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The pathway continues to work in a very frosty south Wales. Today, East Wales and West Wales had their annual clash at U14 and U16 level. Though this fixture has been in place for a long time, the switch to winter a few years back has worked wonders. It has meant players have had additional RL sessions in east and west Wales after their RL season has finished. The motive here was to get young men playing and learning more rugby league than ever, all the while doing so in WRL’s own system. The Welsh U16s coach Paul Berry oversees a lot of this work alongside Salford Red Devils.

So more people see it? Do you also think all WC threads should have been on the international forum?

To be fair the Broncos are the ones who bought up IMG in their press release making out from my reading these were IMG ideas. As a lapsed Broncos fan gonna take more than a bloke in a mingy outfit and overpriced burgers to get me making a 150 mile round trip

I don’t think there is a better candidate

Well I thought the referee was atrocious. The second penalty wasn't even his decision and apart from France scoring their first goal after a foul and numerous ignored fouls on Saka he was pants Oh and yeah, I'm fairly neutral here and when England are beaten by a better side, I'll happily admit it. I don't think they were tonight though. Now to get behind Croatia. A great place with lovely people.

I think when we are ill, or a family member is, and we need a paramedic or a surgeon desperately, that is when their value is appreciated. All of us will need medical workers in our lives. We don't really need footballers. Additionally, we don't need to pay them so much as there are many who would play for free. Fans like myself who support lower clubs don't worry if we aren't seeing the best players.

Surely the club should be asking Dredgie99 and all the others this really simple question? They'd have to listen to some uncomfortable home truths but I bet they could re-engage 1 in 5 with the right approach. And it would be very cheap to do.

England have beaten New Zealand in two series, beaten Fiji, Samoa, PNG, Tonga and PNG in the past five or so years.

Until England have a player for each position playing week in week out in the NRL then the chances of competing against the SH on anything other than a one off game are a pipe dream. Who cares who coaches them you should all be more interested in who is currently coaching the next generation

One thing that strikes me is that people will look on admiringly at the Morroco or Argentina fans and compliment them on their passion and love for their team. But when England fans get behind their team to the same extent, it's 'jingoism' or 'little Englanders'. And yes, these sides have fans causing trouble too. I suppose it's just a bit of self loathing or something.

Surgeons save lives mate,not kick a bag of wind around. I just find it difficult to justify paying that type of money for doing that. It's ridiculous,but if folk are daft enough to pay it then more fool them,my money is too hard earned. It's ok not to understand a person's way of thinking because you may not know them. But everyone is entitled to their opinion and that's what makes this forum a fantastic place to be. Opinions are great and we are truly lucky to be able to voice them,some in the world aren't that lucky. All the best for Christmas and New Year

I firmly believe Wane is a very good coach. You certainly would struggle to get someone more patriotic than him. He has my vote 100%. We have some cracking young players and Wane will bring them on in the England set up.

Makes me laugh the way grown men bawl and cry like a little girl whose barbie doll's head has just fell off, just because they lost a football match. It's a game, nobody has died. Be disappointed yes, but have some self-respect.

Good performance from us in the main , certainly in the second half , but Roy Keane nailed it . Top level sport is about winning and the teams used to winning things win . Same with the Kangaroos . Maybe they don’t look fantastic all the time but the best teams more often get the job done . Small margins , but they end up on the right side

Does it matter?

Growing up in Cardiff, anything west of Cowbridge was west Wales, anything past Swansea was considered far-west Wales.

Play zone and food truck/s. This is a “groundbreaking strategy” which I expect will result in a return of 5k fans and an on field standard worthy of SL promotion.

I like the idea of some of these Welsh games being played in winter. While having summer Rugby League may mean more players due to some Union kids playing League in their off season, anyone looking to play representative Rugby League on a Saturday in December is serious about the sport. We have to balance potential numbers with developing genuine League talent who have been coached in League throughout their junior years.

There's loads of examples if we are going beyond the initial point of players not taking money playing for their country. Wilfred Zaha gives 10% of his salary to charity which is 13k a week. Raheem Sterling made a substantial donation to the Grenfell survivors. Mason Mount had done a fair bit of charitable work. Countless others do as well and I'm sure many do so anonymously.

Hit the nail on the head in regards to my views and thats why I can't stand Football, Pop Music and Hollywood these past long 25 years...add Lager to the mix as well. Rugby, Ale, Jazz and Radio 3 is for me these days alongside YouTube for old stuff.

Thanks. sounds promising and good to hear Toulouse are producing French talent.

Hasn’t it already been explained to you already mate? you’re a self declared intelligent man, work it out.

No, its not terrible…its far worse than terrible, particularly for a club with a history of great shirts.

I'm not worried, I asked a very simple question. The replies I got imply worry.

They literally just have with men’s, women’s and wheelchair RLWC across all of the BBC for several weeks.

oh no - please - i hope no one who makes tv programmes is reading this or - 8 retired ex footballers have 8 weeks to learn how to take out a gall bladder with the winner been named soccer surgeon champion 2023

I think the closest we had was Gazza, no one is near yet, maybe Foden given time but even then its not likely imo. That sort of talent can lift a 7/10 team up to being contenders, in a team like France or England it would make them incredibly hard to stop.

