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A few weeks ago I posted about the club appointing a full time community development officer. https://www.northwalescrusadersrlfc.co.uk/post/crusaders-community-development-officer-to-go-full-time Now we have the news that the newly formed women's team played their first game on Sunday. I'm not involved in organising any of this, and I wasn't at the game on Sunday, but with all the challenges this club has faced over the years, it really is quite inspiring to hear stories like this. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/65881976

Well spotted @Man of Kent - yes i can confirm this book will be published this summer. And you will be pleased to know that the story of Kent Invitca is covered in great detail. Spoiler alert: they did actually have some radical ideas that were later copied by other clubs.... Its the complex story of a British rugby league revival and there will be a Total RL feel to the book after @marklaspalmas helped me with the story of Featherstone in the miners strike and John Drake gave me some brilliant insight into the rise of the RLSA in the mid 1990s. I'll be out and about across the country promoting it and happy to come and chat at history/supporter groups, please DM to discuss it further and I'd be delighted to chat. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hope-Glory-League-Thatchers-Britain/dp/1801504555

The main difference between the two codes is the amount of money. RU L1 clubs budgets are astonishing in comparison to RL L1. The fact that RL on the whole has much better spectator facilities and higher average crowds is quite remarkable and demonstrates how unsustainable RU is. Let's hope that L1 gets offered more support so we can strengthen the lowest tier in the pyramid

Please no more referee slagging J, it's boring. Big game on Sunday like you say, I hope the fans roll in & we get a 4 figure gate. No more than the team and the new board deserve.

We are all well aware of the impending situation Harry but YOU CAN'T SPEND MONEY YOU DON'T HAVE. You just don't seem able to grasp this.

Not sure why people suggest Briscoe should play centre, he’s a winger. For me it’s Hanks, and Joey/Hardy.

Can actually go to the game not expecting anything from the game,would be great if we could Leigh under 60 points and hopefully we can score a couple of tries against a very good super league team.

They will be pointing right at it. Worst part of the going will be behind the cameras. Anyhow it's a start, hope the new guy can continue the ground improvements.

This is a massive game and if we win this it makes the game v Dewsbury next Friday even bigger. We can't have our usual slow start. Hopefully, Ridyard can keep turning their big set of forwards around with his kicking game. If we attack out wide for the full 80 mins I'm convinced they won't live with us. Come on lads.

With the new IMG rankings coming in there is probably less incentive for any team to boom and bust this season depending on how they see their team ranking in the grand scheme of things. Fax are one of the teams who have money available to bring in players as the season progresses but it would be madness to spend a shed load of money which still won't be enough to put you as head and shoulders above the rest like Leigh did, so you have the risk of losing the big one off game. Then you have it where whoever goes up this year will finish bottom of SL the following year and its probably then maybe 50/50 at best that the IMG ratings go in your favor and you keep that place. I would say the outliners to that would be if Toulouse went up, I don't think they would lose their spot giving us the closed shop that many of us expect. Obviously the other problem is where do you find these top class players at this stage of the season without paying vastly over the odds? The stars aligned for Leigh in that they had money in abundance and a lot of top class players became available for various reasons. As it stands where are Fev getting a top class half back from that would be willing to come to them and not break the bank. The Leigh model was an outliner and is not a realistic option for any current championship team at this point as much as all of them would love to be able to follow it.

If Wigan acquire the stadium for a pittance I wonder if they can get consent to sell it for housing and build a new, more appropriate stadium?

Oh Harry, how many times do I have to repeat this? The club don't have bottomless funds like Leigh did last year. The playing squad already assembled has cost many multiples of our central funding. It if were as easy as just "doing a Beaumont" as you put it, then Halifax, Toulouse, Batley, Bradford etc would all be doing it too. That's not to say I don't think we are looking in positions of need (especially half back), but it's unrealistic to expect a Leigh-style spending spree, for us, Halifax, Touluse, Batley, Bradford or anyone else, because you have to have the money to do it.

You’ll know there confident when Gubby starts complaining about bus parking.

Bit of a knob

Just spied this https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/hope-and-glory Hope and Glory is the untold story of rugby league in Thatcher's Britain. Against the backdrop of economic and social upheaval, the sport of the working class transformed itself. Broxton's book recreates this era with the dramatic tension of a novel, revealing it as a critical moment where despite losing everything, anything still seemed possible. Perhaps @Tides Of History could tell us more?

Who do you play the week after Doncaster? Asking for a friend.

