Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

Agreed, DD. I was about to make the same point.

Sorry, UA, but you keep confusing me with your 'TO' references. On here, I take that to mean Toulouse Olympique XIII, with 'TWP for the Wolfpack! Good to read your comments and thoughts, nevertheless, so keep up the contributions!

I think you are right, Scotchy1. There is also the issue of where the money for PSG came from (I don't know the answer to my own question, by the way!). For that from RFL or other English sources, your point is perfectly valid. However, any generated in the Paris area - either from public or private sector sources - self evidently would not have been available to spend in England.

Thanks for clarifying your position, TBO. I do find some of your use of language intriguing. How long, for instance, does a sport have to be played in a particular locality for that area to be a 'heartland'? For me the answer could be about 75 years, I feel, but I confess I am more or less plucking that figure out of the air! And my gut feeling is that, in professional terms, West Cumbria is a heartland, even though neither Workington Town or Whitehaven satisfy my random, criterion; so I can be just as illogical as the next person! Incidentally - and I am sure you meant no offence to French clubs, even if you don't like their presence in SL and the championship - to suggest they haven't 'paid their dues' is arguably a bit offensive after what happened to them in WWII. English heartland clubs have never had their assets seized and their sport declared illegal, as happened to French RL clubs under the Vichy regime (if you have not read Mike Rylance's The Forbidden Game, please ask Santa to bring it to you for Christmas - a brilliant read, the best on any sport that I have come across) And when you say 'our' league, I actually understood that 'our' clubs play in the European Super League, but I stand to be corrected on that. This season, I suspect your assertion about Cas being everybody's second favourite team is correct. But at the time of my supermarket anecdote, it was the Dragons, partly because they represented an operationally successful contribution to SL from outside the North of England heartland, and partly because - on the field of play - they were a joy to watch. This season, their play has been dour and stodgy, and their managerial judgement has been highly questionable. So, Castleford have taken on their mantle - a well run outfit, and a joy to watch on the field of play.

Well thanks for your honesty, TBO. I must confess I have not undertaken the market research which clearly underpins your statement that people have no affiliation to, and hence are disinterested in, the Catalans Dragons and Toulouse Olympique. Intriguingly, when wearing my Catalans' replica shirt (because, just for the record, I do have an affinity with French clubs in SL and the championship) in a Salisbury supermarket a couple of years ago, I found myself just one ahead at the check-out queue from a Leeds Rhinos' fan and her son, on holiday down here. She spontaneously expressed the view that the Dragons are (or were then!)everybody's second favourite team. Clearly, based on your assertion, she was just plain wrong! You ask what there is to like about a couple of Dragons v Olympique fixtures. A good question! My early experience of watching rugby league was based on living within a few miles of Leigh and Wigan. For me, therefore, what is there to like about a Hull local derby, or one between, say, Castleford and Trinity? Clearly, you would deduce the answer is 'Nothing'. And yet, and yet, I greatly enjoy the KR v FC clashes and, even as a neutral bystander, some 250 miles distant and watching on TV, I can sense the derby tension, and it adds to my enjoyment. Likewise, when a mate of mine from near Doncaster and I went to a Cas v Wakey clash a couple of years ago, the added derby tension only served to enhance our enjoyment. Of course, the Dragons v Toulouse would not be a derby clash in the strictest sense of the term, as Perpignan and Toulouse are 125 miles apart; yet, to be top French dogs would undeniably imbue the fixtures with a bit of added, derby-esque spice, particularly given the longstanding rivalry at RL between the two cities. As has been pointed out, this goes back for over 80 years, rather longer than, say, Whitehaven v Workington Town local derbies, which, incidentally, I am sure are also great, tension laden games which we can all appreciate!

I'm sorry, KP, but the last thing RL needs is a man with a proper plan. it isn't traditional! Whatever happened to fudging and vacuous promises? Seriously, all the best to them!

I am not sure where you are from, TBO, but your observation does seem a tad M62 corridor oriented. Are you saying that everybody else in the championship, including, for example, Fev will fade into obscurity in 2018? And what's not to like about, for instance, two Catalans -v- Toulouse matches? Boring? Non!

Maybe I am tired at this time of night, corvusxiii, or have had one too many glasses of wine to celebrate Les Dracs' get-out-of-gaol success on Humberside, but I haven't a clue what you mean. For instance, I thought 'contiguous' meant 'sharing a border with' And who are the 'people paying into the system'? All clarifications and explanations gratefully received!

Merci beaucoup, hvy wg!

Absolutely agree, Scubby. My favourite SL try of all time.

Thanks for your replies, guys, but I am not sure you have really tackled my basic question about why we need additional entertainment, and at some expense to the game. To be honest, GR, I find American Football too stop-start for my liking, too much like rugby union, but I am nevertheless aware of the Super Bowl half-time show. It seems to go on for ages, and I would think any sense of continuity in the other thing happening, a football match, must be seriously damaged if not totally lost! You're right, Padge, the modern entertainment isn't aimed at me, but then Cliff Richard, in his pomp, wouldn't have done it for me either. If I want him to entertain me, I will go to one of his concerts. I know, I am a hopeless reactionary...sorry! I'll get my donkey jacket, flat hat and whippet, and leave...

This is a genuine question. Why is it necessary to have musical entertainment at a sporting event on the scale apparently proposed for the GF? Why is it not acceptable for people to turn up, have a few drinks, chat to their family/friends, chat to the people around them, watch (and, one hopes, enjoy) the game, stay for the after-match presentation if they wish, and then leave? The last time I went to the theatre, I saw a play; that was it! No 5-a-side soccer beforehand or in the interval, in case the audience got bored with just a dramatic performance. The last time I saw a comedian live (it was Milton Jones, in case you were wondering), there was a support act, but it was another, less well known comedian - not a demonstration of crown green bowls, nor yet an exhibition of David Hockney's work, nor indeed anything else absolutely nothing to do with comedy. Feel free to hurl personal abuse at me - I am a reactionary old toe-rag, I must be stuck in a 1960s timewarp, I must have an innate dislike of - or disinterest in - almost all modern music. All of these, incidentally, are almost certainly true. But having vented your spleen, please have a go at actually answering my question. You might also like to try answering related, if subsidiary, questions such as: how many people who will be at Old Trafford wouldn't have turned up if it was 'just' a rugby match (notwithstanding it is the most important of the domestic, club season); how much grassroots development work could have been paid for by the artists' fees? I think I feel a bit like the small boy in the Christian Andersen story of the Emperors' new clothes! Over to you, folks...

If you want a few anthems, I could bring my church choir up from Wiltshire, and I guarantee it would cost the RFL a bit less than the various musical ensembles being mentioned on here! Of course, what my choir is singing is often an anthem by the likes of William Byrd or Thomas Tallis that has lasted almost five centuries, and is still as fresh and vigorous as the day it was written andis still used for the purpose it was written! Not yet timeless, mind, but getting there...

...and many a true word is spoken in gist! (OK, I'm leaving...)

I'm sorry, RR, but this is an utterly unacceptable observation. Cas have an old stadium, unfit for modern SL business. I went there with a friend for a Wakey derby a couple of years ago. We came out saying what a great day out it had been, but then, on reflection, felt guilty and ashamed, and agreed it would have been great, had not the whole crumbling edifice experience been so dreadful.