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Would winter work?


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The post below is courtesy of Koli from the Bradford last one out thread.

I've always been pro summer rugby. But, Koli's posting has given me a twinge of nostalgia. Probably most of us took to RL when the conditions were pretty grim for both players and spectators. So winter didn't put us off despite that.

Now I'm a bit ( a lot) older I like to sit in the grandstand whilst in days of yore I stood and stamped my feet to keep warm and I must admit I'm not sure I could withstand the conditions these days.

Here is his post....

"Looking back I miss the variety of the "old" season.

County Cup in the early autumn as the league was just getting underway. and a chance since we moved to divisions

to play the lower league clubs.

Aus visiting every few years in the late Autumn

Floodlight Trophy brightening up mid weeks as the winter drew in..

Christmas/New Year Derbys

Gloom of February lifted by the early rounds of the cup

May climax of CC,and Championship (League and Premiership once we went to divisions)."

Are we tough enough these days for the rigours of winter?

Ron Banks

Midlands Hurricanes and Barrow

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To partially answer my own question. Sky would be a major problem as they wouldn't want it back.

 

Sky aren't @r$ed, Bradford had been calling for Summer rugby from the 1950s because Odsal is so bloody awful in Winter.

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Sky aren't @r$ed, Bradford had been calling for Summer rugby from the 1950s because Odsal is so bloody awful in Winter.

Well that's one objection to winter gone then

Ron Banks

Midlands Hurricanes and Barrow

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I know fans who are ST holders of rugby and football clubs....given the choice who would they chose to give up?

Also with ground sharing pretty common who would get priority over the ground? Union football, or league?

With summer being 20 years old there are now many fans (under 35 years old) who have grown up with summer

Also weather plays a part.... there was a Saints game vs Salford that snowed so bad with below zero Temps that only 5k turned up....that was the season when saints had over 10k ST holders...a few missed games and people would stop buying ST's!!!

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My memory of standing in the rain, snow, blizzards etc, is not that long ago, having been involved in the amateur game for years I was dead set against that part of the game turning to summer in fact I still feel we have lost something by making the move, the pro game is what it is, reverting back to winter is not an option.

"If Rugby League had never been Invented, today we would only have Rugby League"

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It's awful in summer too!

It's a dump winter or summer.  I hadn't been there since 1986, but went last season to see Fev play there on the hottest day of the year. Fev won too, but I still can't say I enjoyed it.  The awkward parking, long walk, the steep steps in and out of the ground.  In the seventies they had the chance to move to Park Avenue and turned it down. God knows why!

“Few thought him even a starter.There were many who thought themselves smarter. But he ended PM, CH and OM. An Earl and a Knight of the Garter.”

Clement Attlee.

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Bit of a horrible trend seems to be appearing in RL at the moment. 'Sack Wembley, let's take the CC final to Manchester' 'Should we go back to winter?'....

I'd dismiss it as just people on a message board but I can't quite shake the feeling that this is the view shared by many in the top echelons of the sport.

And maybe the fact that Park Avenue disappeared completely in the 70's had something to do with not moving to Canterbury Ave.

 

Woods and his cronies are completely backwards thinking, that is also my great fear for the game.  

Visit my photography site www.padge.smugmug.com

Radio 5 Live: Saturday 14 April 2007

Dave Whelan "In Wigan rugby will always be king"

 

This country's wealth was created by men in overalls, it was destroyed by men in suits.

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And maybe the fact that Park Avenue disappeared completely in the 70's had something to do with not moving to Canterbury Ave.

But at the time Park Avenue hadn't disappeared, indeed Yorkshire were still using the cricket ground for Sunday League games. I didn't understand it then and I still don't.

“Few thought him even a starter.There were many who thought themselves smarter. But he ended PM, CH and OM. An Earl and a Knight of the Garter.”

Clement Attlee.

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I like summer rugby. Sitting in the sun with a drink and a rugby game in front of me is fantastic.

Check out upcoming international fixtures and highlights of past matches at http://rlfixtures.weebly.com

 

St Albans Centurions International Liaison Officer and former Medway Dragons Wheelchair RL player.

Leeds Rhinos, St Albans Centurions y Griffons Madrid fan. Also follow (to a lesser extent) Catalans Dragons, London Broncos, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Jacksonville Axemen, Vrchlabi Mad Squirrels, København Black Swans, Red Star Belgrade and North Hertfordshire Crusaders.

Moderator of the International board

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The solution is a complete overhaul of the top of RFL and the sport.

An independent commission al la Australia overseeing the whole sport with Superleague responsible for the premier comp, the RFL for the national team, national leagues and wider development work. The community game would also be able to report independently but be funded by the RFL.

Currently far too much power is in hands of those right at the top meaning when they get it wrong the whole game suffers.

The games current problems have nothing to do with winter/summer.

030910105148.jpg

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Producing Players Since 1910

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Yorkshire were still using Park Avenue until the 80's but the footie team ceased to exist in 1974 (IIRC) And before that they were on the brink, so why would it make sense?

That's right, they played out their last season at Valley Parade before being finally torpedoed by the Inland Revenue. Someone's put a picture up on Google Earth of the last bit of wall with a couple of blocked off turnstile entrances in it that's all that's left of Park Avenue, very sad.

