Leyther_Matt

There’s definitely something in the timing of the seasons though. RL doesn’t seem to have quite got out of that lockdown feeling, whereas football has benefited hugely from starting the season with a clean slate. I was at actually both of the games you mention as it happens (and Huddersfield-Leigh yesterday). Busy weekend!

A costly night for Catalans with a couple of injuries picked up. STomkins was straight off the field, no messing. Wasn’t a game particularly high in attacking quality but it had its moments. Hastings kicked Maloney off the field to be fair to him. Hardaker losing the ball going over the line did make my night though, it has to be said.

Not on the type of terracing that is the AJ Bell. It would need to be converted to safe standing which would a) cost a bit and b) would be likely to be the opposite of how Sale would want it. Not even moved in yet and they’ll already be falling out

If Sale Sharks and Salford City are considered to be the barometer of morality then the world really is in trouble, never mind RL.

Super Trooper League init

Be reet once the sponsorship with ABBA is sorted for next season

That would make absolute sense tbf Think we had the Premiership before football?

Anybody who is suggesting Derby needs to stop drinking. Right now. Grim city. Grim pubs. Grim stadium. And that’s coming from someone who has lived in Leigh their entire life.* *Currently travelling by train to Newcastle having driven all of 14 minutes from home, and that included a Maccies detour

35,104 which sounds very good although of course it’s the usual reality of there only ever being so many people in the ground at the same time

In fairness the matter does market itself as WSL rather than purely SL. I’m sure there’s plenty of other sports who have a Super League as well.

Bit harsh on the Etihad there as I think that was the best of the lot in terms of creating a buzz immediately around the stadium and giving people enough of a reason to stick around and dip in and out between the stadium and the fan zone rather than watching their own team then buggering off to the city centre.

After the season we’ve had, that’s the only reason I’m going!

Forgot about Kurt Baptiste. Not that his half an hour in a Leigh shirt was particularly memorable.

John Wilshere (Warrington, Leigh, Salford)

So the answer to my question is that it isn't a live broadcast for non-Sky games as streaming is a very different set up. So in reality not very different at all to the current situation.

Is that a live broadcast though or just a highlights package?

I think that’s very much the case now, particularly as you say with ‘six again’ making it pretty relentless. And, for me at least, the game really isn’t benefiting from it as a spectacle.

Unless I’ve missed something, it wouldn’t be a full broadcast set up though, would it? That isn’t actually that far off the mark if the games are at Wigan, Hull and Huddersfield. All of the cabling that takes hours and hours to sort out at your average SL ground is actually hard-wired in as ‘plug in and play’ as part of Premier League minimum stadium standards.

There’s still much the same number of fans attending (and drinking) as there was then, only they drink in the pubs instead. At away games I stand by the mantra that kick off is overrated.

Yeah I’d forgot about the National League one, albeit that was at Bristol City (in front of fans) last season. Think it’s a pitch preservation thing with the play offs now, though it still caught me by surprise when checking the dates this morning and initially thinking Leigh and Bolton would manage to double-book me (yeah, right!)

I've done it with both and from memory it didn't make too much difference really other than obviously remaining dry. Certainly don't expect it to be any warmer as I recall there being a hell of a draught! Play-offs at Wembley since the late 80s and they always hosted the FA Trophy/FA Vase finals so the only addition would be the Women's FA Cup Final and I suppose more of an attitude of protecting the pitch these days along with a few days grace to 'dress' the stadium for marketing etc.

In a similar vein, I've been waiting a lifetime to see Leigh at Wembley, so stick your house on Leigh getting to one (sod it, both!) of the finals at Spurs. I hurriedly booked all manner of combination of hotels so that CC/1895 can be combined with the play off finals at Wembley. And then discovered the League One final is the week before for whatever reason (so ironically Wembley won't actually be in use on Challenge Cup Final day) so then ended up cancelling a load of them and reserving for two consecutive weeks instead.

Tell me when we’ve ever had a season like this one with so many midweek games and so much off-field pressures on the players and you’d have a point.

But will those players be capable of putting on a show worthy of attracting - and, more importantly, retaining - those non RL fans? Lord knows they’ve been struggling to string together two decent games in a row on Sky because they’re all either playing twice a week or end up not training for a fortnight and then not playing for another week or two on top of that.

Historically speaking there tended to be quite a boost for clubs who were in Super League at the time when people tended to rely on Facebook/Twitter for score updates before Flash Scores and the like upped their game.