bamfordsbeans

Not one side from west of the Pennines.

The vast majority of RL enthusiasts realise that only an increase in international recognition can start to address the great imbalance we currently have. The current situation re the Lions tour sums up where we are and until the only 2 fully professional set ups in the game are of the opinion 1-International 2-club , we are not going to get what we want.

Decent game at the Shay. Fax just about deserved the win,although both sides made too many mistakes for it to be a classic.

When estimating televised games,particularly on a Thursday,it is best to knock 2,000 off what you would expect.

If Hull get 13,000 for a televised fixture on a Thursday night would be an excellent effort,particularly with their form at the end of last year and a derby defeat last week. Says a lot when I think the forecast for Salford is on the optimistic side. Wakefield I would have thought should get more like 7k than 5k,but don't expect more than 12k at Wigan for a televised game

BBC managed to get the story on their sports news on the news channel. Funny how they can manage a story from the other side of the world but no mention of last nights game closer to home.

If the the game to receive £25 million it is a "no brainer" to have the majority of games in the north as that was one of the requirements from the government. Without doing the exact maths I don't know if we could have got another couple of games in the south.Bristol was a success in 2013. I don't like the idea of 3 games at a number of venues such as Leigh,Doncaster,Warrington and Saints.If their bids were so good ,so be it,but I think the competition will suffer by not spreading out to more communities.

I can't understand this love affair with Leigh.Is it right that there are 3 games there and 3 at Doncaster? If it is ,why not spread it out.Wigan,Rochdale and Halifax all sold out last time.

Graeme Eadie and Chris Anderson must have been two of the biggest influences by overseas players over the years. For a club like Halifax to win the league and get to the Challenge Cup Final in the next two years (winning once) is a great achievement.

Sad news in that the former Halifax and Keighley player Garfield Owen has died. Garfield caused quite a stir when he signed for Halifax from Welsh Union in the fifties.I believe his transfer was actually shown on the BBC at the time. He was also a fine local cricketer and single figure golfer.I have had the pleasure of his company at Bradley Hall Golf Club where is a former Captain and President.

I was born in the same year that we last beat the Aussies in a series at home. In most sports that would see me as a youngster -not in RL

No mention of any fixtures on the BBC website.Is this down to the clubs,the RFL,the BBC or a mixture of the 3? When Leeds manage to get a 10,000 plus gate I would have thought this shows that there is enough support for more media attention. It is only a minor point,but it is things like this that add up and put the game in its present state.

Got to be good news. Hopefully 111 mins for an 80 minute game as in the Grand Final are now in the past.

The obvious advantages for summer rugby means it is here to stay. However you can't dispute the fact that there is a lot more distractions on a July/August Sunday to one in November and this has reflected in the change of season being only a partial success.

Unless a financial backer potentially willing to lose millions comes forward the UK and Australia are the only realistic options. OK we can tag on France and NZ for certain games,but unfortunately the game in those countries has not kicked on as we would have hoped. I find it very encouraging that the game is now played in over 50 countries(figures we could only have dreamed about 20 years ago) but if we are honest with ourselves not one of the new countries is even in a position to get a true semi-pro competition in place let alone a fulltime one.