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Hi, Thanks for sharing this article on this site. The Critic is a new political magazine and after I approached them with my idea for the piece they ran it straight away. I would be grateful if people could share it on social media pages and with fellow League/politically minded people. Hopefully it will gain some traction and encourage other magazines to run features on the sport. In the 1990s we used to feature in many of the Sunday mags and we could certainly do with broadening the debate about our identity. Also if any of you have any comments/criticism/ideas for future topics I'd be delighted to here from you. The identity crisis facing 'the people's game' and the 'people's party' is something I am eager to explore further My site is https://tidesofhistory.wordpress.com and can be contacted on anthonybroxton19@gmail.com Thanks for your support, Anthony (TOH)

The following email has just dropped into my inbox and I thought some forum members might be interested: QUOTE: "Just dropping in to say that The Rugby Codebreakers is being broadcast again on Sunday - it's on BBC 1 Wales but can be viewed in England, details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_One_Wales Programme details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_One_Wales It'll be on iPlayer for 30 days following transmission. Please pass on to anyone who may be interested - especially if they haven't seen it! Stay safe and very best wishes from Wales Alan Golding" Thanks for that Alan (if you ever visit our Totalrl.com forum). I'm going to watch it on Sunday, feet up and a nice hot cuppatea.

I've never heard of The Critic, but.... https://thecritic.co.uk/the-new-political-battleground/ Apologies if 1. It's already been posted 2. Folk think it's too "political" for this forum. I thought it was worth a read at least.

Jonathan Liew isn't a dedicated RL journalist, but when he covers the game, he rarely disappoints.

You sir have just become a superhero spice man we salute you.

While I think you are possibly right about the accountability, I disagree on the repeat infringements. Teams were committing tactical penalties when defending their line... either to buy some time for a reset defence or to concede 2 points rather than 4/6. These penalties were committed as the defence was under massive pressure, this pressure would only increase if the attacking team had 12 or 18 attempts. My feeling is this will reduce repeat infringements.

Love my visit's to the LSV , free on site parking , cracking pub on site , great fan's , covered seating or standing what's not to like.

https://www.raidersrugbyleague.co.uk/post/raiders-show-support-to-community-clubs subject to application and certain conditions being met (I do wonder what those are as this quote intrigued me...) FWIW - it’s no secret that links aren’t great between WWR and the majority of the amateur clubs. As the only professional rugby league club in South Wales we have a duty to help where possible and we hope in return the clubs will help support us build for the future

Messing about at the ruck - 6 more tackles rather than a penalty. TJ replaced with Referees (I’m presuming existing TJs will now be doing Refs quals) which will improve identification of wrestling and slowing the ruck down. https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/05/13/commission-makes-call-one-ref-plan-finalised-for-2020/

I think you need to read/view from a variety of places to get an overall perspective from a plurality of sources across the political spectrum - no single journalist or commentator is foolproof. It takes time and effort to do this though and many don’t bother. Only taking news from a single source usually leads to blind spots particularly as people tend to gravitate to something that reinforces their own prejudices.

Or a Wigan ,Hull or Huddersfield , or a wedding venue like London even

Well my self employed income support scheme went well today!!!! Over the moon with that, big wraps to the government for looking after us self employed.

Give me Wakefield or Cas any day over a soulless ground like Leigh or Salford.

Will the two countries play under different social distancing rules ? ie: England will be able to tackle the Welsh, while Wales will still want to maintain a 2m gap from other people ....... actually, that's just like it is when they face each other in a normal match. ?

There’s a very interesting interview on both the Chasing Kangaroos and Rugby League in America podcasts this week, with the CEO of Valencia Hurricanes and the CO of the Italian RL about setting up a European tournament. Cup to start in 2021 and league in 2022, with a draft system to help weaker teams out. Sounds promising, it will be great if it happens. It’s worth actually listening to it before you wade in and criticise them though Luddites.

A great opportunity to buy some obscure merchandise if this proposal gets started.

I might add that I'm not ashamed to say that I was very emotional watching some parts of it. Superb documentary.

I have just watched a fascinating interview on the BBC with a Prof from the London School of Tropical Medicine who has headed up a team in Italy which has been testing the population of the village where the first death from Covid took place (and they believe the first case arrived in Italy in early January). The team tested 71% of the population with swab tests as the virus was progressing through the village followed up with antibody testing. Their results are showing that those who were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms did not produce antibodies (as there was no tissue injury) but those with the serious form of the disease did. They are of the belief (I can't remember how sure of that belief they are) that there is a percentage of the population which has a natural immunity to the disease (the asymptomatics and those with mild symptoms) and they are exploring whether there is a genetic factor at play. They do not yet know whether this apparent natural immunity would stop people from becoming infected a second time (I doubt any country wants to explore that possibility). Did anyone else see the interview? My language is not exactly scientific but hopefully I communicated the gist of it.