Its not even a spare million though, most Championship clubs are living hand to mouth and would be lucky to be able to put their hands on 10k nevermind upwards of 50k that they would probably need to bring in a player who is distinctly better than what they have for half a season. In my opinion there isn't currently a team in the championship that are anywhere near ready, or could be ready for SL by the time the new SL season were to start. It would make sense for the team that does get promoted to simply keep pretty much their current playing roster and bank the extra sky money and see where the land lies after the first round of rankings come out. Can you imagine if say Fev, Sheffield, Batley, Fax etc got promoted and then went full time only to get the boot by the IMG rankings the following season, it would be a disaster for them. Now if they were given assurances that they would keep their place for at least another season then it becomes a totally different prospect and gives them some incentive.

I for one would like to congratulate Wakefield on their development. 1) If they had done nothing, they would certainly have been kicked out of SL 2)The development looks great and will increase non match day revenue. 3)they are now at least 2 yrs ahead of Castleford. 4)If the take over goes through and the various improvements are completed, even if they are relegated this season,they should have a favourites chance to return to SL the following season - with much improved facilities, a new owner (well done to the existing) and momentum 5)Castleford will be as they are. 6)Frankly, there is alot of potential in the city of Wakefield, as opposed to Cas. I fully accept that Cas is a rl town, with better existing support than Wakefield. 7)I want all rl clubs to succeed but frankly,Wakefield have given themselves a far better chance by carrying through the various improvements.

I suspect that if you could talk to Smith honestly he'd admit to having got more than a few things wrong. Starting with everyone at Leeds being overconfident about this season on the basis of the run last year. Almost all of our troubles started there, and in Smith's case that I think could be put down to inexperience. In any event this season's basically done. Its all about ending the season on a high note, giving some younger players a go, and most importantly working out which of our senior pros to let go and who we recruit for next year. All this talk of leadership would be irrelevant if we had actual leaders. We don't, and haven't for a long time. Most of our senior players are worse at pulling vanishing acts under pressure than the less-experienced players. Smith doesn't need to be made captain formally to take the lead on the field when things are going pear-shaped, any more than JP did or a teenage Sinfield before he became captain. Austin is the only one of our senior players who seems to have a real dig in bad times, but that seems to be more about him trying individually than bringing the rest of the team with him.

Leigh Leopardess’s drew 1201 at LSV on Sunday

I have seen a few snippets in the press regarding Ben White making 80 consecutive appearances. What an incredible achievement this is and he really deserves great credit for this.

Think the scores will be closer if we play Cardiff and the Valkyrie play Leigh

The cap is the lower of £1.8m (or whatever the figure currently is) and the 'sustainable cap' (based on projected income) so TO, and any other club, could be at their cap without being anywhere near the maximum allowed. Also while it is possible for SL clubs to remove injured players from their cap calculation there is no mention of that option being available to Championship and L1 clubs in their cap rules!

Sorry, ill keep quiet next time.

I suspect that this Rochdale side is better than the one that we defeated twice earlier in the season so must not be underestimated. Liam is clearly unhappy with a number of recent performances so we will no doubt revert to our first choice line-up, assuming that everyone is available. We need a bit more grunt from the 2nd rowers too. We will certainly hope to see some snappier play rather than simply being attritional, so need quicker ball from the ptb than we have been generating. I hope that individual players concentrate upon their own performances rather than that of the referee (they never change their mind, no matter how much you moan) and stick to Liam's game plan. Rams 28 - 14 Hornets FTS: Restall MoM: Butterworth

Couldn't he claim extenuating circumstances due to it being Richie Myler? (That was a joke, btw)

Kheirallah to kick. I don't think picking Hall just to kick goals is a sensible approach given his obvious defensive deficiencies. If he keeps his place due to being the best centre available then so be it, but if Hardcastle is fit it has to be Hardy and Hankinson for me.

People like Crowe don't undermine their commercial value by doing ads for free. And "having him ranting about TGG" doesn't really do anything of value. What the game needs is a narrative that people, like Crowe, can tell with enthusiasm and can enthuse others. It's the same principle with the people who complain that Sky doesn't promote RL enough - Sky are not the game's PR agency. If the game wants more airtime on Sky or more money from Sky, it needs to do more to deserve that sort of attention and investment.

He owns a side. Isn’t that enough? Jack Nicholson literally does f all for rugby league and he’s got more money…this thread should be calling out Nicholson to do more.

UK Sport were meant to be changing the criteria so that Euro/World championships counted for something more than “nah”. Looks like whatever they’ve done, they still want to shovel money at posh folk in boats.

Totally agree. L1 matters and has so much potential, but needs investment.

Good on you, mate. Hope it does well.

Isn't there no relegation from 2024 ?

