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To RL fans of my generation, that's tremendously sad news. An intelligent, enthusiastic and capable CEO of the sport at a time when the position was known simply at 'secretary'. One of the good guys. Rest in peace.

When he took over the game was almost dead. The decline from its sixties hay day has been rapid. It’s one of life’s coincidences that two of the other major players in the game have died quite recently, Bob Ashby and Maurice Lindsey. These three along with David Howes were the driving force in the late 80’s early 90’s. A period where very briefly RL eclipsed RU and had considerably narrowed the gap with football. Seems a million miles away now. This very publication was born during that period of optimism. Still what goes around comes around and maybe one day someone will step up again. Where you won’t find them is in the sleazy world of corporate Britain and there silver bullets bull. They will need to come from within. RIP Dave you did a grand job.

Looking forward to our second season, and our first challenge cup game against Rochdale Mayfield in a few weeks

Hired!

Is Towns 2023 squad not consisting of 21 out of 24 signed players born in Cumbria. Unless your referring to previous season then no point you keep referring to it, as nothing will change the past. Got to look forward Also 10 - 4 at half time against that Barrow starting team is very encouraging imo, from that I'd say the coach will have got plenty from it. We were also without Jordan Burns who'd probably improve most sides from mid table championship and below. Roll on Bradford Bulls, looking forward to seeing our team back on Derwent Park.

And somewhere in Leigh there are girls on a hen night wondering where the tops they ordered have all disappeared to.

It gets you out of house and to see some RL any RL will do at moment .

As a holidaying Aussie I went to London Skolars v Toulouse on the eve of the 2016 Challenge Cup final and really enjoyed the experience. From the kids at the nearby tube station handing out flyers and giving directions, to the lady on the gate greeting me with a warm welcome, to the banter in the bar after the game with people involved in the club .....it was a great evening out. I thought the stadium was suitable and hope they establish themselves there. Ended up buying a London Skolars polo shirt which I still wear today. The creation and competent implementation of a marketing strategy to entice both locals and visitors to home games is certainly a task for the new owners. Hopefully get back there when next in the UK during the RL season.

If other L1 teams and their supporters think that Cornwall RLFC in 2023 will be at the same level as last year, they are in for a surprise. Lots of familiar faces which bodes well for cohesion and continuity, but also some new guys who are training really well as I understand it. If we can keep the injury count low we'll be causing lots of trouble as the season goes on.

I agree - the key thing is that it need somebody with some imagination to make it work. Too many UK clubs seem to think that a name change is the silver bullet, when in reality it's all the other branding stuff that goes with it. I remember loads of people on this forum saying what a great name Aberavon Fighting Irish was, when in reality it was just nicked from a college in America. The game over here has always had loads of great nicknames which good creative marketing/branding people could easily make work. If 'Gallant Youths' was an American college football team, loads of people would be saying how original a name it is, but over here it got jettisoned in favour of 'Bulldogs'. Now I'm not saying that changing the name hasn't worked for Batley, but I bet somebody creative and imaginative could have made 'Gallant Youths' work too. Skolars is absolutely fine, and - to my knowledge - unique. A talented creative person could easily make that work.

Never saw him without that smile on his face, RIP David.

Avoiding all the mistakes (stadium changes and name changes) Broncos have made is crucial.

https://nbc-2.com/news/2023/01/19/naples-native-gets-chance-at-professional-british-rugby-league/

I thought we were excellent today. We scored some really well executed set piece tries by the backs & the forwards held their own for large spells. Without Lawton (?) the Widnes giant, I think they would have been in trouble. Very promising signs & I was surprised at how well the pack played with so many missing.

I'm all for teams trying stuff new tactically. It's one of the drawbacks of the modern game that teams more or less play the same way and whoever is the superior team/executes better wins. You don't get teams surprising the opposition or real clashes of styles.

