tim2

Stuart Broad's biography is interesting. When he didn't make the Leicestershire development squad at 15 he decided to play sport (rugby, hockey and others as well as cricket) with his mates. His mum didn't usually watch (his parents were separated and his dad - Chris Broad, ex-England player - lived about 100 miles away so was usually not involved due to playing at weekends) and told him just to enjoy it. He did, and at 16/17 he rocketed up in height and became an international cricketer. He said that the lack of pressure and the enjoyment of playing with his mates served him very well in his career. I officiate in tennis and the parents can be problematic (nowhere near what I saw in rugby league or is reported in football) but when it goes over the line the LTA are pretty hard on them. They have dished out significant bans for parents - several months is common and, for bad cases or repeat offenders, permanent bans.

Good win for the Eagles that they need to build on. A couple of wins will take the sting out of the upcoming Fans' Forum.

Nottingham Outlaws have their own ground.

Great news - it's taken more than 10 years to recover from the situation where the RFL basically dropped expansion at junior level virtually overnight, making it hard for vounteers to take up all the slack. There were junior leagues at 3 age groups and festivals for primary age that attracted dozens of players to all four corners of the region. Multiple (semi) professional players emerged from that era. Such a shame that it's had to rebuild almost from scratch. Nice to see a team from the North of Derbyshire in there, along with the Bulldogs. My grandson plays for the Bulldogs as well as Rugby Union at Donny. In addition, one of my former Open Age teams (Forgers) has moved to Chesterfield (another place I tried to get RL going in)

Looking at the team sheet there's no way the Eagles should be struggling. The injuries and "new coach adjustment" are probably the reasons so far. Let's hope we kick on from here.

I support Sheffield and didn't see that scoreline coming. I couldn' go, but reports from Sheffield fans suggest Batley were poor.

I don't always agree with you, but you're right on this one.

I reckon The Watersheddings was really somewhere near the North Pole.

Do yourself a favour and never invest in London RL yourself I'm sure that's how the poem ended.

2010s were pretty good personally - at least the first half - I lost weight in 2010 and began running, did Manchester Marathon in 2015. Felt better than I ever have physically and the work I was doing was really interesting. I gained two grandsons too. Sadly the decade will always be remembered for austerity and, consequently, Brexit. Ah - the 70s. Strikes, power cuts, football hooliganism, racism. Some good music and films, though. The 80s were good because I was at Uni, got married and had my first child. By the 90s I had three kids and frankly it's a blur (pun intended). The 2000s started with some optimism but basically 9/11 and the 2008 crash pretty much began the end of the relatively stable world we had been in for a long time. The 2020s have been a sh*tsh*w so far. Can it get worse? Well, yes, but let's hope it doesn't.

Yeah, I took an early decision this morning to cancel my attempt at parkrun 399.

Recent health struggles meant I was clocking over 30 minutes and struggling to do so. Improving now and the last 3 parkruns at Mura di Lucca (Italy), Beacon (Lichfield) and Old Railway Trail (Llangollen,today) have been 28.32, 28.27 and 28.07 respectively. Getting there. I am now on 397 parkruns at 148 events.

The downside of the draft, and a lesser danger in SL too if a team isn't going to make the playoffs they can let the season drift out rather than making any signings.

I'd like to see Detroit win it this time. It would be like Huddersfield winning the SL Grand Final. The American system is meant to even things out but it's as if that has passed Detroit by.

The funding for full time developer officers and support from the RFL did for it. It coincided with the government cutting Sport England funding. Most teams didn't directly get funded, but refs were paid for (for example) and I think NL3 got travel support.