Wellsy4HullFC

The mid-season tests have been the worst ones due to an over-reliance on Catalans players, so they all pull out with knocks or injuries. Should be better now there are 2 French sides, but could still have the same issues. Catalans and Toulouse shouldn't be playing that weekend (would have sense to have them scheduled that weekend but moved to a different weekend).

Super League needs to be seen more as a competition with places reserved for governing bodies rather than a league controlled by one governing body IMO. If it is deemed beneficial to the whole to have x-teams from one area and they bring in money, there needs to be a presence guaranteed there. How the governing bodies decide which teams qualify for said competition is up to them. If it is 10 RFL and 2 FFR13 clubs, it should be up to them how they qualify. If RFL want to relegate their lowest placed clubs or have them go through a qualifier, that didn't affect the French places. That's my view anyway.

Because setting a goal of more than double the current average isn't being silly...

Because setting a goal of more than double the current average isn't being silly...

Why stop at 25k? Why not 50k?...

Why stop at 25k? Why not 50k?...

I think a mix of the 2 would be good. A National Cup and National Playoffs alongside more localised fixtures in the league would be the best of both worlds for an involved.

It's not the biggest issue, but it's a big issue. At one point they were both averaging 17k. Their drop-off is equivalent to losing a small club's worth of supporters.

The emphasis should always be to get as many people in as possible. Picking an unrealistic target ain't gonna make that any more likely. Big games will always attract more. It doesn't mean every game will.

That atmosphere would be gone if they had a 25k stadium. Like Hull, they wouldn't fill it. 18k is more than enough for most clubs in SL I'd say. The occasional 20k+ crowd would make more sense as a special event in a bigger ground rather than having a huge stadium that's half empty most of the time except for maybe once a year.

Context matters. In this context, it is clearly a cultural categorisation. If I said there were Yorkshire boys in my camp, that cultural connection is important. White is a race. The cultural differences across being white are vast. There is nothing about saying white boys that couldn't be seen as race-specific.

European, no. It's a cultural thing. White, yes. It's a race thing. Hope that helps.

What an unusual take. Why not just pack the 75k stadium to the gills like every other year? Why would you want to downsize because of one year?

Next year is a huge year for French rugby league. That first derby will be a huge celebration for the game there. Toulouse have been waiting over 25 years for this. I hope I can make it next year! Would be s great away day!

C'mon Donny!

Could the record be broken next year? Can anyone stop Saints?

If there's any reason to hate them, that's the one!

More than any other team in the Championship will have managed this year. But you're a "count the empty seats" kind of guy, aren't you? I think they'd be confused as to why an English team would feel the need to travel to France to play, considering the availability of higher standard leagues more local to them. They most likely wouldn't be that bothered, given the evidence that they've let in Italian sides in the past. I bet you hadn't taken that into account when beginning that rant though about the selfish horrible buggers. I think his point was pretty obvious: Super League Europe is not an English league, so your rant about the French joining an English league was utterly redundant.

Don't agree with this at all. Fonua was outstanding in his first stint at the club. He made some great passes of the space he'd make to set up a winger. His positioning was dreadful though and would make many errors when this was wrong. Forced it too many times recently and just wasn't good enough. He's not the player he was.

Isn't that the point though? Featherstone draws fans, players, sponsors, etc outside of the boundary of "Featherstone". The name of the place or its size is not the issue. It's within a metropolis. The bigger issue is that it is within a place served by many SL clubs already rather than the location itself. That's hardly their fault though and it shouldn't be their issue. People shouldn't be measuring the size of their town they're labelled after to look down on them. That doesn't scream inclusivity. It's a snobbery felt by many who follow the game and only serves to disenfranchise the sports followers rather than help attract new ones.

Sorry, I'm all for Toulouse in this one. If it were to be Leigh v Fev next year though, I'f be firmly in the flat-capper camp.

Should really be before it. Season should always end with the top game at the top of the pyramid. Could have watched this game by now!

I'd be happy with that too, but al should be considered a minimum for a club the size of Catalans now.

I'm sure that will go down well SL12 currently, 2 current GF teams, + 6 others; likely Bradford, York, Newcastle, Sheffield, London (all big cities) and Widnes (balance the NW a bit). Hardly the game changer you'd expect from licensing a second division. There's a lot of Yorkshire teams, no big cities in the NW and only Newcastle and London as outside the two Northern regions (one being an even further Northern club). I really don't see the point.

There's only one figure on there that is 5-figures, and I'm pretty certain that was boosted massively by the Barcelona game. I wouldn't call that consistently 5-figures just yet. Out of interest, does anyone know when the stadium project there will be completed? They were meant to be rebuilding the stand opposite the camera to match the other 2 stands weren't they? It's been over a decade since anything was done there.