RIP David, condolences to his family and friends. He was the face and voice of the RFL when I was a young kid making my way through the game. He added some genuine authority and statesmanship to a sport seen only for Northern oiks. Always had great enthusiasm for the game, delivered everything with a genuine smile and a sincere love for Rugby League.

I trust you are being ironic. I put £5000 into the club (plus £1k each year sponsorship and STs) with zero expectation of any return. Every one involved in this club did it for the love of the sport certainly not for profit, fame or glory. Some have lost six figure sums over the years. Skolars has survived due to that. To survive longer term and grow the club needs more money than the current owners can muster. This deal, whatever it is, is our best hope and frankly the best hope for RL in London at the moment. If I make a profit I will donate it, not that it’s anyone’s business.

https://rugbyleague.nl/nrlb-partner-with-super-league-club/

Cornwall seem a viable option on and off the field.

Thought town did well today,defence was good in first 20 mins then the subs made a good impact, marwood, Stephenson,key got town on a roll,looking forward to next game,utt

Some really encouraging signs i thought. Mcnally all class and will make a big difference. Wilkinson a step up at 9. Baker really strong before he went off. Ahvan was an handfull. The pack did very well in spells. Will be even stronger with Thornton,Whittle,Tahra and Cameron in there . A good start to build on.

Excellent first run out against a fast Widnes side, Oldham looked sharp and had a fine first half, the game changer was "Goliath of Gath" (Adam Lawton) an immense bloke who came on for Widnes and had a Wow,bar for a knock on...Unstoppable. typical John Kear side in second half they tightened up their defence and pinned Oldham down, Widnes scrum half MOM for me is it Matty Fozard Calvin Wellington looked particularly good but all the lads did well...Ah Van was great! good refereeing and I just hope that the terracing on Whitebank road gets finished soon. I thoroughly enjoyed the Game and a special mention for the most helpful steward who helped me to safely stash my Bike...Thank You! Oldham 20 Widnes 42

So the travel shy Raiders can't even put a full game on. Pleased I didn't make the journey on Cumbrias worst road and I feel for those who did. I think we can feel a bit hard done by from our two derby games. Haven robbed us blind on the gate and Barrow can't see the game out. On the positive side looks like our lads had a good dig again against a championship team. Looking forward to next week against the bulls. Surprised the Jam couldn't beat the Wigan kids.

We've got 21 out of 24 home grown this season dont we, not sure what your point is.

Haven beaten by Wigan under 19's, needs to have been a big crowd too....

IMG are providing staff to the project at their own cost, we are not paying for those (other than through a gainshare on the upside, in the future). The roles we’re talking about here are instead a reflection of their partner’s own appetite to invest - the RFL - so no you don’t get to lay this one at IMG’s door however much you’d prefer to.

A good guy and a real supporter of the game. We could do with someone of his ilk nowadays.

Rugby League needs a strong team in the capital, the Broncos have been competitive over the last few years but it can't hurt to have another team in the capital pushing for success. As much as we like to think of ourselves as a northern sport we need to grow the sport in the south of England and the scholars could have a place at the table.

given there are 400k people in Haringey (bigger than Bradford) & similar in neighbouring boroughs of Islington, Barnet and Walthemstow all probably within 20 mins drive I think thats a big enough market. Skolars are a distant second to Spurs in the borough but given that its £100 a ticket at spurs & they sell out all the time if the product is right then why not. Ive always believed if you have that local focus then you can succeed

I love this image that Cornwall have put on social media. The spread of clubs is great and it is really positive. It also puts the moans of clubs having 1 trip to Cornwall into some context:

Has been announced today the club has been bought by an Australian consortium. Subject to RFL approval they should be in place for this season. The current directors and previous ones particularly Hector McNeil, have done an amazing job but hopefully we can now be taken to the next level (and the one after that, SL!) Also hopefully this will be a chance to reboot RL in London or at least North and East London.

