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I was at the meeting last night and a lot of credit has to go to those that have got us this far. People who genuinely love the sport and didn't want to lose it and are doing this while working full time. From a fan's perspective I just want to see a team on the pitch representing the north east, there will be bumps along the way but as long as we make it we have a team to watch!

It's an interesting narrative. The biggest team in the world in the biggest market in the world gets 18k versus Samoa, and 20k versus the Kiwis and that's all cool. England gets up to 15k and it's presented as a disaster. We were all disappointed with the England series, but I'm not sure why the Pacific Final between the Aussies and Kiwis with 13k is not being criticised as the worst international this Autumn.

This looks like good news: - Application to formalise participation in L1 being made. - Staying at Kingston Park - Chris Thorman continuing as head coach. https://www.totalrl.com/newcastle-thunder-latest-as-stadium-head-coach-recruitment-and-application-process-laid-bare/

I am, I hope, an open minded chap but looking at all that has happened recently it seems to me, in stark contrast to 6-7 years ago, that the sport has decided to essentially focus solely on where SL is played (or nearby*). If one is asked - what is the game doing to support RL in the south or Cumbria, or Wales or Scotland or London, the answer is "nothing". It seems a real disconnect that IMG were bought in to help is think about the future but we end up with a future that is a (much) narrower version of the present? Is this fair? *It feels that Broncos promotion doesn't fit the narrative and the ridiculous grading criteria, particularly in respect of catchment area, means that London is unlikely to have a major presence in the sport after next year,

It is an appalling system, the main beneficiary being the parent club, they can send players across for one or two games at the expense of the guys who have trained week in week out for the host club, unlike a proper loan arrangement where a player would come for a few weeks or ideally a whole season. It is a system that is open to abuse and should never have been introduced in the way it is at all. I disagreed with it when we did it and I am of the same opinion now.

We don't have an official definition of a test match in RL. I believe the record keepers club or whatever they're called has come up with some formulation along the lines of recognised senior men's international. As it's off-season for Catalans and Toulouse (and I believe Catalans are the last to start their pre-season), I suggest it's probably the best squad they could put out for players who are available to fly out to East Africa for a few days in December. France have explicitly said that this is not France A, or France B, it's the full France team. Kenya have won the World Rugby (sic) Sevens comp. They have some very fast & elusive runners and some huge forwards - there's plenty of potential there and it's a huge boost to get a country like France visiting. They're not likely to get that in football or rugby union. Amazing what Eddie Rombo, Lucas Onyango and other Kenyans who played RL here in the UK have been able to go back and set up. Do you think anyone in the Pacific cared that BARLA wasn't a full strength GB team when they did the tour that helped the sport get going in Tonga, Fiji, Cook Islands etc. or when the King of Tonga turned up to meet them? France had a 21 hour journey from Toulouse to Nairobi. They're playing at 1795 metres altitude, they arrived on Friday night and are playing Saturday afternoon and another game on Tuesday. We've seen GB teams struggle in PNG under similar conditions, this will be a good test for those players. I genuinely don't get the negativity around this. France beat Gibraltar 14-0 in a football European championship match this week. I don't see football fans calling the Euros a waste of time or whatever.

Of course, none of the issues lamented in the opening three posts are because of IMG but they've become the easiest stick to beat the game with I suppose. IMG were brought in specifically BECAUSE of these issues.

https://midlandshurricanes.com/news/hurricanes-warwickshireccc-partnership-announced

See, this just winds me up so much. Why tell the players they must make a genuine effort to play the ball with their foot. Why not just say you have to play the ball with your foot. This way, if a players doesn't make contact with the foot the ref can say, well at least they made an effort so apply some discretion. But now, we are already in a position where players can pretend to try and ref's are put in a difficult position again try to judge if they have tried enough. It will be two rounds of ad hoc penalties and then back to where we are now.

I suppose the Kangaroos have to find players from somewhere so they can beat NZ and Tonga.

Applied to join League one in 2026.

At this point, given the recent Tonga tour as well, it's right to ask: if the people in charge of RL were deliberately trying to run down rugby league, how would their event calendar, venue choices, match day experience etc look any different to what they are actually doing?

France are going to play Kenya, At Rugby League. In Kenya. How anyone can find this anything other than amazing in the current s***show state of international rugby league is beyond me.

You have nailed it there, I mean look at Cornwall basically being "bullied" into withdrawing from the 1895 Cup because they want to keep the sport up North. Honestly it seems like the only fans that are flying the flag for IMG as the great saviour are fans of protected Super League teams. This IMG rating is purely for the top Super League clubs and does little to help Championship and League One clubs at all. I don't see League One being here a year from now (I hope I am wrong). Telling clubs in the Championship and League One that they will never be good enough for the Super League despite winning league titles and grand finals because they don't fit into what they want the Super League to look like helps the sport how exactly? I get that in most sports you need to invest to get success however how are these ratings systems going to attract investors, how is the little help from the RFL to the lower league clubs going to attract investors?

