tim2

You mean I can't criticise Justin Morgan because Mark Aston whinges all the time? That's just silly. A whingeing Aussie is always worse than a whingeing Brit. I'm happy to tell Mark when he should shut up. We have had free and frank discussions on the subject. The real problem comes when he is right and I have to agree with him, which has happened far too often this year.

Why? The RFL has set up an independent disciplinary committee and has an appeals process that is legally correct and is accepted by the constituent clubs. The Referee and TJ have seen an incident at the time and acted on what they saw - Bailey's contact with Radford is obviously up for debate even with the hindsight of video replay. Radford clearly punched Bailey several times, which is a red card offence. Not too much wrong with what happened on the field, hence what's it got to do with Stuart Cummings? Obviously the second panel who reviewed tha appeal differed from the first panel. This is a consequence of the independent process and also happens in our law courts.

All the coaches whinge at Stuart. It's part of the job, and it's his job to politrely tell them to bog off. Most of them don't make it public. probably because a lot of the time they don't have a case and look stupid.

Perhaps he should have a word with his players about conceding penalties early in the game. Just a thought.

Apart from Catalans, Crusaders, improved attendances, 30 million from Sport England, a profitable RFL, improved TV money, increased grass roots participation, what has Richard Lewis done for us?

That's because the winners of the Welsh Premier go straight into the semi. They haven't made a final for a while.

Deja vu, mon ami

This doesn't make sense. If Radford was provoked by Bailey, how come Bailey had no case to answer for the contact with the elbow? It was either accidental or it wasn't. If it was accidental then Radford was out of order and should be banned (although he missed nearly a whole game anyway). If not, Bailey should be up on a charge. Still, holding 2 contradictory views at once is quite common in RL!!

They always have been. Even before SL, who do you think bankrolled the part time clubs? Local businessmen who liked the game and enjoyed being in the Director's box. They certainly didn't do it as an investment. Did you watch the documentary on Eddie Waring? The game was on its backside in the late 60s and early 70s. It's not a new thing at all - in fact the game is in far better shape overall.

The people who already go don't care, and the new people we attract don't know. They just see a great game that they want to watch again. It takes a while before they understand the nuances of the game's structure, and by then they're hooked. The average at BL is already over 1K, and next year there's no Whitehaven to come down - Hunslet and probably Oldham will bring more than Haven and Keighley did.

A more relevant question would be: If the Championship is licensed, has 14 teams with 26 games and minimum criteria that are gradually increased, would that help? At what point would you then be able to open the door again? Obviously this wouldn't help the clubs who missed the cut. They would have to re-invent themselves as community clubs and rebuild with a proper business plan instead of stumbling along on the edge of bankruptcy safe in their "semi-pro" status.

No, but P+R would make sod all difference to that. At Bramall Lane we're higher than 1K now, should be aiming for 2K + with better marketing. About comparible with (or better than) semi-pro football at a similar payment levels to the players. It would be like having P+R straight from the Blue Square Division 1 North straight into the Premier League.

That's the least level playing field I can think of. Unless you played it at Batley, allowing the SL team to kick downhill in both halves and have 13 players v 9. SL clubs have more overseas players, full time squads, a massively higher salary cap etc. etc. It would be a miracle if the CC side won. Then they would have about 6 weeks to assemble a squad.

Unlike the 100 others you've started on this topic. Cheese sandwich, anyone?

The amateur scene in Wales at Open Age is poor but does that really matter? Build up from the juniors and the Open Age should take care of itself down the line. The difficulty, as with all non-heartland areas, is facilities. If you use Union grounds, you get good facilities but you're stuck with the short summer window and risk developing players for the RFU or WRU to take away. If you don't - well, it's schools or parks and you also get llimited access to potential RU converts. Tough choice really. North Wales is interesting - it has less of an ingrained Union heritage than the South and is close enough to Cheshire/North West to be able to tie in with longer seasons etc. As well as having the Crusaders there, obviously. Now Wales is a separate RL nation Cymru RL really has to step up the funding drive from their own sources as Sport England doesn't obviously cover Wales.

Any particular kind of cheese?

Bramall Lane for a WC semi. In fact a CC semi next year would be nice

Hull derby in the play-offs? Bring it on!

Presumably McCaw caught it.

Very hard to tell. Perhaps we should go the other way and penalise anything that might be forward.

No, it's in Derbyshire If they can tackle it's not that important. They only go to the bin if it's repeated after a warning. Unless it's deliberate, then it's red.

I seriously doubt it. Most new fans who you are trying to attract neither know nor care about P+R. They would be far more likely to turn up if Sheffield were in SuperLeague simply because Leeds, Wigan, Saints, Hull etc. are much bigger draws, and not just for the extra away supporters.

Tough luck!

See you later if you're in the bar after. I'm on interchange duty. It's a special event for the Armed Forces today in honour of ex-Eagle Liam Brentley who was seriously injured in the line of duty. Also, this is good: Eagles will make their game against Leigh Centurions one to remember for young visiting fan William Barlow. The six-year-old will be presented to both teams before the kick-off as a thank you for his gift of boots and kit to the Kits2Kids charity set up by Eagles player Menzie Yere and backed by the club. Sports fans have been asked to send Yere their old shirts, boots and surplus kit, which he plans to ship out to his native Papua New Guineafor distribution to local players. Launched four months ago as Kits for Kumuls, the appeal has received donations of sports gear from across the UK, Europe and Australia. Chris Noble, MBE, an Eagles director who is co-ordinating the appeal, said:

Could say the same about a number of "heartland" clubs who have gone into administration recently. I won't name them all but we know who they are. Management that couldn't run an ice cream stall at the seaside, journeyman players, no development, poor community links, a few hundred fans maximum. So much for the traditional areas. Enough said!