Interesting comments from Smith about this from the Leigh trial game "Halves playing only on left OR right is a blight on the game" Looks like he wants Sezer and Austin to have the freedom. Should make things more interesting in attack but Leeds can't afford to have mix ups in defence like they did first two thirds of last season 8 minutes in ish

It needs a lot of work, and it’s been that way even before the recent departures. I read an interview with Clint that says we now have I believe 12 office staff (I’m prepared to be corrected), surely/Shirley just one could answer the handful of daily questions on social media - comments like ‘can we pay on the day’ (posted before the Batley game was called off) really shouldn’t be ignored. Communication is so important. As a club we can be better than that. Anyway rant over, in more positive news on Twitter the scorers have been given as: ‘Andrew Fitzsimmons Conor got another one from Dummy half and played well! Brown x 2, Antrobus, Towse, Marsh, Glover got the others’

I think he'd just come on when the lights went out! Good performance by the lads today. Our right defence was terrible with no Mossop but apart from that we coped well and the introduction of Kirkup, Stephenson and Key made a big difference and we started to get on top. Sabutey's somersault finish was worth going for! No predictions from me this year..i've been burnt before but it was good to see more attacking flair than last week.

A good travelling support today by Workington fans , the game today town did very well considering town defended for near on 30 minutes of the 1st half , a very positive performance by town and i couldnt fault town today.

Keep the tackling rule as it is. Changing it to waist height won't solve the concussion problem as people have pointed out and will open up a whole can of worms regarding interpretation of what is and what isn't waist height. Rugby is a contact sport - that's the way people like it. No one is forced to play, they do it because they find it enjoyable and most players know that bad injuries can happen. Life is full of risks, it isn't possible to avoid them all. If a person thinks playing the game is to risky, then don't play. Simples. What they should do is reduce the amount of substitutes back to two. This would make the players tire more quickly and reduce the number of big hits thus reducing the chances of concussion.

Hopefully they'll have sorted the lights before our annual pre season trip to South cumbria next January.

I think we need to be clear here. The way the piece is written, there is a difference between sternum, torso and waist. The former being the highest contact point and (as you say) a danger that a miscalculated tackle could stray high. The waist is the lowest contact point but the middle is the torso and is named in the piece as being the safest place to tackle. To quote from the article There is a red zone at the head and shoulder (above sternum), with highest risk There is a green zone between the torso and the waist, where HIA risk is lowest There is an orange zone from the waist down to the ground, where knee impacts in particular create higher risk (but not as high as the head) So, green zone, between the torso and the waist is outlawed as the tackle height is now waist and lower. This seems like a major over correction.

We should be used to it after the Haven game

Gave him a lift once to an event, 2 hour drive that seemed much shorter as his knowledge, experience , his passion, enthusiasm and love for the sport was great to listen too.

I'm all for kicking on orgasmically at my age so lets go for it.

It clearly says they will run coaching clinics in the Netherlands. If that is the only thing that comes of this, then it is already better than 95% of these partnerships we hear about.

A great servant to the game,RIP

Best to ignore my forum stalker,he lives his life in a permanent state of confusion.

To the person who responded ‘confused’ to this… a Rabbitohs is somebody who sells rabbits

Sad news thoughts and prayers with his family and loved ones.

Expierience should tell the management that injuries can so easily accur in this game, in Leigh's case but for dotting the i's and crossing the t's in the GF promotion was all but secured a long time ago not just on the 3rd Oct, we commited to signing a number of player's well before then why not go for a full squad not 3/4's of one there was plenty of time. Mr Lam said in the local paper last week that there is no urgency in signing anyone else, I hope those words don't come back to bite him in the R'se.

South Sydney have made rabbit butcher work ok down the years,Skolars is fine.

But this forum abounds with people certain that they can do a trillion times better than the current mob, and who aren't even on that kind of advertised salary. Is this actually a genius "Moneyball" style pitch for undervalued talent that's flown under the radar?

Of course I am !! Like all Broncos fans I'd be delighted if Skolars take off Most of us are fans if both anyway. Weirdly the dream is that we end up successful enough to hate each other and wish each other ill