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Edit: my theory lasted 5 mins, theyll be starting earlier ... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyleague/article-12940571/BBC-screen-live-Super-League-matches-Saturday-evening-three-years-major-boost-rugby-league.html Essential that televised games on BBC are full houses. I'd guess they'll show some Sat 3pm

3 were approached but all declined. Last time out the Dublin City Exiles were successful but travelled again in the next round. There is a grant from the RFL but it was expensive - they did two Crowd fundings to make it happen. The Challenge Cup is a tough gig for overseas sides , both on and off the park......

Maybe the players could have trued doing something different, like say playing the ball correctly. I know, it's a crazy, wacky some would say insane idea, but was maybe worth a try.

My thoughts exactly. How is the ref spoiling the game? Surely it's the players spoiling the game by not playing the ball correctly?

Not worthy of its own thread so I’ll stick it here - good to hear Wigan described as Rugby League Country at the start of the Man Utd game.

Hendon's finest. Seriously, I Googled and they are pretty much the biggest thing to come out of my neighbourhood.

it would have to do for me to sit through a football match plus something to read while the game is on

That's the bit I don't get. Some of the solutions are pretty simple too. Setting up some bottle bars, tuck shops etc. At it's most extreme it absolutely stops people going to matches. I've tried to get into taking my daughter and her cousins, but tbh, it doesn't always work as a family experience. So we just don't bother going.

They are doing themselves out of thousands of pounds of revenue every game by providing a bad customer experience.

Corentin Le Cam finished up with a hatrick of tries yesterday. He has made a lot of himself as captain. Coach Justin Murphy happy I imagine. He had 11 matches for the Catalans Dragons earlier before let go - he had a year in rugby union down at Céret. Making some thing now. Last year in the French team in Belgrade and later down in Nairobi Toulouse Elite 1 has showed up - giving Lezignan earlier a close run & yesterday as well - two teams in the Top 6

You literally posted a tweet from them on this page.

And me. So I am now trialing the subscription offer and may continue when the free period ends. Have given up BT Sport and Netflix and have been using YT instead so it may well be good vaue in my case.

He was captain of France 19s v England academy last summer, excellent player but a little light(as a lot of yoing french players are) and plays well above his weight. Another young player who's keen on a season in England.

Looking good for the Nines, may consider going international next year: https://www.nrl.com/news/2024/01/08/first-america-then-the-world-vegas-9s-sparks-global-interest/

Torn hamstring. Big blow. Could be 2 - 3 months recovery, depending on the severity. Maybe Shane Toal will go back to the wing. Or even Brett Carter who's played well recently.

I didn't notice Saunders much but Hutton was on the wing and looked quick and dangerous , a bit like when Teare first arrived. Bickerdike looked more at home at fullback when Burns went off .

Good performance, think we looked pretty solid in defence and reasonably bright attacking. Hopefully Bulman is alright, didn't look good having to get carried off.

I'll kick this off, for the new season, by saying Orrell St James have confirmed they'll be issuing a printed programme for next Sunday's (14/1) Challenge Cup first round tie with fellow North West League amateurs Haresfinch.

