Dave W

In fairness, I do know - from what a former touch judge once told me - the degree to which a touch judge is allowed to assist the referee is up to the ref. If he tolerates it, that's all that matters I suppose. He also told me that one ref gave him and the other touch judge strict instructions to stay off the pitch and just do their job. "The line's your responsibility. What happens between them is mine"

If this is the case, the laws need changing. I've certainly never seen anything like what he was doing in 45 years watching the game. It just irritated me. Given how badly Barrow were playing, I wasn't in the best of moods anyway without him prancing around. At least my chips never got crapped on by a gull, so I'll always have that as a positive to focus on.

At least we got something for him, unlike Langtree.

Absolutely nothing to do with Barrow's dreadful performance. I'm just asking wtf was the touch judge doing? I found it very odd.

Notwithstanding the awful performance, I found this on the official RFL site : Touch Judge 11. Each Touch Judge shall remain in touch, one on each side of, and near to, the playing field except:– (a) when judging kicks at goal (see Section 6) and (b) when reporting a player’s misconduct which has escaped the notice of the Referee. What on earth was the touch judge on the popular side doing? He was running up and down the pitch, two metres in field for practically the whole game.

We were bloody awful today. Whoever got to pick the 'Champagne Moment' weren't exactly spoiled for choice. Are they allowed to ask for a rollover? That's what the team did.

We did indeed and I'm struggling to see how the shortfall is going to be made up. It's sink or swim for a lot of clubs at the moment. Some are trying to improve their income streams but I fear some will fold before central funding improves.

I hope it does flow down throughout the game rather than just the top teams benefitting.

Everything listed depends on money. Money - or the lack of it - is the main driver here.

That second half was symptomatic of how Barrow tend to lose momentum when they look to be in control. Dewsbury were playing catch-up rugby and somehow, we got suckered into playing catch up rugby as well - desperately trying to kill a game that was already won (and losing possession in the process) when the sensible thing to do was just play the sets and make the opposition re-start from deep in their own half.

When the players were at the Duke St end a few minutes later, Charlie said he'd grounded the ball cleanly on the line for the try and when he let the ball go (as players usually do in these circumstances) the ref disallowed it. Need to see a video of it.

Neither side used the strong wind to their advantage, which I found baffling. Barrow won the first half 8-6 against the wind, York won the second half 8-7 against the wind

I love all this pointless bickering. We have a bad experience with a group of Haven fans last year/Haven had a bad experience with a group of Barrow fans this year. We beat Haven with a late drop goal last year/Haven beat us with a late drop goal this year. Things learned - none. We all move on. Long may it continue.

Sent you a link

This article didn't increase my misery. Did you actually read it? It was a considered and well- written celebration of clubs outside SL and the importance they have in their communities. Something that needs to be preserved in an often dirty race to get a seat at the the top table. Aaron Bower's one of the few RL journalists capable of stringing a coherent sentence together and he understands what the game means to those those who support it. Some of the others are dreadful: There was one article I read on a rival RL site this weekend where the writer was describing how Sheffield Eagles famously beat Wigan in 1998 "under the Wembley arch". Remarkable, considering the arch didn't exist until 2007. That's the sort of half-arsed tripe that makes this reader miserable.

I don't think we'll get off to a good start at all with half our best 17 out either injured or suspended. Earlier this year, we were saying we needed a Championship quality number six and another hooker. Having seemingly solved that, we find ourselves back to square one and no duel reg. I hope there are irons in the fire to get a couple of loanees in, though goodness knows where from.

He also said this: "My thing that makes me the most nervous is the rule changes," he said. "I don't support it whatsoever. If someone wants to create a new version of rugby league then do that. "Rugby league has already gone too far away from what rugby league was, in my opinion. In terms of what players want to play and in terms of what people want to watch. It's why we've got less people watching it and less companies wanting to broadcast it for less money. If people can't see that, then I don't know what's wrong. You've got to get back to what people want to watch, going back to gladiatorial type in the Roman ages, putting lions in with people" Maybe he's thinking of going back to Leigh Centurions?

I read that. Classy stuff. It's only last week they were failing to pay players, now they're alienating the coach and their own fans. A PR disaster. Question: Would a criminal conviction like Aiye's invalidate his work Visa? Not sure how these things are supposed to work.

It certainly looked bad selecting him in the first game after he'd been sentenced. Very poor messaging.

I wonder if this is anything to do with the applications of the new tackling rules? The inconsistent interpretation of these is causing a lot of frustration with players and supporters.

Where's the incentive for a C grade team to get to B grade if they can get promoted anyway?

In the new IMG world, no one will get promoted for winning the Championship unless they have higher B grade points than a team already in Super League.

https://www.whitehavennews.co.uk/news/24130955.whitehaven-rl-captain-dion-aiye-admits-assault-harassment-charges/

From a squad of 20 with two academy lads in, which of the 17 more experienced players would you leave out to give him a shot?

I would think not. One hell of a step up from the level he's used to playing at.