Leyther_Matt

"Nicky Barmby is set to take the field at Turf Moor at 3pm as his Hull City side take on Burnley in The Championship, straight after the final whistle Nick is preparing to hot foot it across to Old Trafford to see his beloved Black and Whites in their first Grand Final appearance."

It’s the dual use of TO for both Toulouse and Toronto - both of which make perfect sense - that throws me.

There was a similar fad in the early 2000's where a few players - Dale Cardoza springs to mind - wore NFL style gloves, apparently to aid handling. Might have even coincided with the 8-panel ball days.

They did have a gazebo type stand on one side for a spell when they were in the Premier a few years ago though, similar to Hamilton (another three sided ground, or two and a bit at least).

Last year's final was the same day as £1m Game so I expect this year would be 6th October and leave the Bank Holiday weekend blank to encourage people to attend Wembley.

That does seem to be a solid indication of no semi final then. Given it's one weekend less than last season's Shield then presumably this will mean no fixtures on Bank Holiday weekend.

Has that been confirmed anywhere BSJ? 'Asking for a friend...' 😧

Toronto kick off at 6.30pm UK time this weekend so that's not really an obstacle as long as it was all done with plenty of notice.

I wouldn’t say Blagnac lacks atmosphere, it’s very quirky in it’s own ways with the beer terrace (maybe it should be a beer garden instead? 😊) and the two stands are huge with excellent sight lines. However, it’s very much out of sight, out of mind in terms of being in an area separate to the city - one not on the subway nor immediately on the tram network - and more importantly what you would hope would be a bit of a RL heartland in the area around Minimes. If they could transport the quality of the stadium at Blagnac to the location at Minimes then they’d be on to a winner.

Bloody hell I’m only 31, not 61! 😊 It was probably a couple of years after the pro’s had switched to summer so all of a sudden there was much more of a focus on a quicker PTB with the drier grounds that I wouldn’t say was the case when playing in a quagmire.

I was playing junior RL at the same time as the slightly older current SL players and it was common - if not necessarily coached - to start rolling the ball back with your hand while you were in the movement of placing the ball on the ground when getting up from a tackle and then catch it with your foot as it rolled backwards to the dummy half. The current situation is just a progression of what players will have been doing throughout largely their entire time playing RL in search of a quick PTB. As much as a consistent level of penalties might held as an initial deterrent, it's the sort of habit that can be traced right the way back to their junior development so there needs to be efforts right back to the start of the scale to make sure that the 'proper' method is coached right the way through.

Sod history, just be glad nobody was injured. A stand going up like that really does make you appreciate the safety standards in the UK post-Bradford.

Wish I’d have known it was you Robert when we cleared a route for your daughter to get through in the pub!

Despite my best attempts - a can in my hand throughout - I sadly have a full recollection of the game! Just got back to our apartment on West Queen West ready for some sleep before doing it all again at the TFC game tomorrow - look out for the Bolton Wanderers jerseys! There was a chap here for his 60th that his family bought for him as a surprise birthday present. The lads in the hunting gear were on a stag do.

The correct pronunciation of “gerrumonside” (“gerrumonsard” in Wigan and Hull for some reason) is the kind of vital education that needs to be offered to new fans of the sport.