RP London

You're not going to get a full England side mid season, if you travel down under teams will pull players out. If they go down under you also don't get the chance to build this "thing" here that people are wanting to build. I think we just have to accept that we are playing without all our players unless there is an agreed worldwide international break (which i would advocate for strongly), but then again that's always the case at any time of year due to injuries. If you did have a mid season international either in the north or down under, to then play Yorks v Lancs AND England Knights would be utter madness.. one way to not give Yorks v Lancs a chance is to say "oh and its 2nd/3rd string as all the best are down under with England". There is no perfect cure to any of the issues that we've highlighted, all we can do is the best that we can.. we will have a weaker side (without an international break that is adhered to across both hemispheres). But that actually gives us an opportunity too. Have it as Super League only players England v the rest (or WOR or something) and build the rivalry, that's what we are looking for.. this idea of "what makes England" is irrelevant, what we need to do is build a spectacle that people want to see.. If people simply wanted it on alphabetical grounds then play that and work with it. what we cannot find is what that "thing" actually is that gives a rivalry, and thats what makes SOO so unique in sport as a whole..

If we are going to ham fist something then the play the original international fixture of England v Other Nationalities.. we can have the best of the french along with home nations and the exiles.. at least there is some history, its almost an "origin" in that its the origin of the international game etc etc.. Its still not ideal but it might be better than what we have had..

dont be daft... Blackpool is a town .

That is the eternal issue.. we all want something like State of Origin and it may well be possible.. but so far its impossible to see how it works and how you get everyone behind it.. anything that doesnt have some sort of deep rooted pull on the fans is not going to be intense enough.. all stars matches in the US show this when it is 1 conference v another who really cares! it would be great to have but I cannot think of one other sport that has really cracked it.

well if we're going for silly ideas I'd like to bring back my idea of a true "war of the roses" where each county is aligned to either the house of York or the house of Lancaster depending on the earl/duke etc of the county/area where they were born and where that Duke/Earl aligned during the actual war.. obviously anyone from Warwickshire can pick and chose each year and are encourage to pick whichever side they think may win that year.

I would just like to see the 3 tests actually go ahead, at the moment I have very little faith that this "tour" will actually happen.. and it could collapse from either side.

well i think you'll find the international game hasnt been in such a god awful state before...

There is an awful lot of sense in what you are saying.. the only negative is the last bit you mention. If there was a way to get the 2 teams to have that strong fan pull that had proper meaning then absolutely go with it but we just dont have the defined counties that make it work in the minds of the spectators IMHO. However, I do also get what you are saying in that the same fan apathy will probably exist for this mid season international. If we could just find something that really pulls at the heart strings for people then we would be on to something, no idea what that is though to be honest.

I would guess you just arent all that bothered, which is fair enough, but its not the fact you need to download an app its that its just not appealing for you. after all downloading an app is really easy, then delete it afterwards. I am sure if it werent such a dog job of an arrangement for the match you wouldnt find it such a pain. I dont have an issue with it being on SLTV or whatever its called, though a proper channel would be better.. BUT the whole thing is rubbish and badly put together. I will support it (even if I have to pay to watch I expect) because something is better than nothing, but the RFL are just throwing money and opportunity away by arranging things so late, without proper gaps in the fixture schedule etc etc

I have already done so with my mates here, "date for the diary" as will see whether a tv channel picks it up to decide what to actually do, if on SL+ it will be beer and a BBQ at ours... they just want a beer and happy to watch RL. I may even look to go depending on my son and what he has planned with GCSEs/post GCSEs etc.

it does... sadly

Lets be equally fair that in the wider world people are probably not going to know there is a champ match on afterwards.. and that in itself speaks volumes of where we are today.. any RFL bashing is merited on much of what they do as its so unbelievably tinpot its ridiculous and the fact the wider world doesnt really know what is going on in a sport they hardly know is testament to the work/nonwork done by the RFL for the past 20+ years.

While there was quite a bit around paying it was a general "not playing to the spirit of the game" issue as they were quite violent and aggressive too. But yes the readmittance was definitely due to the threat of league.. same reasoning for not dealing with the professionalism in Welsh rugby but they knew the threat posed by league in Wales, the threat in France was relatively surprising.

yeah thats the sort of thing I remembered reading.. Absolutely ridiculous, plenty of sports clubs played other sports and they have it in their history becuase it is their, you know, history...

excellent.. and now the anticipation of the Oxen shirt launch.. assume its a one off so they can launch another one if/when we play in the autumn!