The NH, particularly England and the RFL, need to realise the NRL don’t want or need England to be successful. Yet the RFL and England continue to chase the Australians. You can see it seeping out of the fan base on social media… Australia this, Australia that, who good was the Ashes etc etc. Times have changed. The RFL and NH RL needs to wake up before it is completely left in the abyss.

As an avowed expansionist I agree with everything you say. There is nothing wrong with continually strengthening what we have and so I stand aside cheering you on. Having said that, I don't think using expansionist clubs as an excuse is an accurate explanation of why the game is weak. The current state of the game, isn't due to money wasted on expansionist development. It's due to a crippling incompetence an arrogant self satisfied unwillingness to improve and a dog eat dog determination not to share best practice amongst their bitter rivals. Listen to all the wailing about what IMG are encouraging the clubs to do. Hopefully IMG will improve the clubs business acumen and thereby bolster their sustainability. Time will tell. Hardly any RFL effort/expertise/or money has been ''spent'' on expansion pro' clubs and even less on the amateur game (none). The ''new'' pro clubs pop into existence, funded by hapless amateurs, with a few bob in their pockets, naively eager to cash in on the ''big time''. If it wasn't so tragic, it'd be laughable. The development of the game outside the heartlands has been achieved entirely through the efforts of amateur enthusiasts who in the main, are motivated by the pure joy of being involved in a great game. Speaking plainly, there is no development plan. I'm happy with that. What we have is a tribute to all the real lovers of the game, (the Bob Browns) who have given their heart, soul and tireless efforts over many years, to build clubs in the communities they live in. If you contrast what we have here with what they have in Australia the difference is glaring. They (the Aussies) have an enormous pyramid, under NRL. The clubs at various levels are very substantial businesses in their own rights with thousands of members and playing in thriving competitions for which the only reward is pride in their local clubs and the communities they represent. We haven't got any of that. Any attempt to graduate from this rich amateur base to the NRL is subject to huge scrutiny, very detailed due-dilligence and must be congruent with a wise, forward-looking strategy, despite being very substantial entities in their own right. Look at the process the Dolphins were involved in before being accepted. We'll let any chancer in, if it seems as if he's got a few quid, whether the area he intends to operate in has any history in the game or not. Regarding real expansion here (I use Wales as an example), if we (Rugby League ''fans'') are not disparaging to our amateur pioneers we just ignore them completely. There's a kind of condescending, ''Daddy knows best'' attitude, a smirking arrogance based on their meagre achievements (to date) instead of warm heartfelt congratulations. The attitude of many posters here is one of mild embarrassment about our amateur players, clubs and structures, because their not on the telly. I'm immensely proud of our local club, that's enough for me. I say keep building the amateur game and let the ''circus'' take care of itself.

A few days late, but on the 13th of November 1954, Dave Valentine's under-rated GB side lifted the first ever Rugby World Cup in Paris.

The biggest thing it could do would be to get another French club and a Welsh club in SL. That would be the single biggest thing that could increase the talent pool for those countries. Exemptions are fine but are just scratching around the edges and with only 12 SL spots they will never make a meaningful difference.

To answer the question... a long, long time. Everyone involved with the club has an eye on the long term. It's in safe hands.

I have mentioned this, I don't understand the grading criteria. I also feel that the game has made a terrible decision signing with IMG. We do need to support areas like London / Cumbria / Yorkshire / Lancashire / North East, this criteria does not. We seem to have lost our identity about being a rugby league family. We need to strengthen what we are. We are losing a lot of fans, from traditional areas and not gaining any ones. We don't seem to have any plans for the future. We need to strengthen what we have, and not want we don't have. I do respect the views of others here, but we have been losing a lot of what we are. We are being told that there are plans, and if you see IMG and the RFL vision for the game, it's a joke. The international plans currently is also a joke. We are losing our roots.

As every day passes it appears that our game is sinking into the abyss at admin level If teams don't want to go to Cornwall just give Cornwall a bye to the next round

I still dont understand how any findings into this thinks high tackles is the main problem for concussion. Every ex pro or semi pro ive spoken to about it believe the majority they can ever remember were from either tacklers getting their heads in the wrong position, accidental head clashes (with opponents heads, knees, elbows etc) or from heads hitting the ground hard.

I do kind of feel like you're answering your own question. It's clearly very popular and in many ways intrinsically linked to RL in this country. The sub-forum in my experience covers the sport a bit more club-specific, but in my opinion, the NRL certainly has a place in the General Rugby League Forum - it's not called the British RL forum. I hope the irony isn't lost that you've just started another one btw

1. Its 2. Way 3. Too 4. Early 5. To 6. Make 7. League 8. Position 9. Predictions 10. Complete 11. Waste 12. Of 13. Time 14. HALIFAX

I seem to post this annually but it’s such a wonderful and wise initiative by Wales RL. They know their weekends are limited during the summer due to RU and football seasons. A few years back we were able to utilise the winter months to run ‘Elite’ and ‘Development’ camps during the winter for all junior players. Why? Repetition of skill will align us eventually with our English and French counterparts - playing the ball 300 times a year will make you a better player than doing it 30. These young lads now have opportunity to play year round rugby league whilst maintaining their commitments to other sports. Making it regional negates the risk of forfeited fixtures and low player numbers for individual clubs.

