Leaderboard

When I arrived in London from Oz in 1980 I picked up a copy of the Australasian Express to discover there was a RL club called London Colonials nearby. A phone call was answered by an Englishman, Gordon Anderton, who was Chair of the London Amateur Rugby League( just 5 clubs) but was also doing all the admin for the transient Colonials One thing led to another and Hemel joined the London League that grew to three divisions of 27 teams under Gordon's management (such was the influence of the newly arrived Fulham RLFC). Over the years I admired Gordon's commitment to the sport in London at all levels but it was at grassroots level where he was at his best. I always thought that every grassroots club needed at least one Gordon Anderton My final meeting with Gordon was in London Colonial's clubhouse (the basement of a pub overlooking the Thames) after Hemel's Southern Counties Cup victory over London Colonials in 1997 at the Hurlingham Stadium( more used to international quoquet matches than RL) when we shared thoughts on life etc. We both had identical heart problems - mine had been operated on a couple years previously to allow me to write this today but Gordon - who was significantly older- was denied the operation and was dead within a year. After Gordon's death the Gordon Anderton Memorial Trophy appeared but quickly disappeared. It would be nice if it was resurrected to permanently acknowledge the founder of RL in London

Why ?? Thompson would come back as a Marquee player and would only cost £75K on Saints SC. Releasing Bell and not replacing Grace would easily cover that.

The quota system is a mess which really needs an overhaul & a reduction in overseas places,fair play to Leigh but the fact that Lam is now classed as fed trained after playing a few games for St Pats U8s is a joke,so finding another loophole in the system wouldn’t be a shock.

It has been confirmed by the club RFL have granted quota exemption, but as Harry says we're still at 8 with Nene not going to Leeds as initially expected. The comments from DB in response to the quota issue suggest there may be a reassessment of the operational rules going on at the moment as he hinted at possible changes coming. I don't blame the club for seeing what advantages it can squeeze out of the current rules. Saints very much opened the door in that regard when it came to the Knowles appeal technicalities.

I am actually enjoying it, I just tend to have reading binges rather than a 'steady' reading regime and at some point will likely read the rest in a couple of sittings - annoys the heck out of Mrs S that I can go to bed and sleep without reading at least a few pages! PS we're currently moving our bookcases to a different room and I've come across 2 other books that are also only half read, one started around 1974 and the other on holiday in 1989. Might have to start them again......

We can dream Edited lol.

Ridy re signs. Coincidentally he's the same age as David Topliss was when played for us, and also same age as Fordy when he was player coach. Good re-signing in my humble opinion.

It’s not really prying when they put it out for everyone to read and see is it.

Nope, nor Facebook, nor any other prying into others folks lives sites

As you know, I finished them earlier this year and they instantly became my favourite series ever. I've never been able to find the words to truly reflect how much I love these stories. Reading them certainly did change my life to a small degree. I rediscovered my love of reading. In the preceding 10 years or so I'd maybe read about 2 books a year at most. I'd really stopped caring about reading despite never having a book or a pen out of my hand when I was a kid and a teenager. I read all 20 Aubrey-Maturins in approximately a year and since finishing them a couple of months into this year (if I remember rightly), I've read the first 15 Sharpe novels. I'm reading a book every 2 weeks or so and it's all because of Patrick O'Brien and his scintillating stories that I could just not put down. So keep going Mark because I've read about 20 books in the period between you reading just a few of these! (I know you said you were reading other books between the Aubrey-Maturins!)

Have you read his twitter feed

98 man squad haha

Fullback - Morgan Wing - Ah Van Centre - Hartley Utility Back - Paga Half back - Ridyard Prop - Hooker - Slater Second Row - Cameron, Thornton Loose Forward - Whittel Squad = 9

He played for 3 years at st pats

Just finished book 16 of the Aubrey-Maturin series. I only have four more left having started in July 2021, alternating with other books. My temptation is to race through the last four as they are so engrossing, but I ought to make them last. Terrific series of books.

Very good player . In his prime he was up there with the best . And teak tough

Saints are a super successful club and that can mean players may play for less than they can get elsewhere, this happened at Leeds when they were going through their successful period.

When the last declared Marquee list was released last year don't remember Saints having any players on that list

Would certainly need some “creative” accounting.

Just had a quick look through the operational rules and it does state this "A Super League's club's register and any declared 21 man squad for a match must have a maximum of 7 players who are not either (a) federation trained or (b) academy juniors. So that reads to me that you cannot register more than 7 non fed trained players. Loaned out players are still registered to the parent club surely?

Seems odd to me and against the spirit of the quota. I don't think match day squads has ever come into it - I could be wrong but Im surprised if that's the case its not happened before.

Yep, Salford have asked about Bell but Saints will only release him if they can bring in a replacement. They're trying to bring Thompson back from the NRL, so I guess if they manage that then they'll release Bell.

Yeah, Severarararararuvuvuvuvuvuvu lavuvuvuvuvurararararararararararuvuvuvuvuvuvuvuvuvu......jnr.

What makes you say that, that wasn't true 2 years ago?

The new German made version of All Quiet On The Western Front is on Netflix from this weekend. Received some great reviews.

Any news on Moi Moi and Sheridan ? The Rochdale duo

JK played him in a game early in the season when he wasn't fit and carrying the knee injury. Came off injured having made the injury worse and missed the rest of the season. There was a lot of rumours that he was going to retire bit thankfully he's made a recovery after what I understand was a complex Op and has signed on for next season. Hopefully an injury free season for him next year

Yorkshire cycling legend Brian Robinson. Brian Robinson: First Briton to win Tour de France stage dies at age of 91

Well done, Ireland. The rain may have helped but setting that total game them a chance and England failed to bat well enough. England have been all of the place recently in white ball. I wasn't expecting them to win the tournament, but as T20 is a lottery made worse by rain being around, it's still possible. It's a great format for bringing on developing countries and it's clearly more popular than the other formats with the general public.

Conor Fitzsimmons has now joined the Knights on a 2-year deal.

You don’t need reconnaissance to find out that sort of info, waste of resources. Just check Wikipedia or something.

Given Bradford openly said they were having to cut back this year, where have they suddenly found the money for the signings of Walker, Thompson and allegedly Prior? Or are Leeds part subsidising these players, as I suspect