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The solution is a complete overhaul of the top of RFL and the sport.

An independent commission al la Australia overseeing the whole sport with Superleague responsible for the premier comp, the RFL for the national team, national leagues and wider development work. The community game would also be able to report independently but be funded by the RFL.

Currently far too much power is in hands of those right at the top meaning when they get it wrong the whole game suffers.

The games current problems have nothing to do with winter/summer.

Yes

Ron Banks

Midlands Hurricanes and Barrow

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The solution is a complete overhaul of the top of RFL and the sport.

An independent commission al la Australia overseeing the whole sport with Superleague responsible for the premier comp, the RFL for the national team, national leagues and wider development work. The community game would also be able to report independently but be funded by the RFL.

Currently far too much power is in hands of those right at the top meaning when they get it wrong the whole game suffers.

The games current problems have nothing to do with winter/summer.

The problem with super league being in charge of super league is they'll hoard all the tv money..

As ive said many times if the next tv deal was put into one big pot and dished fairly then the whole sport would prosper..all in all the deal is worth £40m per season,£200m over 5 years..

12 SL clubs could get their £1.825m each

14 champ clubs get £600k each

14 league 1 clubs £300k each

Which comes too £33.3m per season and leaves the RFL with £6.7m per season to play with,develop the game,promote events etc..

But no..

OLDHAM RLFC

the 8TH most successful team in british RL

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Yorkshire were still using Park Avenue until the 80's but the footie team ceased to exist in 1974 (IIRC) And before that they were on the brink, so why would it make sense?

And it was when the footie team folded that Park Avenue was offered to Northern.  I don't know how it compared to Odsal, but it could hardly have been worse. Let's face it Odsal is a major liability, whoever owns it.

“Few thought him even a starter.There were many who thought themselves smarter. But he ended PM, CH and OM. An Earl and a Knight of the Garter.”

Clement Attlee.

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My memory of standing in the rain, snow, blizzards etc, is not that long ago, having been involved in the amateur game for years I was dead set against that part of the game turning to summer in fact I still feel we have lost something by making the move, the pro game is what it is, reverting back to winter is not an option.

I don't advocate a return to winter.  All I say is that summer rugby has not turned out to be the crowd fest predicted.  All the stuff about frozen pitches, cold weather, cancelled games, driving snow, ankle deep mud is true.  But in 1995 many of the top Union sides were playing in front of two men and a dog.  Today they play in front of respectable crowds, on live TV, playing a game that is very similar  to ours, (if nowhere near as good) and they have continued to play in the winter.

“Few thought him even a starter.There were many who thought themselves smarter. But he ended PM, CH and OM. An Earl and a Knight of the Garter.”

Clement Attlee.

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It's a dump winter or summer.  I hadn't been there since 1986, but went last season to see Fev play there on the hottest day of the year. Fev won too, but I still can't say I enjoyed it.  The awkward parking, long walk, the steep steps in and out of the ground.  In the seventies they had the chance to move to Park Avenue and turned it down. God knows why!

 

So you were stood on the terrace in the glorious warm sunshine watching your team win and you didn't enjoy it because you personally chose to park somewhere a bit awkward a long way from the ground?  And then there were some err.. steps.

 

FFS!

 

No-one will argue that it's a good ground when the weather is against you, but on a sunny day it's the best there is.  Think of it like this, at Odsal you get what the players get.

 

 

And it was when the footie team folded that Park Avenue was offered to Northern.  I don't know how it compared to Odsal, but it could hardly have been worse. Let's face it Odsal is a major liability, whoever owns it.

 

Odsal is owned by Bradford Council.  It is a major asset to both the people of Bradford (via Bradford Council), and the RFL, who are enjoying a commercial rent that's returning them a fat lot more than having their cash sat on account at the bank.  As with all rent payable it'll show as a liability for the sub-tenant, who don't own it, what with them being a tenant and all that.

Forever in our shadow, forever on your mind.

 

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So you were stood on the terrace in the glorious warm sunshine watching your team win and you didn't enjoy it because you personally chose to park somewhere a bit awkward a long way from the ground?  And then there were some err.. steps.

 

FFS!

 

No-one will argue that it's a good ground when the weather is against you, but on a sunny day it's the best there is.  Think of it like this, at Odsal you get what the players get.

 

 

 

Odsal is owned by Bradford Council.  It is a major asset to both the people of Bradford (via Bradford Council), and the RFL, who are enjoying a commercial rent that's returning them a fat lot more than having their cash sat on account at the bank.  As with all rent payable it'll show as a liability for the sub-tenant, who don't own it, what with them being a tenant and all that.

Needless to say I disagree with most of this.  I didn't chose to park a mile away, I was forced to. Odsal is a dump.  I first went to Odsal in October 1961 to see GB v NZ.  Having heard tales of the record crowd I was expecting something like Wembley. Instead I was standing of a rotting sleeper.  Now I'm not saying it's like this now because it isn't.  All I will say is silk purses and sows' ears.

“Few thought him even a starter.There were many who thought themselves smarter. But he ended PM, CH and OM. An Earl and a Knight of the Garter.”

Clement Attlee.

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