RP London

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!

joined in 1910 IIRC.. Do they not just claim that its a continuation of the same club and it just "went back to the fold"? Its been a long time since i really looked at the website and "history" etc but they certainly glossed over it when I was researching things.

Its hard to really assess that as accurate numbers were never really available. However, its also not just a straight "gates pay wages" equation either, neither is it about paying all the players etc, some didn't need it.

The working class played rugby in the south west and in the midlands etc.. they had no issue with it at all.. but they could control that better and they werent so much the "dirty industrialists of the north"..and as @hoppie said the county championship up until the great split had only been won by Yorkshire and Lancashire.. to then let them dictate that you could pay players... thats just handing them the game..

There is literally books that can and have been written on it, there is always complexity to these types of issues which make it fascinating.. In short, he says before writing a post that could end up anything but short, its a tale as old as time and its about power. The Middle/upper classes running the sport in London and the home counties did not want to lose the power. They had seen it happen in Football with the professionalism that lead to the breakaway northern centric league. The clubs causing the wrangling for these broken time payments were northern for the most part and there was an ability by the RFU to say to, what was seen as, a small number of clubs in the north to "do one" without it being a big thing and that the clubs in the north didnt have the power to actually cause as much trouble as they did. Even when the northern club broke away the general feeling in the northern clubs was that it was temporary, they really didnt think they were setting up a new sport. From then it carried on with the power struggle, teams having a blind eye turned becuase it was dangerous for the RFU to not. If they had expelled the welsh for paying players, and there is a long history of it in wales just like the north and for similar reasons, then the whole game would just have "gone north". Following them would have been a number of "border clubs" and then potentially more in the south west who were also paying broken time to miners and farmers. The "powers that be" knew what would happen if they didnt turn a blind eye to payments and it was as simple as the clubs would "go north", especially early on when the games were still so similar. You ask about travelling difficulties but the worry was that if one power house club in a region went then so did the region so the travelling wouldnt have been too much of a problem. In the end power and control, as always, was the motivator. The northern teams were strongest, the players (arguably) were the best, now you added to this money and those clubs were going to start to wrestle control from the old southern establishment and they couldnt have that. Its a tale as old as time and we can see it play out now with the RFL, SL etc and also you can see it in club RU and club Football and cricket.. why does the hundered exist? becuase the ECB wanted control over the potential money spinning format of T20 and the counties didnt want to give it to them and worked in their own interests (simplified but its the crux of it)

you seemed to have asked a question then answered it but without actually looking at the article to get the facts to be able to answer it properly... from the article quoted in the OP: "The proposed 5,000-capacity stadium will meet the highest standards for both Football and Rugby League, adhering to both Football League and Super League criteria." then "Sheffield Eagles Director of Rugby Mark Aston commented: “Sheffield Eagles are very excited to be part of this joint venture with Sheffield FC and to be at the heart of this world-class development, which at the heart will have a stadium that meets the Super League criteria to assist us in our aim to return to the top flight. " then " “With league positions making up only 20 per cent of the RFL’s Club Grading Scoring matrix, the development of facilities and the ability to improve our commercial footing and build a solid base for the community aspects of our operation are an absolute priority for us. This development gives us an opportunity to drastically improve our grading and we hope that the entire city can get behind and share in the initiative!”" I mean as detective work goes its not the hardest!

If I may be allowed to channel Nigel Farage... its the because of all of them there foreigners especially antipodeans that live in that there london..

I cannot believe that so far with all this discussion they've missed the very real worry in the UK. with the changing pattern of "readership" what is going to wrap our 382 million portions of Fish and Chips per year (source: https://www.croftstreetfisheries.co.uk/fishy-facts/fish-and-chip-facts/#:~:text=We know you love to,make a balanced%2C nutritious meal.) (Sauce: Gravy)

its all the angry banging on the keyboard in the comments sections!