Leaderboard

We've signed a 20-year lease there with a fixed annual rent, however the rent is a fraction of what we paid at The Alex and on far better commercial terms. I think we've accepted this season will be a bit of a teething issue with the new format but I think we'll definitely be making it clear to the RFL that we need a better rub of the green... The club have said they'll be replacing the existing temporary stands with one of two permanent covered stands over the course of the season - we just needed to get *some* seating in before the Newcastle game. This horrific 3-month gap might not be a bad time to do it especially with Bournville's off-season beginning end of April. Think the medium-term aim is to expand that section of the ground so it has 1000 covered seats. If crowds grow we can then install seats behind the sticks which would take us to c. 1500. There's also space behind the existing fence that sits within Avery Fields title that would allow us to build bigger stands (subject to planning permission of course). As it happens the Batley game was the first home fixture where it didn't rain Not as bad as our Keighley cup game at Cougar Park where it monsooned for the entire second-half and we were stood on the terraces!

So we now have the blueprint for every Championship club that is struggling with debt at the moment. Let HMRC get a WUO, ditch the debt and restart with a 12 point deduction in a season where you never had a hope in hell of winning the competition anyway especially with London in there. Oh and by the way, a 12 point deduction this year will give you easier fixtures next year. Its a reward in the longer term. Marvellous. And now you're debt free you can recommence massively overpaying players until it happens again. Yay.

RFL at their consistently, inconsistent best. You have to feel for Fev

Great news. Welcome back Fax.

Where are those that doubted the mighty Oracle of Bradford, Mick Gledhill?

Random discussion with a couple of Aussies in my hotel, they were from Melbourne but diehard fumbleball fans. Their clients flew a group of them to Vegas for the game, hospitality and combined it with ConExpo (Construction Expo) which takes place from tomorrow. This was their first live rugby game. These are the soft benefits of staging a game here

Great to see Fax back in the fold, hopefully just get to the end of this season in any way then build for 2027.

I wish the RFL / RLC could get ahead of this, and not be reliant on individual clubs, or club even, to drive these sort of initiatives. I think it would be worth considering replacing next year's magic weekend with an On The Road round. With two teams playing their on the road game at Vegas.

To celebrate I think I might have a pint for every try London score on Sunday…. might have to take Monday off or even the rest of the week.

A boost for RL in Ireland or a boost for RL fans who live near Manchester Airport and fancy a trip to Temple Bar etc?!

A great result for Fax r f l as a club. Obviously a lot of hard work and no doubt lots of midnight oil being burnt. KE obviously a great keep as are the players who have stayed loyal, cannot apportion blame to those who have gone, but each will have their own reasons. Looking forward whilst a points deduction is a blow, should the format stay the same Fax should have a better run to the top in 2027. well done to all concerned, and a big raspberry to Hx Courier and Johnson press for their total swerve of the whole situation.

I suspect the former. Once a decade or so seems reasonable. I suspect once clubs are going for a second time the numbers travelling would drop sharply. I've been to Las Vegas twice, and that's two times too many IMO. Wigan fans will be travelling to Paris this year, Dublin next year. They've played in NSW against Hull in the recent past, and in Barcelona. I suspect there wouldn't be a huge appetite for going to Las Vegas again any time soon.

Is that Jai Field's surgeon?

Good luck with everything - I really hope you make a success out of it. Must be great to have that longer term financial security. Exactly what we need.

No trouble keeping up mate. Your trolling and deliberately obtuse statements are as transparent as the housemaid’s windows. I am happy enough that PVL is publicly making his intentions clear. I am confident his proposals have been or will be shared with the appropriate decision makers at the time he said they would. If everything is all quiet on the northwestern front, perhaps it’s because there isn’t the interest in having the NRL involved. If the British RL community are interested in hearing from their governors and leaders on the subject, perhaps the local media can start pressuring them for a response. If it really is of public interest shouldn’t we expect that of the media? If the NRL are not brought in as a partner, that would be a shame in my opinion. A blessing in many other people’s opinions. Play on.

Them all you can eat buffets are very moreish to be fair....

I wont be going to the disunited state of America for some time. with my social media posts having to be produced I'm more likely to end up in one of the ICE concentration camps now if only next year they could organise an event in Toronto

I'm coming down from Newcastle for this one, York supporters have backed us so far so returning the favour and looking forward to it. Then I'll be at Swinton on Sunday as Thunder can hopefully get back to winning ways.

Pretty good to see Bein Sports in France taking the NRL seriously like this and sending a couple of people to promo it:

Wigan and Warrington. (Recently refurbed) RDS Arena - Home of Leinster RU. Andy Farrell assisted. All parties agreed just need to get the date sorted.

