COLLECTIVE ACTION REQUIRED
Over the Christmas period I watched Lawrence of Arabia, one of my favourite films.
In it, Lawrence, played by Peter O’Toole, said the following to Sherif Ali, played by Omar Sharif on their first meeting.
“So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people – greedy, barbarous, and cruel, as you are.”
I was reminded of that when reading your editor Martyn Sadler’s column in last week’s League Express (Talking Rugby League, 13 January), urging the other club owners to come to the aid of the financially stricken Salford Red Devils.
I note that none of them have made an offer to help and instead they are eager to swoop to pick out the heart of Salford’s squad to strengthen themselves and weaken the Red Devils.
So which club will be the next to need help, which won’t be forthcoming?
Until all the clubs realise that they have to work together and that the interests of the whole far exceed the interests of any individual clubs, then I’m afraid that Peter O’Toole’s words could have been aimed at our sport.
“So long as the clubs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little sport, a silly sport,” he might have said.
Meanwhile the directors of the RFL, RL Commercial and IMG sit on the sidelines, taking significant amounts of money out of the game (which it clearly cannot afford), while doing absolutely nothing to help it.
Bill Rees, Wakefield
BUSINESS ACUMEN?
Martyn Sadler thinks that if a club like Salford spends money it doesn’t have then the eleven other Super League clubs should make up the difference for them (Talking Rugby League, 13 January).
Well done and thank you to Martyn for keeping League Express going all these years.
But frankly, with such a blatant lack of business acumen, I do wonder how you have done.
Michael Swann, Bradford
SALFORD DESERVE SUPPORT, NOT PENALTIES
The RFL has advanced Salford Red Devils money that is due to them.
As well as their first team, Salford run ladies, wheelchair and disability teams and have been granted Academy status.
There are good community links that will get stronger now that Salford City Council has fully taken over the stadium.
Salford Red Devils can build on this to improve their financial situation and indeed plans have been put in place.
The club has been well run because of its financial limitations. It has been reported that Salford’s losses in 2024 were lower than any other club in the competition.
Salford have operated with one of the smallest budgets in Super League and have consistently performed well on the field and played exciting rugby.
So isn’t this the kind of club the RFL should support?
Yet Salford have been directed to sell players.
Might this blight Salford’s opportunity to bring on board new investors?
What is IMG doing to help Rugby League and drive the game forward? IMG are getting money that could go to the clubs working hard in their communities.
Salford Red Devils is a community owned club but what they lack is a rich benefactor to bail them out.
It is not right or fair that they should be penalised for their dedication to Rugby League.
Kathy Stacey, Worsley
THE FRUSTRATIONS OF BEING A FAN
It seems that a lot of Rugby League fans are in a state of depression over the long IMG contract and its ambitions for the game in the long term.
Things couldn’t get much worse following recent news regarding the two teams at the bottom of the current top 12 IMG scoring table, Huddersfield and Salford.
Depressingly for the majority of fans, this leaves a 14-team Super League as far away as ever.
The Huddersfield situation is very frustrating.
To consider moving home games to Halifax for two or three seasons comes with some element of risk. Their situation compares poorly when compared to grounds at Widnes, Toulouse, York and Doncaster.
Castleford, too, are two or three seasons away from playing on a revamped Wheldon Road. It took that amount of time for Wakefield to build their excellent new East Stand and ground improvements are still ongoing at Belle Vue.
The value of our much-reduced Sky contract also rings alarm bells.
The broadcasting of all Super League games again runs the risk of further reduced attendances. Only the keenest supporters are likely to travel to away games when you can watch your team’s games in the comfort of your own home or down at the pub.
Games being played on different days, especially Thursday and Friday nights, doesn’t help. What incentive is there for fans to turn out? The short answer is not a lot.
Our game has some fantastic players and they deserve a much wider nationwide audience. I think this a priority to our long-term viability as a full-time professional sport.
It’s certainly a challenging time for many of our clubs and those with owners with deep pockets are lucky, although that is another story.
Richard Steel, Hull
RETIREMENT THE WRONG POLICY
I realise it’s unbecoming of me to feel a little smug at Hull KR’s decision to ‘unretire’ the club’s number 6 jersey.
But back when they first did so I suggested that it was a mistake.
Young kids and, indeed, professional players, aim to make such jerseys their own. They know the great players who have graced them previously and want to emulate them.
Removing that opportunity makes no sense.
There were so many ways Hull KR could have respected the legacy of Roger Millward, one of our sport’s finest players.
While it was done with the best of intentions, withdrawing his number 6 shirt wasn’t one of them.
Obviously I can’t speak on his behalf, but I suspect Roger would be pleased to see that a player of the quality of Mikey Lewis will now fill his boots.
Hopefully no more clubs will be tempted to ‘retire’ their most iconic jerseys.
Michael O’Hare, Northwood, Middlesex
A WELSH PERSPECTIVE
I write firstly to applaud Michael O’Hare and your correspondent Peter Wilson for their impassioned defences of the Great Britain Lions tradition and concept (League Express, 16 December).
As a proud Welshman myself, I feel little short of embittered by the short-sighted decision of (presumably) the RFL to abandon the wonderful legacy of previous Rugby League Lions. I question exactly what alleged ‘commercial considerations’ were behind this.
On that subject, a visit to a large Leeds branch of a national chain store earlier today revealed several racks of Union Lions merchandise, all face on to prospective buyers with only a slightly bedraggled looking side-on rack of Rhinos jerseys to compare.
That says it all, really!
Stuart Stanton, Leeds
HOW TO ORGANISE THE CUP
The definition of a match is a person, team or thing that is equal to another in quality or strength.
But that is not true of the third round of the Challenge Cup.
The first round of the Challenge Cup should comprise all the Super League teams plus the top four of last season’s Championship.
All the others can be in the 1895 Cup, with both finals on the same day at Wembley.
And for that suggestion the RFL can owe me £10,000.
Michael Leather, Warrington