It's a system that holds the game back and is just pure cost cutting and short-sightedness by both the SL club and their feeder club and it damages the integrity of the Championship & League 1. If all the feeder clubs refused to pander to the SL clubs, the players would naturally filter down the pyramid anyway which would strengthen the game at lower levels rather than having SL clubs hoover up all the players. If it genuinely worked in everyone's interest, why has no "partnership" ever lasted?

Seems kind of pointless even having it if its just to be at a non marquee ground in a RL city. May as well just have a Yorkshire double header at Elland Road if they are going down this route.

Football - specifically Everton. A tenuous link to start a thread if ever there was one Might start my own thread - with Bake Off being on, it got me thinking, who has the best pastry on their pies at rugby league grounds?

Tbh, as a former supporter of one such club, it never felt like we were part of a 'family'* - except maybe in the sense of an episode of a soap where a son no one knew anything about turns up on the doorstep and inconveniences everyone. As an aside, even with all the speculation about the Challenge Cup, for now this thread strikes me as pretty poor taste. Imagine being a nascent Cornwall supporter and reading what's effectively a sweepstake on how long the club's got. *having said that, the 20 or so away fans we used to get at matches were always supportive, although the supporter of a nameless club who held court in the pub over the road from the ground, in our first season, about what an awful journey he'd had down on the M6 and why it was a joke that 'these f-ing new teams exist, and they are teams, they're not clubs, they've got no history'.... well let's just say I've got his rant still in my head over a decade on.

Cas would get 0.5 points for catchment, the likes of Toulouse and Bradford would get 1.5 points. Cas would need to improve nine league places to overcome this additional point the other two have been gifted. I'd say Cas have plenty to grumble about.

Can't agree with this at all. If Sinfield received another honour under the current government, no way would I consider that honour to be tainted. It would always be, and only be, associated with his achievements.

Well Harry. Firstly, my post wasn't to be taken entirely seriously. And secondly, the search function allows me to see that a poster named Harry Stottle did in fact mention the £450k IMG bill on the Magic Weekend thread and the London Broncos 2024 thread.

I'm always baffled by rugby league fans who want rugby league played under only exceedingly specific circumstances lest a horrible blowout occur. There are many ways the sport is held back and this cringe, reflected in our administrators, is definitely a part of the reason why. Just play.

Every time I think I hear the most depressing piece of news coming out of rugby league in this country, something comes along to top it.

Yet another wheelchair team makes its debut tonight:

I am now thoroughly convinced 'Coco' is a ChatGPT bot

That actually better than I’d expected. Well done France for going there.

It moves them to being a tenant of the same guy who owns them. That feels like a step forward, albeit not a massive one.

I say this as someone who believes that IMG grading is fundamentally okay and working from that model is the correct thing to do ... ... Everywhere I look at rugby league in England now, it's essentially at cargo cult status. The definition of a cargo cult is to do the superficial things in expectation of the thing that can never happen happening. So, a remote tribe, having observed a plane landing, believe that if they don bright jackets and wave their arms just so that a plane will come into land. Rugby league now seem to believe that if it uses the words minimum standards, or it says it wants London and France to be priority areas, or puts out a thing saying it values diversity, or that internationals are the bedrock of the game, (or countless other current examples), then those things will happen. I think, in large part, because there is a belief amongst many people within RL that other sports (rugby union, women's football have been used as examples on here) don't work hard, that they have some kind of establishment magic trick. And so it is, here, with Magic. As if just by saying here's a fun weekend for the whole RL family to enjoy, it magically becomes that. Frankly, at this point, it's embarrassing.

Dwain Chambers.

Yeah they need to be pretty careful with this. One thing that is very evident on social media when international are on the BBC are the really positive comments from RU fans and it is pretty much universal how much they think wheelchair RL is more like Rugby per se compared to the Union version. If RU teams want to play then fine but it very much needs to be made clear that they are playing RL and they need to come under that umbrella. We can't have a repeat of what has happened with the likes of Touch and Tag Rugby.

The RFL should be embarrassed by the way Cornwall have been treated re the 1895 cup it is pretty shabby but no more than I would expect.

I think if Covid hadn't have happened, Toronto would still be going purely because of Eric Perez's determination, so on that basis, they will grit their teeth and dig in.

It's nice to know that Rovers13 is still just as happy since his ban.

Classy response from Rob B on a ridiculous situation. If you are taking part in a national competition then step up to the plate and accept the fact you have to travel to Cornwall. It's the nature of being in a national competition.

This is truly embarrassing. I despair sometimes with the way the sport treats non heartlands clubs