bamfordsbeans

Despite yesterdays result and performance ,if the same sides meet in the play-offs I would back Saints. Having said that it is encouraging to see the recent efforts by Warrington and Huddersfield.

Despite the BBC covering yesterdays Hull V Leigh game(yes they had put Hull on their schedule) there was no mention of the game on their sports round up on TV this morning. However clips were shown from 3 or 4 RU games which they are not covering.

In the 80's and 90's I would say Halifax was definitely a rugby town. The performances of Fax at an atmospheric Thrum Hall backed up by a vibrant amateur game. meant the game was a major talking point in the pubs and clubs. However in the last 20 years the decline of both the professional club and the amateur game (Siddal excepted) has meant soccer is now the main sport in town.

According to the BBC its Hull v Leigh. They've even got the Hull badge on.

News like this just adds to the controversy over the IMG ratings. Bradford are relatively near the top of Championship clubs and with such an uncertain future this should certainly be taken into account. When you add in the situations with regard to Hull,Castleford and Salford there is going to be much to do to convince the paying public the game has got the most viable outcomes for the future.

Hull are lower than I expected.

Crowd at The Shay announced at 1800+.Thought there a few more in that although it was a younger audience than usual. Think Fax must have been in the schools this week dishing out a few free tickets.If that is the case don,t know if they are counted. Not a great weekend with all 8 results going to form and a lot of one sided scorelines although the 4 Championship clubs did better than 3 SL teams.

From a playing point of view a top NCL club would do a lot better than an area out of the heartlands. However I agree that would be a step backwards and just hope that a development area can provide the right kind of backing that has been sadly lacking in the games history.

Whilst the new regulations are probably the right solution in the long term,I hope the players learn quickly. The downside is that you are more likely to see 13 v 12 or 12 x 12 games as last weekend. With the number of suspensions clubs are going to need large squads.

Just got my tickets for Siddal v Wakefield. Can't remember the last time I had to queue for Challenge Cup tickets. Might have been the 1987 final.

I used to dream of us beating the Aussies. That dream has now been downgraded to just playing them.

If it goes for a quid it will be a good result in the long term for the RFL. At the moment they(and in effect the clubs) are subsidising Bradford and stock car racing.

Big battle between Halifax and Wigan to be the North's Premier Music area. Halifax have most of the above artists +Tom Jones and Status Quo. Unlike the 80's and 90's when we had some great games,this is likely to be the only way we can get one over Wigan.

Fax's capacity is around 10,000. If the Skircoat side was developed this would increase to about 13,000. In my opinion its a far better stadium for SL than the rest of West Yorkshire with the obvious exception of Headingley.

One of the biggest mysteries to me is why the boundaries of the game stopped at Wakefield in the east(Hull excepted) and didn't spread to North Lancs in the west. Areas like Barnsley,Burnley,Blackburn etc are only a few miles from our so called heartlands yet have had virtually no exposure to the professional game. Whilst soccer was obviously dominant in these areas you would have at least thought league would be the rugby of choice.