Maximus Decimus

Just finished a book called Stasi Child by David Young and I really enjoyed it. In general I'm not a fan of historical fiction or stories set in relatively unknown historical times like the former East Germany. In my experience the authors often can't help but show off their knowledge of the period and it becomes an annoyance after a while if you are knowledgeable on the subject. With the GDR, whilst there are few stories set in this era, they often end up being cliché stories about Stasi informers where the informer is so obvious the main character would've had to be an idiot not to notice. The Bicycle Teacher is one such example. Stasi child was an interesting story set in the GDR without being completely dominated by it. The Stasi are not treated as Hollywood bad guys and the public aren't presented as dumb sheep who don't have an idea what's going on. It's the first of a trilogy and I look forward to the rest.

Cars wise, I really have to point out the Runcorn Bridge. Disruption is to be expected with the building of the second bridge and there are many roadworks on both sides. Since about Christmas, the old Ditton roundabout was shut and they had a major set of diversions and roadworks to get over from the Widnes bridge. Despite this, once you got on the bridge it was quite smooth sailing. About a month ago they opened the shiny new system that will replace the old roundabout and it's bedlam on both sides. Coming from Widnes now involves numerous sets of traffic lights and coming from Runcorn now involves a large queue once you've crossed the bridge as well as before. I could cope knowing that it is temporary and IF it results in a much easier flow of traffic once the second bridge is open in 2017. However, they've recently announced that the old bridge will be closed for a year for repainting and I have zero confidence that the new bridge will mean easy passage on its own.

On the Apple thing, I vowed never again after an experience I had with them a while back. The Internet was down in the house and I needed to print a boarding pass off. I downloaded it onto my iPhone but physically couldn't get it from my iPhone to my laptop. I tried everything and I'm not a novice with technology. They just wouldn't let me do it. Over the years I've often used my phone as a makeshift memory key and even though it was a minor thing it told me everything I needed to know about the way apple worked. It's the same if you buy music on their devices, good luck playing it on anything non-apple. While I'm talking mobile phones, Samsung Autocorrect. Literally the worst thing I've ever used.

If this is a joke it went over my head! It's a book by Terry Hayes.

Just finished listening to I Am Pilgrim. Must say it was an incredible read even if a little far-fetched at times.

Park run is brilliant and something like this is only going to threaten its existence. As somebody else alluded to, how much do councils spend on trying to promote healthy living and exercise to absolutely no effect? Here's something that has got people actually doing exercise and they'll end up ruining it.

FIFA are a disgusting organisation, the personal plaything of dictator Blatter. He's now pulling the race card to get himself out of the utterly ridiculous and obviously corrupt choice of Qatar in 2022. At least with RL the worst we face is self-interest and incompetence instead of corruption. The worst is that nothing will be done and the whole event is just seen as another black mark on English football, meaning that we'll probably never see an English World Cup again in my lifetime.

Must admit, they are an easy read which is quite refreshing. Usually I like books that are believable and the less ridiculous the better but I'm accepting Flashman for what it is!

Just started reading the Flashman novels. My first reaction was that I don't think they could have been written in this day and age.

I've enjoyed every Grisham I've ever read but I bizarrely find it hard to recall which ones I've read and which I haven't.

The game was a poor game by RL standards and Hull are getting a lot of flack for a bad performance. However, it was only a bad attacking performance, Wigan were so dominant that with many other teams it would have been maybe 30 or 40 nil for their dominance. At least there was some doubt about the result up until the 70th minute or so. I think the sheer number of knock ons ruined the spectacle for many, especially as they were hardly forced by good play. I'm mixed about it, I think the ball is to blame but as my previous stats showed, the actual number of errors hasn't increased this year.

These modern players couldn't lace Richie Mathers' boots.