Regular YT watchers who use ad blockers will know that a few months ago, YT decided to stop showing videos to users with ad blockers enabled. It started out as a mild threat. At first I would just click on a few vids, the message came up but the vid played then, after the second or third time, the message stopped and it was just business as usual. Then they stepped up to their next level and eventually I decided to disable the ad blocker. The results are amazing. I probably watched 20-30 vids yesterday and I got one ad on one video. I have heard YTers complain about the endless overload of ads on YT for ages and that is what I expected. But I get maybe one or two ads per day. I watch almost entirely G-rated content - is there anything else on YT - so it's not because of the unsuitable content I watch. On my recommended page, maybe one in every 6 slots is an ad but those aren't the problem since they are nearly always only in the top 2 lines and they don't autoplay. I think it comes down to who and where I am. Most English-language YT is US-based so I would assume that the advertisers and products are also US-based. When you buy ads on YT you specify which countries' users you want to see the ads. It would make sense to put most of your eggs in the biggest market so perhaps Australia is well down the order. Secondly, I assume that most ads are targeted at 18-35s. I watch quite a few music theory and lesson vids so this might suggest that even music labels and musical instrument companies don't see YT as fertile ground. They may advertise heavily on current hits by big artists but I never watch those. Also my previous comment about most of those music industries being US-based and, given shipping costs for instruments, there wouldn't be much point in US guitar shops targetting Australian buyers. Even though I have bought 2 guitars from a US company in the last couple of years and one from Japan, Google Adsense would have no way of knowing this. Maybe time zones play into it. Perhaps you can specify the peak times you want your ads to run. Just a guess on my part. The other possibility is that Google Adsense knows so much about me that they've decided I'm not worth advertising at or to. The only Google site I use is Maps. I never use their browsers or search engine so maybe they thought, "over 65! don't waste time on this one." I can't think of any info they would have as to my financial capacity or purchase history. Perhaps there's a sweet spot where you can set up a fake identity and avoid all ads. Location: Tadjikistan. Occupation: retired peasant. Annual income: $US500 Am I the only one who gets so few ads?

Going on a walking trip to the Lakes this weekend and just realised it's Lowca v Edinburgh Eagles very near to where me and the missus are staying. Might have to develop a Basil Fawlty-style war wound around 1pm so I can make it along.

I find these stories utterly heart-breaking. We (rugby league) are so poor at just about everything and worse, in many cases, deliberately make things unpleasant for newcomers and die hard fans alike. If only someone at the clubs went through and analysed these practices and made the ''obvious'' changes necessary to make our fans feel welcome (rather than feel like nuisances at best, interlopers, trespassers, vagabonds and thieves at worst) we could vastly improve turnout, I'm sure. In the example's quoted by you and Dave T, it doesn't take any money to turn it around, just a change of attitude towards our (extremely valuable) customers. Ensuring we create satisfied customers who feel welcome and valued, is a vitally important part of our marketing effort. How/why do we keep getting it so wrong?

The Hull RL rumour mill has been grinding.... Rumour #1 : Alleged personal issues in his private life has meant Jordan Abdull is no longer wanted over in East Hull. Rumour #2 : In other news, it is also alleged that a female physio at Hull KR will keep her job in spite of getting involved with a married player. Just rumours, obviously...

I am told Clock Face Miners are issuing on the day £1 programme.

A fixed and promotable calendar. That would be something but it’s not a PDC lesson so much as common sense.

And of course there is always the argument that if food and drink was of better quality and more reasonable cost then no one would need to do such things.

Agreed. I do think there is another element at play here, and that is pure costs. There are far better systems that could be utilised, but that would involve some form of planning and management, and it is quite clear that we just look to hire minimum wage agency staff to hand over beer.

Imagine it's more a case of signing cover, to replace Rowan Milnes.

Was Really Impressed with Le Cam a few weeks back against Lezignan. There is no denying he is a fantastic player, I hope he is apart of the Catalans team this season otherwise hopefully another SL team picks him up. He seems to have put on a bit of size and looks a threat running the ball now.

I find it bizarre how poor the experience is at many modern grounds to get a drink or food. When some grounds are so strict on allowing food and drink to be brought in, but then making you queue for 30 minutes to get something from the kiosk, it's a joke - particularly when you have kids with you. Last time I went into the West Stand at Warrington I vowed never again.

Remember that day well first game of season after the heartbreak of losing to Salford in play off the season before. Just looked back at the results etc from that season and we ended up losing at home to Carlisle in the qfinal in front of 4000+, i thought it was a terrible year back then finishing bottom of the 8 team league but most of the results were very close. The gap between the divisions was so much closer as well back then, cant take too much from yesterday's defeat ,priority is to be ready for first competitive game

I enjoyed the piece for what it was, and the mentions of rugby league were an added bonus!

Reffing to orders, as in enforce the rules of the game? Maybe players could just play the ball correctly?