RFL approves Halifax Panthers membership and 2026 Betfred Championship entry The Rugby Football League has today granted RFL Membership approval to a new Halifax Panthers club who will take over participation in the 2026 Betfred Championship competition. The decision was made at an RFL Board meeting following extensive work from a number of parties and a detailed application from the directors of the new entity to help ensure professional rugby league can continue in the West Yorkshire town. The old club’s demise meant fixtures against Sheffield Eagles and Barrow Raiders remain unfulfilled. However, the new club, who will host London Broncos on Sunday [3pm], will work to ensure that those missed games are now undertaken on dates to be decided. As part of the decision to re-instate them, Halifax will have a 12-point deduction applied for the 2026 Championship season. RFL interim chief executive, Abi Ekoku, said: “The Rugby Football League is delighted to welcome Halifax back into the 2026 Betfred Championship. “We understand the trauma to players, staff and fans in recent weeks; but remained hopeful that the club would have a chance of survival. That has proved to be the case, primarily down to an exceptional community, corporate and political effort. “We wish them well for the rest of the competition and will continue to support them in that endeavour.” Martyn Buchan, a local businessman who has led negotiations with the governing body for the new club, said: “It’s a great relief that Halifax Panthers will participate in 2026 to continue their 153-year membership of the Rugby Football League. “Thanks to all the invested staff, sponsors, the governing body and the Calderdale Council who have helped make it possible for this to happen. “The RFL has been really supportive in getting us to this stage and now, over this next period of time, we’ll be focusing on simplifying our model and doing more in the community for the good of rugby league in Halifax.” The new club has five directors: Adam Butterfield, Jason Clough, Christopher Brooke, Benjamin Walker and John Coulter.

This was my first overseas RL game. Drove to Holyhead in the battered old Metro, parked it in a street somewhere, bought a ticket and jumped on the ferry as a foot passenger, hitch hiked from the old (Dun Laoghaire?) terminal into the city, then walked to the RDS.

I reckon he'd rather not have been involved as he has a day job to do and am sure could easily have walked away. But first and foremost he is a fan and thankfully him and other poeple alike have worked thier backsides off over the last few weeks.

Something like this should take place in various cities to act as a single hub annually to boost RL in that country/region. Bring in the local RL people, Super League, local political figures and get the sport kicked on in those areas. Wales, Scotland, France, next, even further afield in Europe like Serbia etc should be considered. I wish my own club were as forward thinking as Wigan are with these opportunities.

Will get much easier fixtures in 2027 too....

On the subject of someone seeing the game for the first time, one attendee was British-American billionaire Sir Len Blavatnik, who owns DAZN, which last year bought Foxtel. “It’s my first time at a Rugby League game. It’s fantastic. We’d like to do more,” was his response to what he witnessed. I'm not sure we would ever have got him to a Super League game other than one in Las Vegas. Whether his presence will have long-term ramifications remains to be seen.

Yes but neither of them enjoyed it.

The man who should head the NRL's PR efforts in America?

I get it, and I don't particularly agree with the suggestion, but your framing was unnecessary imo. In the NRL in the last 10 years Melbourne have appeared in 6 of the Grand Finals, Penrith 5. I do think there is a challenge around longevity of the Vegas venture when you are looking at how you select the fixtures, quite quickly you would need to start having repeat visits, and I expect that novelty would soon start to wane, but I suppose how quickly it dies off would be the million dollar question. Do fans see this as a once in a lifetime thing, or something they'd be happy to support say every four years or so?

IIRC fan consultation led to the unallocated seating, hence not being able to sell every seat with current regulations

Fingers crossed that they can get the go ahead to play the London Broncos at the weekend, and for me the results is not as important as getting a team back on the field.

These would have been the fixtures for the last 10 years: Wigan v Leeds Leeds v Hull FC Wigan v Catalans St Helens v Wire St Helens v Leeds St Helens v Catalans St Helens v Wigan Wigan v Leigh Wigan v Hull KR Hull KR v Wigan Warriors 8 different teams featuring, and only a repeat fixture once. Looks good to me.

