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New Zealand v Tonga in the 95 world cup Carlisle beating Castleford in the Regal Trophy 19-18 in 1995 Saints beating Wigan 41-6 on 27th December 92

If you did a massive rebrand and had a kind of Lancashire lightning v Yorkshire Vikings or similar, possibly in a different format it might work. Otherwise it would like along for 3 seasons after a promising start them be quietly dropped, again.

Half a million people, a hugely successful hub for aerospace, a second major French city in super league, increased opportunities for young French players. Or 2 small towns nobody outside of the m62 corridor could place on a map. Only in rugby league could this debate happen. Toulouse are FAR more valuable to the sport, we need them to succeed along with London, Newcastle, Midlands, North Wales and Cornwall. Mortgaging Featherstone or Leigh's futures on promotion is more of the same drivel that has held us back for 120 years

This isn't Albania you know!?! Chelsea fans behaving like sub-humans eh? Who'd have thought it?

This ridiculous system will be humiliatingly dropped like a stone before the 2017 season. That is if it ever gets to the start line given the lack of agreement on finance.

Depends on age of students, many schools have their own guidelines tighter than the legal ones

Mate by the end of season 1 of the 3 ring circus we'll be wishing that we'd got a future deal set up with Eurosport 8 (the Ocho)

It depends on where the best coaches and structures are, if they are not with the elite academies we should be moving heaven and earth to get them into the elite academies in my opinion. It is all about creating an elite that can finally deliver, if we can do that then we will attract thousands more kids into the game, if we aim for fairness and equanimity we will achieve mediocrity

Just to add that the measures to appease the 'community game' (read BARLA blazers) smack of the tail wagging the dog (again).

Okay, so now we know what they've been up to. Does anyone have the following 2 telephone numbers? The Egyptian Army (they are on facebook if no one knows this) Mr R Lewis (last seen in the SW18 area of London) There is a precedent for stepping in to depose an incompetent leader, these people get the job done! There is almost nothing about these proposals that is not a retrograde step - I expect to see Kevin Sinfield in a British Coal era GB shirt and the new three ring circus being sponsored by Stones Bitter

I meant Sheffield & Skolars, both were finalists

You could sell many places on being 'great little towns' and find someone that will agree with you, but would still really struggle to get the vast majority to see it as an attractive venue for a final (or for that matter a world cup match). If the match has sufficient attraction to overcome this then attendances will not suffer, or if the event is marketed well to people outside of traditional attendees the same could be said (see Rochdale world cup match). A new or recently improved stadium can also drive attendances. The Northern Rail Cup final at Halifax had none of these, it also had 2 relatively (compared with previous finalists) poorly supported sides. This led to the mediocre crowd.

How does one 'sell' Halifax?

I'm caught in the unwelcome position of agreeing with everything 'just to be clear' said whilst being one of the perpetrators of misery on this thread. Let me clarify, I like the competition but every year it's combatants seem to find new sources of complaint about it. Sadly the one tool that drove attendances up is now rendered meaningless with the proposed reintroduction of promotion and relegation. I thought the crowd was reasonable considered the competing sides but would have preferred the venue to be more prestigious - nothing shouts small time parochial like a final in Halifax or Rochdale.

With a much reduced crowd in Halifax for a competition that most of the eligible sides view as an irrelevance. Congratulations to crusaders and Skolars for getting there but to trumpet this as a sign of health is entirely incorrect

Sorry, thought I was bantering with someone with a sense of humour. For the record Wukkinton does not resemble Basra and the residents usually have 5 fingers on each hand. Siddick is a charming fishing village.

Workington, where you can count half a dozen eggs on the fingers of one hand. I'm from St Helens and live in Stockdalewath (look it up it doesn't resemble siddick)

In the way that Basra is more attractive than Mogadishu

Minutes applause please, it avoids the spectacle of late-comers, kids, drunks or worst of all the intentional a-holes breaking a silence. The guy, a GB international lest we forget, deserves a send-off in the biggest game.

RIP Terry

Saints lose money because of the cost of upkeeping a ground that prevents them maximising attendances or corporate income. Just goes to show why the RFL are correct to force clubs to focus on getting 21st century facilities!

Really? You got 6000+ for Wigan in the cup, but there were a couple of thousand Wigan fans there. On a weeknight (most likely time) you'd get next to no travelling fans. 4000 tops IMHO.

They fell into the well trodden path of money man coming in then withdrawing himself and his money 18 months (or so) later. The people at the club are genuine rl folk that had little to do with past spending, they need and deserve our support. The club's immediate future is as the pinnacle of a local pyramid for jarrow, peterlee etc; which would not cost the earth but underpins development in the area.

Really?? Why don't they take that many to Saints, Wire or Wigan then?

Well done Leeds! I don't understand the need for a Yorkshire side though, I thoroughly enjoyed the Hull derby in 1980 & the Hull v Fev match without bemoaning the need for Lancastrian involvement & would support anyone other than Aussies against Wigan