Trojan

What's the betting they'll all have signed for the Giants in two years time

They are very adjacent to Castleford. You only need to turn right at the end of Wheldon Road, go over the two bridges and you're in Leeds - politically. Speaking as someone who worked in Cas for 10 years, most of those living in the places I named treat Cas as the place to go out for a meal, or a drink, or to shop, or to watch sport. The centre of Cas is much larger than that which would be needed for a town of its size.

Keith Senior gets the digs in and never seems to cop for any.

Castleford is not that big a place. But for the surrounding areas, Ledsham, Ledston, Allerton Bywater, Kippax, Methley,South Milford, Sherburn in Elmet, Monk Fryston (all of which are in Leeds MDC BTW) Castleford is their main shopping town, and centre. They are today all large residential areas, and presumably supply large numbers of Cas's crowd.

However, the people I stand with at Fev are there every game.

If there's a Morrisons there and they can get Pooles meat and potato pies then the answer is probably yes

For the top of SL. What about the rest? Salford, Bradford, Crusaders, Harlequins? Attendences are certainly down in the Championship - nowt to play for except a tick in a box. Which if posts on here are to be believed will mean absolutely nothing when the decsions are taken.

Fev certainly draws fans from Ferrybridge, Knottingley, even Kellington and Snaith. The group I stand with come from these areas, plus Barnsley. I come from Morley - 12 miles away and I'm not the only one.

Companies like Mars do market research amongst their customers all the time. As do most companies (never filled a questionaire in on your way back from Greece Dave?) So why don't the RFL seek the views of its customers? Frightened of getting the wrong answers perhaps.

Where does it start

The fact remains that most RL fans in the "heartlands" have chosen RL as their sport. There's plenty of premiership soccer in this area - Liverpool, Everton, Bolton, Wigan, Man C, Man U, plus the championship, 1st and 2nd division Yorkshire sides. There's top class Union at Leeds and Sale and any number of smaller clubs, but RL fans turn out in large numbers to support their teams. This can't be said of - say London - where there's been a club for nigh on thirty years - long enough to establish itself as the first choice sports team perhaps a small minority of Londoners, but nevertheless a significant minority. This simply hasn't happened. And yet the RFL has persevered with them through their various incarnations, and those of us in the heartlands who allegedly think only their opnions count have (AFAIR) never been consulted about their continued subsidised existence. Plus of course franchising, Super League, or summer Rugby. I don't recall as a regular "heartlands" supporter being asked my attitude on any of these major changes to the game. So rather than "paranoid," given their treatment by the game's administrators I'd rather use the adjective "loyal" if no one minds that is.

You must have lived in the South a long time Craig, Fulham/Crusaders/Broncos/Harelquins are 30 years old next month. I recall a London amateur RL side playing a friendly at Belle Vue in 1969.

He wasn't Pike was he? (stupid boy )

You can't denude a team of all its best players - Fielden, Peacock, Lowes, Pryce, Vainokolo, Deacon, plus its best coach - Noble and expect the same perfomances. If anyone is to blame for Bradford's current plight it's Caisley - who's now long gone. The Bulls have been in a decline since his departure. They are in a losing streak and to revive an argument from another thread, they don't look like top 8 contenders, so from the players' and fans' points of view what's the point? Their season is effectively over. They should still be capable of beating the likes of Salford but it looks like they can't be bothered. Was it only 2005 when they beat Leeds in the GF? With Lowes playing his last game, Pryce MOM. Peacock went to Leeds because Caisley told him he could F-off when he asked for more money. Noble and Fielden were allowed to go to Wigan without much of a fight. When you think of them in the early noughties, and look at them today - it's a case of how are the mighty fallen?

In the days when I was a regular at Belle Vue it always puzzled me how they got away with keeping the bars open on Sunday afternoons. Clubs certainly moved from Saturday to Sunday because of counter attractions of Saturdays, including live sport on TV (not necessarily Rugby) Racing for starters. My uncle a miner would spend his entire Saturday afternoon flitting between the bookies at the bottom of the street and his TV.

Spot on. That's why the RFL moved most fixtures there in the seventies. The only exceptions IIRC were Leeds who always preferred to play at Headingley on a Friday night, I seem to remember Salford playing Fridays too.

Well done the Gallant Youths Karl Harrison really has made a difference there. What can Salford have been thinking about?

Funky?

Is it Oldham then? I thought with the steep terracing it must be Fartown

I know that at one time in soccer an out field player was allowed to make "a fair catch" catch of the ball and call for a mark. And a free kick.

You mean the 18 yard (or 16.452 m) line

Not more accurate - just easier to measure in mm. than in fractions of an inch.

I went to the screening of the Mitchell and Kenyon NU stuff at the National Media Museum about four years ago - it was great. It must be unique to be able to see how a game was actually played over 100 years ago. There's plenty of soccer stuff on Mitchell and Kenyon but I don't think the basic game of soccer has changed as much as RL has from those days.

Fev were relegated in 1992, which was sad, especially as their fate was in their own hands, they only needed a draw at Wakey and either Hull, Bradford or Salford would have accompanied Swinton through the trap-door - oh well. But it was doubly sad for the game - it was the last season of Station Road. I went to Station Road to watch Fev not long before the end of the season. It was run-down and dilapidated, and there was a very small crowd, most of whom were from Fev. I've just been reading a book about Grand/Championship Finals, many of which along with Test matches, cup semis, and County Cup ties were held there in front of large crowds. Sad year for RL 1992. Did Fartown close the same season?