I actually commented on this to Martyn after a very good game of RL. As many others do regularly, he used the game to say that it was proof that Rugby League is the greatest game. It's two sides of the same coin to me. I replied to him then that in my opinion this sort of comment is a symptom of the huge insecurity within RL that we have about our sport. There is so much negativity around the game that opportunities like a fantastic match are jumped on almost as a reminder why we follow the game at all. I completely agree that we are very defensive also and this leads to huge over-reactions to the littlest of things, including a poor game. That same insecurity manifests itself in some people as a defensive over-reaction, such as trying to distance themselves from the game. Proclaiming the death of the sport is almost an attempt to soften the blow if the game did go on and die, then at least they could claim that they had seen it coming and were of greater intelligence than those who didn't. It's like jumping off a sinking ship and they think they are the first to see it coming. This is evidenced by the numbers that will only speak on negative threads, I don't believe they hate RL, I think it is a coping mechanism with the disappointment that they have witnessed. It has happened for 108 years and continues to today, god forbid if these forums had been around in the early 1970's. As for entertainment I'd say at least 5/10 are good games, there are too many games where the result is a foregone conclusion for it to be higher than this. It is however higher than Football IMO where I rarely catch a good game. I envy how their fans rarely question the sport itself and would criticise the teams' lack of skill way before the sport. When Widnes played Castleford there was a great deal of negativity around the ground and this increased after we lost with many saying they'd had enough and that they wouldn't be renewing next year etc etc. However, from an entertainment POV this is ludicrous. Our first 6 games included excellent defeats of Hull and Wire, a 12-man comeback against Bradford (which was a cracker), close defeats to Wakey and Saints and our biggest ever SL win. Since then, we have beaten London and suffered very narrow defeats against Cas, Catalans and Wigan. Only the Leeds and Huddersfield games were poor games as we were out of them by half-time, so all in all 2/12 games have been anything like not entertaining. I'd love to see what other sports could say that.

There is a difference between this system and other formats. Currently, teams are still playing for positions as theoretically the higher up you finish the better chance you have. Hull KR can still finish 5th or 8th. Also, if Warrington were so desperate to win the LLS, surely they wouldn't be resting players? They won't be resting them come playoff time. The top 8 is basically a resetting of the season. It's not like saying what do Widnes, Cas etc have to play for because the important part of the season would completely reset. It would be in their interests to be as injury free as possible for this 2nd part. For fans also they would know that league position means absolutely nothing apart from top so what happens when a team runs away with it? It's not like football where a position defines how good a season you've had, as long as you're top 8 then the season resets and that is where it would really matter. Optimism and idealism has a fine line and even optimism doesn't guarantee success. WC2000 and the WCC 1997 were clearly organised by optimistic and ambitious people but they ignored obvious problems that they hoped would go away. I think 3x8 falls into this category.

I'm not sure it could sustain a whole 22 round set of games when it was still classed as a secondary achievement. I'm usually quite good at remembering stats and I could probably give a good stab at naming all the Grand Final winners and the Challenge Cup winners since the early 80's. I'd have to look up the LLS for the last 3 years though, I think most view it as very secondary. You could always try and make the competition more prestigious by making it a bigger prize but then you take the risk of this initial stage being seen as the real prize with the playoffs becoming like the old Premiership. As I said earlier, another problem would be the clubs that might start resting players in anticipation of the 2nd part of the year. Currently the Rhinos, Saints, Dragons and Hull are guaranteed safety at this stage without being able to challenge, so they would inevitably start resting star players ready for the season part two. This would give them an advantage over the top clubs and be unfair on clubs that played them and lost when they put out stronger sides.

IMO you either have a prestigious playoffs which determines the winner or you have a prestigious league which determines the winner. I'm not sure that you can have both. Clubs and fans will know that the big prize is still the Grand Final, so you're taking a big risk in hoping that the league leaders shield will provide motivation to the clubs and the fans guaranteed to make the 8. If it didn't work, then we could have a real damp squib of a season for 22 rounds amongst the top clubs. I think the better balance is to continue the points into the second part. We could also see teams making the 8 comfortably but not being in contention and then resting their players in preparation for the second part of the season. Your point about the 7th and 8th clubs is valid, and to be fair I think the whole system is flawed but if it has to be done I'd rather risk these having little to play in some seasons for than our best clubs.

