Trojan

I wanted Leeds to win. i) for the reason highlighted & ii) because I'm from Leeds. I used to hate Leeds, but since we no longer play them on a regular basis I've mellowed a little. I suppose based on Maslow I could have a hierarchy of hate. 1. Cas 2. Cas 3 Cas 4 Wire 5 Pies 6 Saints I hate the rest about equally plus of course Radio Leeds for their one eyed Rhinos first, SL teams second, rest nowhere policy.

Who plans these things? The slip road off the M1 joins a dual carriageway, which narrows to single carriageway and then a roundabout - already a recipe for a jam. But there were also temporary lights - no one working mind. And on the way back they'd gone. Event at Wembley, bottlneck, I know let's dig the road up. Do they do it deliberately?

...I saw loads of Hull tops, a smattering of Hull KR, a few Bulls, Wigan, Saints and Salford - quite a few Giants, quite a few Cas. I didn't see any Crusaders or Harlequins, which given that it was played in London was a bit odd. Non SL clubs - well me (although I was wearing blue and yellow to blend in ) Fev, Fev Lions, Cougars, and quite a few from 'Fax, plus one from Siddal - that's the lot from non SL.

I left on the hooter too. We were sat in the tier that Dave Woods called "the ring of indifference" courtesy of Carnegie (my lad's mate works there - he was at Watford cheering on LUFC - gave us the tickets) I'm not a Leeds fan (no! ) but I was cheering for them. I wasn't keen on the old Wembley, I reckon this one's not much better - it'll be another slum in 20/30 years.

But didn't the insolvency occur in 2007 immediately after C*s beat them at Headingley?

I'm not from Featherstone. I'm from Morley. My mother's family are from the Featherstone area, and when I was a kid and the results were given out on Grandstand, she would always remark on the fact. I was a Wakey fan from being about 14 to being 33. And then I switched. For the reasons above Fev were always my second team. I went to Wembley with them in 1973. But in 1980 I switched. There've been some ups (winning at Wembley in '83, beating Halifax with 11 mean in 1991) and downs (being relegated to the third tier) but I've never regretted it. For me Fev represent what Rugby League is about. Fighting against the odds and the powers that be in order to be successful. The epitome of Rugby League - those in power said "you can't do that" but Rugby League (and Featherstone Rovers) have done. It was great last Sunday. I'll be away a week on Thursday, but I'm sure I'll find a way of getting the result. Good luck to Fev.

It was thirty years ago today (well Wednesday really) that Fulham played Wigan at Craven Cottage. They've and the RFL have had thirty years trying to establish the game in Greater London. Given that the game was 85 years old at the time, that's a third of the life of the game given over these attempts. Surely it's time to pack it in. The Londoners aren't interested. At one time I thought that there must be enough ex pat Lankys, Yorkies, Aussies and Kiwis to support a RL club in London. But if after thirty years the best they can offer is 2/3k out of a 10m. population then it's time to pack it in. Lets face it Londoners are not that interested in Rugby of either code - most of the top Union clubs have moved away from London, to Watford or Reading. The Stoop itself is not exactly convenient for away supporters either, most of whom will be coming from the North. Unless you have a sugar daddy willing to pour millions in for years, there's no way that top down expansion will work. Celtic Crusaders proved that. I'm very in favour of expansion. But by the London Skolars and South Wales Scorpions route. Develop the game at grass roots, build a team of local players. That's the way to expand.

How much from Aylesbury on the train, thinking of driving to Northolt.

Personally I wondered whether he would lay claim to part of the word "Penistone" as being more appropriate.

We performed well. But as far as tackling went they appeared to be just going through the motions. Something definitely wrong somewhere at Barrow. They owed their fans a better perfomance than they produced today.

The folk group "The Oldham Tinkers" have a song which includes Eddie: "At Watersheddin's it used t'be good" "Ter watch 'em feight for t'ball i' t' mud" "But now the game has changed tha sees" "They can't play dirty on TV" "Eddie Warin' is a bum, Eddie Warin' is a bum" "Ee aye addy Eddie Warin' is a bum"

I'm not keen on crustaceans, in fact I avoid them if I can. I like mussels (moules & frites - delish) And I enjoy spaghetti vongole (clams) I've eaten squid but I agree about the rubbery texture. I once had whelks in a spicey gravy in Ostende off a stall on the prom (a bit like those at Scarboro) - I had to throw them away.

I've been to Pusan. I wasn't offered live octopus, but I was offered live prawns, as part of a huge raw fish dinner. The fish was served on a block of ice. The prawns were brought it later in the meal, and I could see that they were raw, I then noticed that they were still moving It was all served with the usual Korean accompaniments - raw garlic, hot sauce and the mandatory kimchi. My favourite Korean meal is the meat barbecued at the table - is it bulgagi? Whatever - I've been to S. Korea twice and had it several times on both occasions.

Fullertons on Queen Street in Morley, as recommended by TV chef Brian Turner. Brilliant Yorkshire curd tarts. Great breadcakes, great bread, fantastic home made potted meat, a real old fashioned bakers. Ususally a queue.

I'll be in France -do they get Sky in France?

If Harlequins have to drop out of SL doesn't that remove the whole reason for having a club in London? "National coverage" TBH I'm not sure that there are enough people in London to support even one rugby team of either code. Harlequins RU play at Twickenham, the others either play at Watford or Reading don't they? They were all London clubs when they didn't need speccies, but they're not now.

But no actual footage of our celebrations afterwards.

I was speaking from the point of view of having to play on it. One former pro player I know says that most pros call it Mount Unpleasant. It's a huge advantage to Batley. You could tell second half they knew just where to kick the ball to get maximum advantage from the myriad angles of the pitch.

I said on here last week that I thought Batley would give us a tough game - I saw them play Barrow. And they did. The fact remains that they benefitted from a string of penalties in the first half - perhaps from Fev's poor discipline - who knows? Whatever the reason for them, once the penalties stopped coming Batley started to struggle. Fev dominated the last twenty minutes, up the slope, that's when the game was won.

You ran us ragged until the penalties stopped. Then we beat you playing up the slope. I've played on Mount Pleasant - what an inapropriate name BTW - playing up the slope is far from pleasant.

I'd be interested to know what the frist half penalty count was. I'm not arguing whether they were penaties or not. What I'm saying is that surely Batley were also guilty of some of the offences Fev were punished for. I saw at least three blatant examples of holding down at the PTB and at least two very high shots go unpunished first half. As I posted earlier, once the penalties stopped Batley effectively lost the game. The same for forward passes, first half Laughton only seemed to see the Fev ones.

I was standing about 5 yards away right behind the sticks, I would've been pretty annoyed if it had been given against us.

Once the string of penalties stopped, so did Batley. I thought last twenty up the slope we were outstanding, although I must admit I thought Stuart's try was double movement.

I am bittter about '98. But even so given twelve years of SL money, a little bit of on field success, and better crowds that they'd have made more attempts at improving their ground etc. I'd hope that if we had won that night in Huddersfield we'd have made a better fist of SL than they have. What bugs me about Wales is that they let Celtic Crusaders into SL when they had CCJ's against them going back to 2006. Doesn't anyone at RFL check these things, or was just that they were so keen to get Crusaders into SL they didn't care? I spoke to business contacts in South Wales in 2008, and they all cast doubt on Samuel's ability to fund a SL club. (those that had heard of the club in the first place that is)

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