Fortunately I think rugby league has more morality. It's more in keeping with its roots as a working man's game and that's why I absolutely love it. It's not too expensive to watch for most and if it does get a little too difficult we have some superb amateur clubs to support where you'll be more than welcome. I absolutely love rugby league. Oh and us the fans are some of the best in the world. Have a nice Christmas and New Year.

Remember the worlds best RL coach playing Blake Austin on the wing?? Wane is a good coach and his teams are hard to beat, give him more chances to show how he develops the team - especially with a few of the 2022 team probably done with the national team, new faces will probably come into the squad now.

Make it a real gorefest - Waratahs in tank tops, Touch Judges flinging the ball over their shoulder at lineouts, a point for missed penalty goal attempts...

I just see it as basic supply and demand which pretty much applies in all walks of life. A paramedic saves lives but is poorly paid compared to a surgeon. A police officer gets paid peanuts really. That is why RL players, unfortunately, are poorly paid for what they do, in my opinion anyway. One thing though Footballers are highly skilled too and are top athletes. Its not just kicking a bag of wind. It is no mean feat to make it in that sport and very few do. The ones that get paid a lot do so because they are extraordinarily good at what they do and because people want to watch them or be associated with them. For many it's their only route of getting out of what may have been a grim future. All the best to you too.

I just don't understand this line of thinking. They get paid that much because that is what the game generates, right or wrong. With due respect to surgeons there aren't millions of people paying to watch them do surgery.

well thats where harry kanes penalty nearly landed - so they are working on it

I struggle to understand the issue about IMG making money out of the game. Correct me if I am wrong. AFAIK for IMG to make money out of the game then that means that the game is reaping far more money than it is currently attracting. Is that not a positive? Or would you prefer that IMG, or any other consultant, have nothing to do with the game? If so how do you suggest the game increases income through its own endeavours?

Perhaps we should create a Pedants sub-forum just for you.

Yes it could have gone either way, and yes they were a missed penalty from possible extra time but in the end when playing a team seeded higher England did not have the ability to win. I am not moping I am just stating facts. Since winning the trophy in 1966 I make it that England have only beaten a higher seeded team at a WC on three occasions - whereas Morocco have achieved that in this years tournament alone - and that was the third group game against Poland 3-0 in 1986; in 1990 when they beat Belgium in the last 16 with the last second goal from David Platt; and against Argentina in a group game in 2002. The inability to beat higher seeded teams is the reason why England continually fail at the highest level. IMHO so called heroic defeats or we woz robbed comments continually mask the reason why England fail when faced with slightly better opponents.

But, let's face it, nobody really gives a t*** about women's football. If it weren't for the BBC hyping it beyond belief nobody would have known it was on.

That’s a shame.

I'm not a fan of him but he deserves another year at least. If he says he's learned something from the RLWC, he should get a crack at enacting those improvements.

It isn't at all relevant in a discussion about dirty players. There is a real perverse attempt amongst many in our society, to try and make everything about how bad the English really are and nobody else can really be objectively bad. That's why you really brought it up.

It's hard to know exactly how to judge the England performances in this world cup. On the one hand we were fairly comfortable in the group stages. Terrible against USA but other top teams suffered defeats so in context it's not too bad. Scored plenty of goals, played well but also didn't really face quality opposition until tonight and came up short. On the one hand it's falling at the first tough test. On the other hand you can only play what's in front of you and France were slight favourites for a reason and the reigning champions. Southgate seems to have done a really good job and it's hard to be too critical because of how many previous England managers failed to even reach these stages of tournaments. However, Saka was our most threatening player and he took him off (and left the largely anonymous Foden on). Saka's biggest threat was coming from taking on the French defence who were unbelievably clumsy and rash when put under pressure. Grealish loves to take players on but is left on the bench until there's only 2 minutes left. Southgate seems too cautious to really make a difference with his substitutions, but hopefully there's enough quality in the current group of England players that it won't always be an issue.

If you are saying 'people who have been some sort of fan over the last decade or so then 10,000 plus.... genuinely The diaspara is big big though and most of us have to make a huge effort to go....eswpcilaly.compared to northern fans who live in the town of the club they support

As I said earlier the lessons of the past are always important. They do not illuminate or highlight a sport held back by Liverpool City and Blackpool Borough but a game let down by top sides, influential chairmen and dire decision making. Most initiatives crashed on the rocks of those with power, influence and a Total inabilty to push the game forward through crushing self-interest. To imagine that IMG have been brought in by people who are any different in outlook seems far fetched to say the least.

It's the opposite. The NRL gets a far larger comparative share of the TV ratings outside the 5-City metro figures.

Well after reading about Mr Caine I can only assume ‘Not a lot of people know that ‘ … I’ll get my coat!

Can’t imagine there’s any money to be made at our level

At other clubs, people would be applauding their efforts. Because it’s London, there’s scepticism, after years of poor decisions, which is what they’re fighting against and shows the task in hand there.