If Hall had passed instead of have the ball taken off him it would have been a try under the sticks and 20-18 lead for us.But every time Toulouse were in our half they played with more pace than us and they looked dangerous.With Toulouse playing uphill second half and Fev having the measure in the forwards we should have kicked deep more.Kick Into touch 15m from the line and keep them pinned down well inside their half.Not high kicks into the air as they have the speed to be dangerous from broken play.Up to the coaches to explore a slightly different game plan.

I can't see the 'not too much to worry about' scenario Phil sorry. We were abject for a lot of the game if we're talking scenarios of what could have happened on another day Hally's grubber goes dead and Briscoe is in touch which gives us only 8 points. Hopefully it was 'a bad day at the office' but there was enough evidence to suggest that it might not be. Hopefully it will serve as a kick up the culo for the boys. The one caveat to this though is Toulouse will improve and will have Catalan Dragons players available next time we meet.

Can't argue with your last paragraph Phantom, but I can't see removing the competition in the 2nd tier which has a purpose - as in promotion - will do the Championship any good whatsoever in the long term, last time attendances fell away alarmingly I believe it will do the same again.

I think the ship has sailed. Genuinely can't think of anywhere actually in Wigan that would be suitable for a stadium now - admittedly I don't spend a great deal of time in Wigan these days so people more local might know of somewhere. Agreed though that Wigan need a stadium closer to the likes of Saints, Warrington and Leigh, which I've always been a bit jealous of as they're great little stadiums.

When I saw Finny’s one minute long review of the match, I could see in his face that something was not right and to hear that the four missing players would return on Friday indicated that he was not best pleased with our performance.

Yep. I wasn't trying to contradict it, just adding extra info/context.

Darren Anderton

Oh how rugby league,it’s hard so let’s not bother.

WELL DONE BARNEY & ALL OTHER MINOR WINNERS.

It's not fickle support is it. I watched yesterday and I was concerned, concerned that yet again we won't be good enough. We've blown teams that are poor away this year but against Fax, Sheffield, and Batley the result was on a knife edge. We are poor defending on the edges when we are up against expansive teams, we lack creativity against decent teams when Fordy is absent. The only thing that will stop us from going up (well winning the GF, going up is another issue) is not being good enough. In football the best team over 38 games wins the Premier League unfortunately in Championship RL the best of 5 teams wins the league after 3/2 games usually the team that is the best vs the team with best momentum coming into the play offs. What the team must do as a minimum now, and should still do it is ensure that they finish first because a GF in say Toulouse or Halifax say will be daunting, that's assuming we get to the GF, the arrogance shown last year by some bit us on the Rs.

So usual stuff for Wendy ball finances. Didn't know of Danson's ownership of the New Statesman. So Saints fans sing Bernard Manning type songs about acquiring ######## and the Pies are linked with the bastion of Metropolitan left liberalism. Erm. Contrasting!?. But ah well. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65881568 Another winding up order! Wigan/Bolton/Rochdale/Stockport/Macclesfield/Bury especially. All bust/broke/relegated I blame City.

If I’d known the bloke who owns DIY kitchens was a Wakey fan, I’d never have let Mrs Shep bankrupt me with her 3rd new kitchen in a decade. Fuming

games gone....

We have to beat these to regain second spot and if the rest of the season's results go according to plan we should hold on to that spot, and who knows Dewsbury could blow it and we go up automatically as champions!

This week's well earned awards Congratulations Barney.

I have been involved with Coventry Bears for a number of years. I also volunteered at Midlands Hurricanes so I'd say I have good experience in the Midlands. I must admit, and I really don't want to say this, but that this article is mostly fantasy. I know from experience that there isnt a huge amount of overlap between RL and RU fans. A lot of RU fans would rather not support a team at all than turn to the dark side. There is some with an open mind and I'm sure that can be exploited but not in the numbers suggested. On the juniors side of it Midlands Hurricanes still have loads of work to do but they will need to be given time. The numbers of juniors quoted is accurate (there are over 100 at Coventry Bears alone) however the article is a little misleading. These numbers are down to the amateur community clubs and nothing to do with the Hurricanes. On a positive note Midlands RL is strong at a community level. Derby, Nottingham and Wolf Hunt are all going from strength to strength. The Midlands Premier is the strongest it's been in years and most clubs have active junior sections and soon women's teams. Is any of this down to the Hurricanes? No, but their focus this year on highlighting the community game in the Midlands is welcomed. I'd like to see professional RL succeed in the Midlands, the potential is certainly there but I'm not sure it's any easier or there is a gap to be exploited following the demise of wasps or worcester.

Well this thread wont last long