Leyther_Matt

I think Broncos (and a lesser extent Catalans) are a little different on that front as I think, deep down, all RL fans want them to do well, if not necessarily better than their own, of course. I support my local team in both football and rugby and would never have it any other way. Growing up in Leigh, Wigan and Saints fans were very much in the majority at school but the tide has largely turned on that, albeit not completely given Wigan keep picking up pots.

Without wishing to dive too deeply in to this, there’s a reason why the ‘fan’ heritage numbers only began in 2023 and not using the years of previous data that was available.

Slightly different in the Championship as not all of the clubs receive an away allocation in the same manner as Super League clubs (or indeed Premier League or EFL, as I have pointed out to Mr Mascord in response to his nonsensical tweet) Most (if not all) clubs have an option for a digital ticket when bought through the home club, but sheer logistics as @M j M pointed out determines otherwise when buying through the away club. It is even the case for the Challenge Cup Final if you buy any of the 100 tickets allocated to each Championship/League One club. **For the sake of debate, it’s entirely possible to set up receiving digital tickets when bought from the away club. However, they’d still have to go off sale 12-36 hours before the game (depending on the timing of the match) for purely reporting purposes and/or provide barcode details. Or alternatively paying a significant cost to set up APIs amongst each clubs differing ticket systems which just isn’t worth the time, money or effort. I’ve been involved in experiments involving both and generally speaking it’s been, at best, lukewarm. You can of course in some cases buy for the away end directly from the home club, but then of course your club would miss out on their commission in that scenario.

Also sadly I think 2 x 10 FT teams is moon man fodder. If we get anything close to 14 (as we have in the past) then it’s an interesting conversation, but even then I think we always need a couple on the outside to drive competition levels.

I’m at Stevenage away, but the wife has left it in the porch. Turn right at Tommy’s leopard print minibus.

I literally only know it from passing on the train and assume it’s accessible from Gorgie, but that’s your lot

20 years of posting on here disregarded in a flash!

Was there not an England Knights game as well?

Meggetland has been used previously if memory serves me right, but I suppose it all depends on what is considered to be anything close to a RL hub in Scotland, even if that means playing in Falkirk or wherever.

If any such players show up then I’m sure we’ll find a way, in much the same way we quietly became GB & Ireland to incorporate Brian Carney.

Fairly sure there’s a gene pool joke in there somewhere.

Perfect on that front yesterday. Hate the whole hyperbole about showing respect when they’re shouting about harpooning you. Stand your ground as far as you can, get in their faces and look them in the eye. Tremendous spectacle. (And then break out the morris dancing or agadoo)

That was the World Cup Final tbf

That was also our plan, but we’ve pushed it back a year to coincide with the World Cup. As for 2025, I’m intrigued by the Newcastle and Everton suggestions but I’d probably go a little safer with Tottenham, Man City and Leeds Utd. Will take some acrobatics with the football fixtures and kick off times will certainly be interesting. Would love an evening kick off under the lights; the atmosphere was electric at some of the early 2000s games when half the crowd had been boozing all day.

Actually caught a bit of Gloucester v someone or other in a pub before the Grand Final and it was actually a fairly entertaining game, which surprised me. Every other attempt to watch RU, particularly at international level, has largely been utter nonsense. AFL is Transworld Sport fodder. As for football, I do think a really good football match can trump a really good RL game, but that’s probably because they’re comparatively few and far between. I do watch all of the Scotland games plus I do tend to watch the Premier League games on Sunday but more as background noise rather than taking much of an active interest in that level. I have home & away season tickets for Bolton Wanderers and also a membership for Atherton Collieries who have just dropped from level 7 to level 8. I also try to get to a few Hibs games per season. I must admit plenty of the games can be pretty dull and so it is probably a case of attending as a supporter (and the social aspect) rather than necessarily footballing entertainment.

Google Image Library doing the heavy lifting once again.

I wouldn’t bank on Wigan being charged for the tickets tbh.

Sadly I actually think it is that small for any England games that aren’t at event venues tbh.

2007ish? They also did the Wigan kit in 1998 and fairly sure Catalans had them for a short while?

Free tickets for the Samoa game for anyone who renews their Wigan season ticket is probably not a good sign

Well, we did have Halbro a few times over the years, too

Reebok are very much an ‘in’ brand these days in keeping with vintage being fashionable etc As positive as it is to see such a recognisable name, it is ultimately a licensing deal and will be interesting to see how that works out in terms of quality and variety. Interesting that you mention Patrick as the deal with them attributed quotes to Patrick UK directly rather than being a license deal. They’ve done the Leigh kits for the last two seasons and also previously in 2002 (also Wigan in 2003ish although I think that was after JJB bought the licensing rights)

And the similarly mild mannered Simon Finnigan, who really was the master to Anderson’s apprentice on the shithousing front

Stuart Littler, both for and against.

Just got back, sadly not the contest I was hoping for - which is a bit weird with such a narrow margin - but a great occasion as always. One day someone will force Wigan to come out of second gear and then they will really be worth watching. Warrington? Give over