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From TRL's own Rugby League Heroes - Colin ‘Buck’ Armstrong is one of the great Cumbrian players of the last 50 years. Three times he faced the Kangaroos and twice he captained Workington at Old Trafford. Professionally, he started out at Carlisle before making a name for himself in the top division with Hull Kingston Rovers. Battling for most of his career with type-1 diabetes, he was a central figure in Workington rising through the divisions in the mid-1990s before spells at Swinton and Whitehaven. He later took up coaching and refereeing.

Doom Bar on board:

Keep it up Phil. You never fail to disappoint.

Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you get everything you wish for. Let's hope for a great new year. Thank you to everyone for your good wishes, especially @The Rocket and @Sports Prophet and for your correspondence this year, please keep at it? Thanks to the NRL and SuperLeague for showing the world, what a great game RL can be.

No, the yawnion teams came to covid infested U.K. and France and the games got played. Their rationale was, some in the U.K. are still getting covid so hey we may get it, and we need rest before the all important pre season games, oh and we don't run the RLWC so no thanks. Perhaps Covid will all be gone by October 2022, see you then. Unless the NRL hire clairvoyants who knew Omicron was coming, and then of course didn't tell anyone.

Merry Christmas, whether you like it or not.

Oh my goodness that was immense, buttered crown of chicken, pork with garlic and truffle butter, roast and mashed potatoes carrots and peas. Struggling to move now. Did the usual dishing up at the local homeless centre at dinner time. I find that apart from a hot meal and some clean new clothes lots of homeless people just really appreciate someone sitting and chatting with them

At the risk of drawing mass reprisal, it would appear, had the 2021 RLWC gone ahead and in hindsight, only shear luck would have saved the tournament from being incomplete. Omicron could very easily have invaded the UK a month earlier and as we can see, the outcome is mass cancellation of major sporting fixtures. So with that firmly in mind… Is the NRL’s and NZRL’s decision not to take part in 2021 now justified?

Not in Cornwall it doesn’t. Cornwall still gets it from the brewery in Rock (as does Devon) - everyone else gets Doom Bar from Burton on Trent…

That only became apparent after the stops though. Mercedes couldn't risk that Max was able to undercut them, so you pit to keep track position. Track position is king - anybody who has followed the sport for a second knows this.

UTR Here’s to a happy, successful and healthy 2022

Merry Christmas and best wishes to all, let's hope 2022 is our year! UTR.

Yeah Merry Christmas @The Rocket, there’s just too many days between sport in the Summer. Bring on footy season, Up Up Cronulla, Go Dragons (as long as they finish below the Sharks) and good luck to you @Graham, @fighting irish and all else. SP

G`day Graham if you don`t mind I`ll put something under the Christmas tree, a little something I`ve had in my favourites file for a few months now. @fighting irishyou posted elsewhere " the cat`s out of the bag now " - which BTW I love that expression - what was the cat doing in the bag anyway ? about to go for a swim I expect but any way I digress - you were referring to Rugby League and the internet age and I`ll put this up as the sort of thing I think you`re referring to. It`s got it all. Happy Christmas to you and your family. @Sports Prophet gotta love those Sharkies, I expect they`re in for a big year - there`s the kiss of death for you - but anyway mate happy Christmas and a prosperous new year. Happy Christmas all. Match Highlights: Broncos v Sharks - NRL

I love Christmas, and especially this time, when I get to see my family for the first time in two years. We never really do much, just enjoy being in each others' company.

That seems to me to be a very good move. Well done BOD.

I've seen it on most social media about the game cancelled, twitter, Facebook, this forum. Club has been closed since Thursday and we're inbetween media people since Owen's defection to a small village in the corner of Wakefield There is enough mediums "Facebook, TotalRL forum, twitter" To optain upto date info other than relying on a website that's not kept upto date by our current media team

“Merry Christmas one and all”

Kind regards of the season to those folks over't hill.

I’ve just never been a party person, but if my grandkids want too play Mousetrap, Uno or any board game i’ll play for hours with them. But going to work do’s with zany work mates who find the likes of Mrs Brown’s Boy’s funny just isn’t for me, id just end up committing mass murder.

My crackling has crackled, all is well with the world

No, I don't think you're antisocial either, JK, but I bet there are some antisocial types on here who think that you are...! Happy Christmas everybody!

Ray Illingworth. Yorkshireman. Top bloke

Come on , ‘that bloke’ is the legendary legend Buck Armstrong

Massive blow for the Skolars, Ok it can be re-arranged and Wigan Under 20's is probably a more attractive opponent but the success of the HAC is predicated ion it being the "pipe-opener" to the season. Playing it on a Friday in March prior to the Championship one season starting but with Super league and the Challenge Cup already underway does not have the same appeal. Bearing in mond London is a COVID hotspot (lets not go off topic eh) Does this mean that the London Chargers Challenge Cup game due on Saturday 15th January is still going ahead or being switched to Cumbria. ?

