Blind side johnny

What's wrong with just going back to one division, then we would be properly reunited. I assume that, as a traditionalist, you would agree with this?

Well they can't fill the stadium that they've got so there wouldn't be much point would there? The stadium was constructed as an athletic/general sports stadium and not specifically for Hunslet. Thankfully for them it allowed them to bring a long nomadic period to an end. It might not be pretty but at least it's home.

The long stand at Crown Flatt. Watersheddings. Post Office Rd on a December evening. Craven Park, Barrow, with a good crowd. Central Park. Proper RL grounds enjoyed by RL fans - and all suitable for the 21st century that is being mapped out for the British populace. HTH

I really think this behavious should be stamped on straight away, and I would have hoped that the RFL would take action against Graham for this. We don't want our game to descend to the soccer standards: we have prided ourselves in the past on the respect shown to referees by players and must maintain this standard.

Have you enquired as to whether there is a policy or not or are you simply assuming there isn't one? I do recall that the RFL did set out a number of tariffs last year that were largely ignored by most people as being boring. Penalties were also increased when applied during a season if I remember correctly. I'm afraid that this is the last year that we will read the name Blackpool as a professional club.

Great - British club signs 34 year old aussie scrum half because there are no decent players in UK any more.

Rob Burrow, without a doubt.

A bit like Wigan then?

Agree, as long as the heartlands clubs exclude those formed since the war. They can't call themselves real heartlands can they? Actually it's a load of old drivel as most posters on here have pointed out. i've supported one of those "excluded" clubs for more than 35 years and, in the past, any sniff of admittance to the promised land of Div 1/SL etc has inevitably resulted in five years of financial misery. Franchising makes sense but when did sense ever have anything to do with supporting a RL club?

Got any racing tips?

What's the NL? Netball League maybe?

<TROLL ALERT>

Then it must be Swinton, surely?

..................and don't get him going on scrummaging!! :P

Rumoured by whom? Someone who knows or a bloke in the pub? A de facto form of licensing is due to be adopted before long, called solvency.

I'm guessing that you don't follow any of these clubs. I continue to be amazed how many fans can come up with solutions for other clubs but would recoil in horror if anything similar were suggested for their own. Cas/Wakey seems obvious for example, or what about Leeds/Bradford and surely Warrington/Widnes makes a load of sense. Existing fans would leave a merged club in droves and new fans would only be attracted if the new club became successful - something of a long haul. Mergers may become necessities but would, in reality, simply be the closure of one club. History has many examples to study from Sydney clubs (many Warringah fans out there?) to Hull and Huddersfield; none of them provide object lessons in the success of such schemes.

Not quite. Championship play-offs precede SL by a long way and were regarded as just as important as the CC by the clubs. For the players, however, the CC was always the pinnacle.

Whoever is appointed will have to work on the same or smaller budget as SMcN, which would deter most Aussie coaches immediately. An inability to snap up a load of journeymen from the antipodes means that coaching qualities, rather than the ability to recruit, will be the major requirement.

William Hills are offering 9/4 aagainst a Batley win. Should be tempting for a few I reckon.

Do you know what contracts are?

Agreed. One of the key principles of our game that makes (made?) us proud to support it has been the respect that players show towards referees. If that is lost then the game will be much the worse for it. Another bugbear of mine (being an old codger) is players throwing the ball away. In the "good old days" there was just the match ball in use and the referee would make the culprit of such acts of petulance go and fetch it. The sight of a prop forward trudging his way down the pitch like a naughty schoolboy always brought gales of laughte r; and taught a lesson at the same time.

Clubs may get franchises but players don't. They still have new contracts to go for and any lack of effort on their part would endanger that. As far as results in any particular season are concerned the presence of franchises means that they cease to become the be all and end all every year. This means that clubs can act more strategically, maybe in looking to expose and develop young English players in one year that will hopefully put them in good stead for future years and not break the bank on imports, trying to avoid relegation etc. So my view is that what may be a strategy in operation is what may be seen by some to be complacency.

Sorry, what was that?

Great news for York and a real spur to getting their gates up in future years.

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