The biggest challenge I see here is that the whole narrative is that SL/UK game is in a desperate state and we need this. That isn't a good starting point to be in, and puts you in a weak negotiating position, which means that you do have to be very careful around what you give up to fix what could be short term issues. Whilst pretty much all of us have some issues with how the RFL operates, and some of the decisions made - I can pretty much guarantee that that won't change even if the NRL does take over. So to a large extent, we do have to remove the emotion from this process. As we know, the biggest challenge the game faces is not having enough money - however, I would say, that it looks like some other big sports in terms of having an investor cover the losses - we aren't unique really in that. But we know that RL can struggle in that commercial/investor space, so it is a challenge. The Sky deal has been disappointing for a few years now, and it would appear we are close to the point of providing the BBC with content for free - but if we are brutally honest here, much of this is due to external factors, probably more than internal factors. We haven't explicitly done something to halve Sky's investment, just as we didn't do something to double it in the first place. I'm not saying that we haven't been poor around funding, or that we can't do better - but I don't think that we have left huge pots of money on the table. We are doing what we can in a really tough environment - and we absolutely have made changes in response to this (IMG partnership, presentation, TV coverage etc). SO, ramble over - the big question now is, is our current position a disaster, or a struggle? I can't answer that, that is the question for the 'sport' to answer, and if we believe that the current owners and leaders of the sport can get us into a better more sustainable place, then we have a choice. If we are genuinely in a place that more and more clubs are going to go where Salford, Fax, Fev etc have gone in the last 12m, then we may have to suck it up and jump into bed with the NRL and make the huge concessions that they want. BUt we can't just keep dealing in soundbites that say the game is dying, the game needs investment and so on, when we are actually seeing a hell of a lot of positives. I'm a fan of addressing root cause - and if the problem is that Sky have decided to spend £20m per year on filler RL instead of £40m - the root cause may not be anything to do with governance, yet that seems to be the big thing that is discussed. Don't believe PVL when he suggests he is doing the UK game a favour. He is being opportunistic. Now that doesn't mean it can't still be a great for everyone, but it is right that we don't rush here - and to be fair, there has certainly been no rush.

My last drink was around 10:30pm on Sunday, it's now 08:32 on Tuesday. Not bad for me.

The lower teams collective vote is equal to that of the collective vote of SL. For RFL matters the french clubs dont get a vote. So if there were 10 SL(british) clubs and 20 championship ones then the SL clubs would be double the championship. Without the change there would be 11 SL votes and 21 championship with each championship vote being 52% of the SL vote Today there are 12 SL votes and 19 championship. (58%) Fev and fax feturning would add 2 more to the championship (in both figures) The power of the SL clubs isnt diluted or strengthened as the vote value changes to reflect the ratio. But if the clubs you promoted had a certain view, their value would nearly double, increasing the power of that faction.

So you are suggesting there is a likelihood that PVL and the NRL have an interest in securing a controlling stake of the SL but are not conducting meetings with the relevant existing parters about acquiring that stake? And that his negotiation skills are limited to “But, I’ve organised a horse race”? Yeah nah. Keep trolling bud.

Warriors v roosters sold out.

Watched it back today. Whether you like it or not, Toulouse also played a very slow ruck game, to the speed that the ref would allow. The common denominator would seem to be the ref. If he’d played to the same directives from the first 2 rounds I think TO would have been hammered by 6 agains. Oh well, 2 points and a step up in quality vs Saints at the weekend.

We were 6th and 7th out of 9

Agree. A season should allow the RFL to decide why they did it in the first place and how they are going to measure if it's working.

I do the same with the video ref and capts challenge

It doesn't really matter until distribution monies are decided on league position. Not sure if they are anymore. Regardless it's great news and I'm looking forward to seeing them again. It'll be a struggle on the field but it could've been much worse.

Guys soon as news comes through on what players we have I’ll update the squad list properly

The locals in Vegas don't care about rugby league (nor have they ever). The events in Vegas certainly are not about expansion but rather a vacation for the players and fans to yet another spot. Expansion in North America can happen but the chance of Toronto was missed....there was a fan base there and growing....its really a shame.

This is the reason the game hasn’t grown like others it’s time to move with the times and make each game a showcase

So he wasn't employed to #### everyone off then ?

A little bedtime reading. https://documents.uefa.com/v/u/FgnwQVGAZ_XzgBKt12hN9g 5.4 Stroboscopic Lighting Effects The use of Stroboscopic Lighting Effects is not recommended within a stadium due the large spectator numbers and potential to cause a harmful reaction to people who may be sensitive or susceptible to a seizure in photosensitive epilepsy upon the exposure flashing illuminance levels at a high frequency. If the stadium management are unsure about the exact nature and relevance to this concern and the light show contains a sequence of flashing images a series of warning signs should be provided to inform all spectators and employees at the stadium. The warning signs must clearly state that ‘flashing images and light will be used in pre and post-match stadium production lighting’. Television broadcasters may also want to give suitable warning if they are using the light show within the TV coverage.

Id imagine Kyle is staying because good jobs in RL are rare. He was building a solid reputation with us and if he can perform some miracles with what hes left with, his name is going to grow in the game.

Im with you on this….Ive no intention of stepping foot on US soil until they get rid of the clown. I have travelled all over the US in my time and met many wonderful people but sadly its turned into a bully boy country that doesnt respect rules. The only other country I refused to visit was south africa under apartheid. The world is a more dangerous place since his return to office.