Shame....and no I am not going to say 'it's understandable' as it isn't

Merry Christmas all!

Made the paté and stuffing yesterday. Roasters par boiled early on to go in hot duck fat later. Sausages made for my PIB. Bread rolls proven and about to go in t'oven. D-day took less co-ordinating but as long as everyone stays well away from the kitchen it'll go like clockwork. Last thing I need on Christmas day is "help" or advice. Just bug ger off and have another advocaat

Merry christmas to Bears fans the world over…we all know the bears are everyones second favourite team! (Well apart from a few drifters from the northern beaches).

I have much to say about this but don't want to begin thread drift. There are other threads that this can be added to, there is a conspiracy theories thread elsewhere and also a coronavirus political thread elsewhere too.

I am a season ticket holder. BUT I'm of an age, and couldn't access the programmes. Sorry Dave, I'm not tech savvy, I couldn't download them.. I can remember 40 years ago. But I can't remember my password. Make it so I don't have to think too much.

Merry Christmas everybody, even jameaters! I'll never forget our play off final, let's hope 2022 holds more good memories. But more importantly I hope everyone stays safe and we can find some way of putting this virus to bed in 2022. All the best everyone and UP THE TOWN!

To all my fellow TRLers hope you all have a great Christmas and hopefully a much better 2022

Nigel Farage's favourite beer. Excellent.

Would be great to get a couple of big good uns like Mr Armstrong and Mr Pickering to grace DP in them next year.

Merry Christmas to all capers where ever you maybe and a prosperous 2022

High hops for this partnership

Many thanks for your kind wishes. All the best to you and yours too. Stay safe, and my sincere Christmas Wish is that you come second in the League, right behind Oldham. And second in the Law Cup too, obv.

I felt upbeat until I came here … Merry Christmas !

I’ve bought someone who has had a very bad time recently a gift voucher to privately walk alpacas with her partner around an estate near Derwent water. They love alpacas, llamas etc and will be made up I feel, so I can’t wait to see their face. I’m looking forward to that more than anything else this Christmas and of course a break from work. PS I have no idea if alpacas can swim.

On the other hand I have no such qualms.

Ethan Kelly been doing preseason with barrow. Barrow have a lot of forward options. If yous are light in the front row I imagine he'd be a handy option for yous.

I`d imagine for thousands of years folk would have become expert in calculating how many stock they could go into winter with, the number being largely determined by the success of the harvest that year. Not much different to farming now of course. Just like the women would have known exactly how much everyone got to eat each day ( given the amounts they had stored ) to see them through the winter and until they could start to forage again when the weather allowed. It would be a very poorly organised community that allowed itself to run out of food and have to start to rely on eating their breeding stock but yes no doubt some animals were probably marked down for slaughter to see them through that time.

Some salient points made there. Speaking as an ex-RNRL player, the demise of Field Gun worked slightly in our favour as our inaugural year coincided with its sad departure, this freed up a lot of dyed-in-the-wool FG types to give RL a try (many were union biased previously) or, particularly for the lads who emanated from the RL heartlands, we were finally given the chance to play the sport we loved and grew up with - which was the perfect compensation for losing the best service competition ever created. Bitter/sweet really.

Can you fly there direct from Keighley though? They can’t be expected to travel all the way to Leeds/Bradford airport.

I think the Oxford ‘project’ would have been part of this as I believe all you say was around 2012 onwards, joining L1 the next year. They would have been part of this strategy. https://www.rugby-league.com/uploads/docs/RFL-Rugby League Strategic Plan 2014-2021.pdf Then should have been part of this, below, after the merger, which was issued after the 2018 RFL ‘ mid term ‘review’. https://www.rugby-league.com/uploads/docs/RFL STRATEGY EXTERNAL.pdf These ‘Strategic plans’ have never given enough information, of refer to, on how goals are actually achieved or long term strategy is prepared or even delivered. It would have been better, if the conclusions (I think at least 1 was) were made public as well. This detail isn’t wholly available to us mere mortals afaik. Transparency? It just goes to show, especially given the current status in the game between RFL and SL, there isn’t enough money allocated or a detailed, long term plan for development. This is why, in another thread, I mentioned that development areas need to be discussed down to the fine details necessary, to identify the essential requirements and resources needed for a strategy and key, achievable benchmarks and monitoring processes.

I got you fam...