Thought Walker looked very composed and a calming influence in the number 6 yesterday with his distribution of the ball being very good. Looks like he could be a really good pairing with Johnson. Overall that was a very good performance from Barrow, we had a few academy lads in that team as well and Rochdale are no push over of a team. To think that to add to the starting lineup of yesterday we still have Burke, Ellis, Costello, Makin and Silva then I think we can have a good season. Bookies have us joint favourites for going down so hopefully we can prove them wrong.

Nightmare

Burns injury is a worry big loss,hopefully he's not to bad best player before he was injured. defence was good at times,but widnes were to good for town.henson looked good at loose forward had a few good runs and offloads when marwood came on.that looked the best combo of the game,but plenty of effort by all the squad.

I'm interested, but you may need to give me a nudge at the appropriate time. Not often on the forum these days for some reason...

Can’t discredit the fact that people in BAE on shifts had their first day back in today and maybe didn’t want to use a number of holidays so soon. I’m sure the crowds will increase. Nothing to panic about.

Agreed 1000 for a friendly against a very average Rochdale side is decent. A few championship clubs would take that as a average attendance for the year! Thought Walker went well too at 6 deserved M.O.M. I am/was sceptical him being a 6 week in week out however played well today albeit against limited opposition. Big drop off when the youngster came on, hopefully won't be required too much and the loan budget there for the season allows us not to expose them. First glance of Mike Ogunwale looks raw but I'm sure cresta will be working hard on the fundamentals with him.

Gutted, couldn't make it today but just intrigued how the young Furness Academy lads did?

Good luck to Toulouse. As a side note, does sport get any more exciting than trying to raise your provisional 12.97 IMG rating to Category A status, absolutely edge of the seat stuff.

Great to read the names of so many quality players….some before my time watching the Yeds but lots of familiar names I agree with. it got me thinking to the best single performance I have seen from an Oldham player and I immediately think of Bobby Lindner when he was Oldham player/coach in an away game at St Helens. Oldham facing relegation needed some big results at the season end and came up with a 26-30 win at Knowsley Road. No one player can win games but I remember walking away from the ground with the biggest smile, sore throat from shouting and completely in awe of the shift that Lindner put in that day. It was tiring just to watch

Paul Taylor, wow I was on Shaw market one day in the 1980s. Well I think Paul was living on Oak St Shaw at the time, so it was a great surprise to see him walking towards me. The guy with him was no other that one Peter Sterling. Two legends on little old Shaw Market, who would believe it.

I think Goodway would have to be the best player I have seen. Other favourites would include Cliff Hill and Shane Tupaea.

A bit random but a couple from more recent times in Oldham's history:- 1) He'll never go down in history as Oldham's greatest player but as a "fan's favourite" for a couple of years I remember enjoying watching the battering ram that Jason Clegg, alright might have had a limited skill set but I just remember the crowds at matches getting excited every time he got the ball and watching him trying to bulldoze his way through the opposition. Always had the crowd willing him on and when he scored a try once under the posts at Boundary Park it was as if all the Oldham fans lost the plot for a few moments, he didn't score many tries but that was a belter LOL!!!! 2) Pat Rich, again not the greatest player ever to pull on a jersey but as a goal kicker it seemed he could stick them through the uprights from anywhere on the pitch. He seemed to hardly ever miss We had some decent players throughout the Hamilton era, might not have been world beaters but gave their all for Oldham which is fine by me!

Frank Foster for me.

Hugh waddle, mal Graham, David topplis, Andy goodway, bob lindner, Terry flanagan, and many more great players

I certainly care and so do my kids, and seemingly many others do too judging by the new kit thread. If the kit is a cracker then my kids will certainly want it. If not they usually aren't fussed. At the end of the day people have no obligation to buy these things. For me its a very obvious representation of the club and the brand. As such clubs should see it as an important thing to get right.

well if we can get to the roadmender once a year - you can make the effort to come up here

I see that the match which the BBC will show in round 1 on their website and on i Player is the services clash, RAF -v- the Royal Navy, which I understand will be played at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire.

How far do you think some of these teams could progress (realistically) if they had a cracking tournament and a kind draw? I say this as someone who has only been watching Superleague recently. As a football fan I think of non league teams that occasionally make it to rounds 3 or 4 in FA cup for example