Here you go sir! It's the most recent one (episode 14) https://anchor.fm/outlawedrlpodcast Exact episode: https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xMTg4NmQxYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw&ep=14 (I used Google play podcasts but it's on most platforms)

See, you're all missing Watersheddings now aren''t you ? ?

I hope they fill the 10! Eric Perez was on the Outlaw Rugby league podcast today and said the have over 100 applicants for the trials already, it was a good listen!

time to tell the kids- "when the ice cream man is playing those tunes it means the van is empty "

Interesting attempt to start developing relationships with the community game, my local team the Rhondda Outlaws (who aren’t based in the Rhondda!) tweeted enthusiastically about this, but like WM i would be interested to know the conditions.

There is a gentleman who on occasion graces these pages with the most thoughtful insights available to the world of rugby league. He is a much respected poster and it's certainly interesting to listen to his views. He goes by the name of parksider.

As I say though, I think when this plays out, it won't be the small semi pro clubs that take much of the money but the Superleague and those right on the cusp. It won't be Hunslet, Keighley, Doncaster, Workington etc. If you're just 25 semi pro guys and a rental agreement then mothballing is easy. Whether they should get central money in future is another question, but as far as the emergency loan goes, I don't actually think there's a mismatch here.

Felt great doing my new weights session today. A change in training is really beneficial, especially when you start to go through the motions a little.

We have always had 6 again for a penalty but that has been by choice, either take a quick tap or make ground by kicking into touch which is most definatley preferable if you are in your own half and especially moreso if it is favourably windy conditions, but if you were in your opponents 20meter area you would most likely elect for 6 again. Are teams still going to have a choice to kick or do they have to take 6 again no matter what area of the field the opposition is penalised. And as RL says above, what if two points by kicking a goal is preferable.

Suppose the attacking team are one point behind with not much time left ? They might prefer to have a chance of two points rather than another six tackles and then still not score.

Some local info for those living up that way

that's because its attractive compared to anything else in the area.? ??

Could be a good way to check if you've had it until a quick antibody test comes along. "Just take a bite of this Carolina Reaper Mr Sidestep..." ?

Where’s the money coming from for all of this? It’s a great idea in principle but unless there’s serious funding, I’m not sure how feasible it actually is.

Hmmmm! Let's see where this goes. We've heard of similar grandiose plans many, many times, but at the moment I'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt. I guess it all hangs on TV coverage, get that and sponsorship could follow.

The quite funny one is that Liverpool in the Premier League are obviously advocating that the season must go ahead and conclude. It's only fair. Meanwhile, Liverpool in the Women's Super League want the season voided for safety reasons. You'll never guess the position of Liverpool women's team.

I like the idea of the six-again rule rather than stopping play for a penalty. It should improve game flow and discourage players to slow down play at the ruck. One benefit of messing around at the ruck is so that the team can reset after a penalty is rewarded - this removes that benefit ?

The draft system is a really interesting concept and IMHO could work. As I understand it from the Podcast, the 2021 season will consist of 8 teams before expanding to a greater number for the 2022 season. For the 2021 season there will 36 draftees and to try to bring greater evenness between the quality of the teams the 4 so called weaker teams will have 5 draftees and the 4 stronger graded teams will have 4 draftees each. The draftees will come from anywhere in the world. You could have amateurs/semi pro players from the European nations involved plus from Tier 1 to Tier 3 nations and those with observer status relishing the opportunity to live in another country and play the game they love. My concern is that the people behind this have no link to the RLEF Board and although they would welcome the RLEF to be part of this it would be typical of RL if there was disagreement and rivalry. P.S I wish I was 21 again I would jump at the chance to put my name forward for consideration.

Naming and shaming by HMRC is not something that they do lightly, so I question that the naming and shaming of these clubs was down to a "test case". This is a step HMRC takes when there is a systematic breach of the regulations. But whether or not the breach was due to an interpretation (and as an accountant, Carter really should know his onions here), it doesn't make it OK. The fact that any club, Wakefield, St Helens, Huddersfield (who are also on that list) or otherwise, felt that they could play fast-and-loose with the interpretation of the law speaks volumes about how much they value their players and staff. Make no mistake, the fact that Michael Carter would pay his players and staff less if he could speaks volumes about how much he values their contribution to the business. It's not unfair to look at his comments in the media recently and draw the conclusion that he wants to see already underpaid players shoulder even more of the burden for the game's financial issues - and not just those related to COVID-19. What he never seems to call out is the failure of his sales and commercial teams - it is always an attack on the players for daring to want things such as a shorter playing season. If Leeds have indeed been caught up by the same issue, I apply that same criticism to them as well. However, I've not seen any evidence linking Leeds CF&A to a minimum wage breach that has forced them to be name and shamed. I'm sure you'll be able to provide that evidence in no time at all.

