Exiled Wiganer

When I have been in Sydney over the last couple of years it has been very easy indeed to watch Super League. They seem to show the Sky games at the same time as they are broadcast in the UK with repeats on the Fox League channel.

Maybe - you seemed to be suggesting that Toronto are in some way “entitled”, by which I assume you mean that they are being given things simply by virtue of their being Toronto. In the context of the points Argyle makes this doesn’t make sense, as he is setting out what they are doing, have done and will do.

Smith is very highly rated indeed in Pieland.

I think you misunderstand the word “entitled”. Not sure where the bitterness comes in, though, unless it is spurred by a rueful “why did the Bulls not get a sugar daddy?” Which is a great question but not one for this thread.

I agree with much of what has already been written. What terrifies me about this is that the RFL has seemingly given up entirely on trying to increase its profile and income. This is the sort of brink of complete insolvency behaviour. Where is Maurice when you need him? I look around and see no one with vision and confidence in our game. This is a competition enthusiastically and professionally covered by the BBC ffs. Genuinely our club level Crown Jewels and we can’t back ourselves to sell any tickets or attract any sponsors. In this instance I don’t think that it is a question of expansion or not, it is simply an admission of surrender when faced with the prospects of marketing our game.

If anyone honestly doubts that those Tongan players aren’t Tongan they haven’t been paying attention.

I beg your pardon - I glanced at the 1 to 13 squad numbers, glossed over union’s Yaha and missed Garcia, so 3 out of 13 including one who has left the code. Of course even they struggle to field more than 10 overseas players so they end up with more in the 17. If you think that’s a great achievement then that’s fine. Each to their own.

Early start for the unhinged one. Should have reached for the coffee and more meds rather than the internet.

In 2018 they had 2 French players in their 1 to 13. With a whole country to choose from/develop for over a decade. That is a disgrace.

I would like them to have a team with prominent French players rather than using them as padding after signing every overseas player available.

I am disinclined to quote the response to my response, but would note: - I dislike both the game and its culture, though I can see how it could find a home in a land that loves sumo; - there is a range of connectedness, which varies from nation to nation. Any game's role is to have a set of eligibility rules and try to apply them. Rather connection by family than temporary residence. Eoin Morgan for England? - top of the list of preferences would be born and bred, I suppose, with the bottom being a team of 3rd generation players with no connection of any kind with the country they represent, and no local comp in that country. Lebanon are not on the bottom rung, as they have a connection, and a profile at home, are genuine economic exiles with strong cultural ties, and have a local comp which welcomes them and draws on their success.

Well, this is an international thread and so attracts interest from those who love that side of it. I also think they can be mutually enforcing, and help make our game more attractive to players like Taumalolo.

They might have some trinkets in there, but they won’t have the Locker Cup.

I think you have chosen a poor example. I have no idea whether Japan have 15 home grown fatties or 1 in their kick for touch team, but in Lebanon’s case they have a domestic set up and a local awareness of and pride in their exiles. They genuinely matter, as shown by the minister of sport showing his pleasure at their World Cup successes. They are closer to Jack Charlton’s cockney paddies than their accents might at first suggest.

Here’s a question... this will be tendered out, and the RLIF will make sure they get genuinely guaranteed sums for it. If France bids (and we can’t make them however much we’d all love to see a tournament there) and guarantees 1m, whereas NSW guarantees 10m presumably the game needs to accept NSW’s bid. At what point do other factors come into play, and what should they be?