It's odd that when I represented my views (with absolutely no bile) you responded with sighs and attempts to patronise me. Yet I'm the one who can't take opposite opinions? You can't respond in that way and expect to be treated with respect back. And you haven't come close to providing a genuine alternative to the ST system.

When you have all the answers Griff! It's so frustrating. If only the vast majority of sporting clubs would listen to you, they'd have their problems solved.

It's 'publicised' in this country. See, I can be patronising too.

Sigh? You're the person arguing against what the vast majority of sporting clubs do and has had no better alternative in ensuring fans get to games. I haven't even implied that we do market research on here so you can take back your attempted patronising tone. If you're willing to pay out £150-200 up front for a season pass to a game of rugby then you're hardly being tricked into buying one. They are clearly buying one for a reason and the most sensible reaon is that they think they will save money across a season. The reality however is that if they didn't buy one a large number wouldn't attend all of the games for a variety of reasons. Your idea encourages people to potentially opt for a lower priced alternative. Let's look at some facts rather than idle speculation. Season tickets are more popular compared to average attendances over here than in the NRL where the game has a higher profile. Leeds Rhinos have about 10,000 ST holders and so far this year have managed a biggest crowd of 18,500 and a lowest of 12,500. So there is not even a 50% increase from the lowest to the highest crowd. Then look at a team like South Sydney, they have had a much bigger highest crowd of 32,000 yet have a lower lowest crowd of just 11,000. That is a difference of almost 3 times from their lowest to their biggest. This difference is replicated across Super League, where most clubs see a relatively small increase from their biggest to their smallest regardless of derbies. I would suggest it is because of the success that British clubs have had in encouraging their fans to buy season tickets. There's nothing worse than somebody acting all enlightened as if they have the answers when in reality they have none of them.

Of course, I'm more bothered from a whole game approach. I'm relieved the top 8 doesn't start again, that would truly have been disastrous for the sport.

All marketing is a form of deception and anyway they do want to buy it. There's nobody being tricked into buying a season ticket that desperately doesn't want to go the rugby. Most who buy one think they are making a saving across a season without realising that without a ST they probably wouldn't attend every single game. Life and money gets in the way, season tickets take away the uncertainty of this. It's not completely off-topic because I think the 3x8 model threatens season ticket sales. Lower clubs might decide against one in case a portion of their ST is against lower-division clubs and higher placed clubs might class the first part of the season as non-essential. It all depends on whether the top league resets or not.

I presume the middle 8 is a mini-league that starts again. Is this true for the top 8 though? If so it is actually madness as it provides no incentive for clubs like Leeds, Wigan and Wire that will see no achievement in simply making it into that top league. The whole concept is made on the premise that the leagues will be reasonably competitive. This is where it falls down. The top 4 of the second division will not be up to the standard of the top league, we simply don't have the resources for it to work. A really dire London side looked comfortably better than one of the top Championship sides on their own patch recently and it's unlikely to change.

It's not about confidence it's about human nature and the reality of people attending games. This isn't sport specific, I'd argue the exact same for Football or Rugby Union. It's also the same logic that is why big events like to get people to pre-buy tickets rather than pay on the day. I remember once I was invited to a 21st birthday party for a lad I knew but I wasn't going because I was up for work at 4am the next morning. I ended up going because I was so guilted into it by people on the morning of the party, a large number of which didn't end up going themselves. If they'd actually had to pre-pay for a ticket to the party I wonder how many would have made an excuse to pull out? Say you have a Leeds fan that is given the choice of a season ticket at £200 or a 10 game pass that he can use over a season for £175. You are running the risk of a large number picking the £175 instead because it is cheaper and it gives them more choice to pick and choose games, especially when some are on TV and some like Salford, London or Widnes are foregone conclusions.

I don't think there is a great deal of support for this from either clubs or fans, the RFL are really pushing it as their preferred choice. If you're a middling Super League club, this is a more secure system of remaining a SL club then P&R is.