It's interesting cos it kind of mirrors what has happened in Australia. Apart from Labor in QLD, nationally Labor has courted AFL with leaders coming out espousing their team colors, poured lots of govt money into AFL & virtually ignored RL. In contrast the last 4 or 5 LNP (Conservatives) leaders (Howard, Abbott, Turnbull, Morrison) have come out & let the public know who they follow in the NRL, were seen at games, given the NRL massive funding for stadiums & even gave $50 million plus in grants for centres of excellence. Apart from Rudd, we had Gillard & Shorten (Labor has gone thru less leaders than the LNP last decade or so) but they were AFL lackies to the hilt

Stop being unkind ...... to the one in the photo !

Works in SL

Just to clarify for the avoidance of doubt - all players are receiving all of their contract money. There isn’t an issue so please stop making one up that isn’t there.

...... just remember that it is 50 years ago - at the end of the 1969-70 season - that Oldham finished 29th in the one-division league set-up of 30 clubs and were only saved from being in bottom place by virtue of having a better points difference than Blackpool Borough. In fact, having lost 20 consecutive league matches since their last win on 1st November, it was only a somewhat remarkable 9-7 home success (only their sixth league win of the season) in their very last match of the season at home to Batley - who themselves finished 17th and would have been in the top 16 play-offs with a win at Watersheddings - which prevented Oldham from ending at the foot of the table. That is the lowest league position an Oldham team has ever finished in their history and completed a dramatic downward turn in their fortunes. They had finished top of the table in both 1957 and 1958 and were still there on Christmas Day 1958 but then started to slip down and eventually finished 4th at the end of the 1958-59 season. A few seasons later a two-division system was organised for the start of 1962-63 and which saw Oldham relegated at the end of that season. Yet despite winning the Division 2 Championship and reaching the Challenge Cup semi-finals the following season, they continued to slide and - with the one-division set-up having been reinstated - it was less than 12 years since them being top of the table that they saw themselves at the bottom of the 30-team competition. Yet, as swift as was their demise came an ever quicker revival. It often takes something of a disaster to kickstart a new beginning and at the end of that disastrous 1969-70 season saw a takeover of the club committee with nine new members being elected under the leadership of former Rochdale Hornets' chairman Arthur Walker. However, although the following season saw Oldham gradually improve their league status, midway through the 1971-72 campaign saw them still towards the bottom end of the table and having won just five of their twenty-one matches ...... and then it happened ! Oldham played away at Barrow on New Year's Day 1972, but while at the ground Arthur Walker had taken the opportunity to have talks with the Barrow officials about the possibility of signing one of their players; a 32 year old Cumbrian forward who had played for several clubs and was known, let's say, not to shy away from confronting the toughest of opponents. That player was Frank Foster, who duly played his first game for Oldham away at Whitehaven on 15 January 1972 ... a match which Oldham won and then went on to win 11 of their remaining 12 league games (only losing 15-16 away to Warrington) and finishing 13th. The only other match lost in that period was a 6-8 defeat in the Challenge Cup against St.Helens - a team to whom they had lost both league games prior to Foster's signing by 0-28 and 2-50. The following season (1972-73) saw Oldham undefeated in their opening eight league games and on 29 September 1972 were in first position of the Rugby League table .... less than 18 months after being the 29th club out of 30. Eventually they finished 9th but had achieved a draw against St.Helens as well as wins against Wigan, Hull, Salford, Warrington ... and Great Britain. So from 25 December 1958 it had taken Oldham less than 14 years to go from top to bottom and back to the top again ... so if anyone ever says to you that Oldham RL have no chance of ever making it back to the top, just remind them - and continue to have the faith inside yourself - of how quickly fortunes can change.

Well, that thread went very nice & friendly. ?? Cheers fellas.

I thought you'd be a bit bigger. Who's the old bloke holding you?

This was it ..... although more often like this ...... even on midsummer's day

I remember Norm Brown telling me a story where someone said to Alva "your not the quickest player in RL you know" and Alva said "I know, our kid is!"

Do you honestly think anyone would be looking at you (and Goosey) while we are ripping off hearftofGold's skirt ?

Ryan Girdler did ok. 10 NSW SOO games 14 Test Caps. There would be plenty of players that would like to be as underrated as he was.

7th May 1927 ... 93 years ago today since Oldham last won the RL Challenge Cup (and last played in the final). https://orl-heritagetrust.org.uk/game/oldham-v-swinton-1235/ Some footage of the 1927 final ...

Can’t just sit around waiting for it to go away forever, dude. It’s not about preventing infection anyway, it’s about ensuring the NHS can cope, which it has. And if Boris forgets that, well, I’m sure Uncle Rupert & the other media barons will remind him as the numbers continue to drop. We can’t let our economy and sport die out of fear.