. The clue really is in the title of “pre season friendly” and the focus should be on; - 1200+ people watching RL on a freezing Friday night in Coventry - Sold out hospitality - Coventry being able to offer the chance of playing semi pro RL to people outside the heartlards All of the above is progression not the score. Coventry Bears is some people’s life’s work, as a club they run on a budget that compares to Sam Burgess’s jock strap, they have never gone bust (see nearly every club anyone’s ever supported) don’t go cap in hand to the RFL and are hugely proactive in the community. This isn’t to also mention their relationships with local business’s and the university. If more clubs acted in such a way (my own included) then the game wouldn’t be in such a state. Quotes of the above imo are in the same narrow minded class as the bigots that kick and clap. RL does not belong to the North, it’s anyones game that wants it.

So just to clarify, for the tournament on home soil where they were 1/5 favourites, Australia has had an Australian referee for the opener, semi final and final. Appointed by Tony Archer (Australia). England have an Australian ref for the opener, semi final and final. For those people thinking we should stop banging on about this. We cannot normalise this sort of thing! This is World sport. The World Cup FFS. And that includes a neutral video ref. Thaler should not be making a call which could decide the WC for England.

Hello, I've just joined this forum and wanted to post about my experience of the Challenge Cup Final just over a week ago. It was only my third ever live Rugby League match (I'm 48) even though I grew up watching the Final on TV back in the 80s - the first of which I remember watching on tv was Hull v Hull KR in 1980. I live in Kent, so a fair way from the RL heartlands, hence my lack of live games over the years. The first one I attended was the first match Kent Invicta played in Maidstone in about 83/84, then a couple of years ago I ended up shooting a London Broncos v St Helens match for a photography agency. So that was it until the recent Challenge Cup Final, Hull v Wigan. The tickets were very well priced incidentally, something that Football could learn a trick or two from RL over, so I thought I'd give it a go. The only downside was the fact they were on the top tier of Wembley, and having walked up the seemingly never ending stairs to reach the level I was struggling quite a lot (I'm partly disabled and wish I had taken the option of getting the lift up, I got it back down again I can assure you !!) The tickets were in the middle of the Hull fans, and what a great, friendly bunch they were. Particularly the bloke sitting next to me and his brother, who were very kind in trying to answer my probably ridiculous questions about the game (I'm more familiar with the other Rugby code im afraid) with a smile and laugh. So I just wanted to say thanks to them, the Hull fans, and Rugby League in general for a great day out - I've spent the past week or so in trying to pass the word on via Facebook & Twitter and get a few more people to try the Challenge Cup Final next season for a great value big match at Wembley watching a wonderful sport with friendly fans. Please don't change too much in the future in the quest for sporting World domination as you have a great product already. (I had such a great time I've decided to start collecting Rugby League Challenge Cup Final match programmes - hello eBay !!)

On a serious note, I do hope that Rangi gets the support he needs as things like this can take you to dark places. Messing up when you are a young kid is one thing, but when you have literally manufactured the end of your career it leaves a massive hole. Foolish yes but still a vulnerable guy. I hope he finds a fulfilling next phase of his life. At the top of his game he was a joy to watch.

We all get a little frustrated with things that's for sure, but let's actually celebrate what a fantastic few days it has been for RL. The RL wheelchair World Cup was well staged, well attended and fantastic viewing. The final itself an absolute cliff hanger. Well done to Fra and Eng. The semi final was buzzing yesterday with some great RL played and terrific tries. Another to look forward to today! South Wales like a phoenix rise from the dead and get a win for the new owners at their new home in Llanelli York continuing their excellent year (having not even been in the fixture list in Dec) with a predicted big crowd against Toronto Women's Challenge Cup final Bradford v Featherstone (I'm going to let the venue stuff go for this thread lol) There are always lots of things to gripe about in our game but for this week I am really enjoying what RL has to offer. Let's hope there are many more fantastic weeks like this again during the rest of the season!

York City Knights received a huge boost off the field today as York Council announced that work to build York’s new community stadium should begin in October when contractors will move onto the site in Monks Cross.

N.American sports teams do not rely on away fans. I went to the Baseball in Toronto the other week I didn't see any NY Yankee fans there. Poor old Toronto had to struggle on with just 42,000 home fans. How do they manage?

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.

That was a brilliant performance by York, totally outplayed Toronto. Wallace and Brierley were invisible, the pack were more than matched and the discipline atrocious. Bussey was a liability and not for the first time this season. With the few loanees from Hull KR making the difference for York it will hopefully give Toronto, and more importantly Paul Rowley, a taste of what they can expect if they make it to the Championship. Previous strategies will need to change. Harris said it best, keep it simple and they will make mistakes. Hats off to York, recruited well for the 8's and made it count when it mattered in one of the games of the season; a wonderful success on, and off, the field today. Congratulations all round!

This is on the Wolfpack Facebook page this morning: "It's time to unleash our North American talent vs. Coventry Bears Rugby League on June 3rd at Lamport Stadium. The following players will suit up for our next Home game: Rhys Jacks ?? Ryan Burroughs Burroughs ?? Tom 'Chest' Dempsey ?? Joseph Eichner (Last Tackle Trialist) ?? #GrowLeague ???"