RP London

if the guy top right puts his collar down that could be the chap in the comic from Oldham, Leigh or Wigan!

Those are fair points. I suppose the bigger problem is that if you go to many sports internationals you know when the next one will be and who it will be against becuase they are relatively regular. Because we don't have this regularity (which would be good to have just the next in midseaon already arranged for example) and becuase we are looking at trying to keep momentum with a group of people that may lose contact with the game outside of internationals (especially initially in their "interest cycle") it is made starker that if they enjoy the experience they have no idea how or when to get their next hit. This is also a reason I think mid season internationals are so important rather than end of season, becuase you can then point them (at worst) to the telebox and super league.

The only thought I have, and i havent done the maths to work this out (and probably wont as i'm not really thinking about it that much) but does doing it in this way with less gradual gradings on off pitch stuff mean that actually the pitch becomes more important for relegation etc.. where as gradual gradings does mean you can get your 0.1 back by cordoning off a bit of the ground for the press etc?? maybe completely wrong but thought id pose it.

i'm the same. I may turn it back on at certain times of the year (good thing with now tv) but at the moment its all year round due to RL, and the odd other sport i enjoy.

its a simple case of having to have the next one set up to be able to sell to the people enjoying the present one.. I dont quite get why the powers that be dont quite understand this.. If they had Tonga (or whoever) lined up while the world cup was on, and especially a london or newcastle test set up while we played there, then how many more tickets would have been sold by people already in the headspace to watch/spend on international RL.. Rocket science it aint.

nail and head.. DOs anyone?

I cannot see them getting any TV coverage in winter to be fair. None top level and up against top level RU and football.. thats whistling in the wind IMHO. Maybe Winter is better for them, who knows, but its not going to magic up a TV contract.

and kids running around the parks of sheffield playing football do it in premier league shirts (and not local ones) but that doesnt mean the local teams arent important. The only people that can answer the question of how important Whitehaven is, with all respect, are the people in whitehaven and kells etc its not you or me. But again, taking links out of chains you only know the consequences properly when you take it out. There are plenty of teams that go from begging bowls to a big success. Any club that thinks that may want to look at themselves and their past and what value they are actually adding to the second tier and whether they have, in the past, done things that may devalue it.. I would put money that there are very few, if any, clubs in the 2nd tier that can say they have not needed a hand out from someone, or help from someone, or havent gone bust in the past, and probably not too distant.

but that's what I am talking about too.. what is the exact relationship between Whitehaven and Kells.. what do the kids want, what makes them turn up at Kells etc etc. While there is an argument that kids watch Super League then just go to the amateur club, perhaps they watch the local semi pro club then go to the amateur or perhaps they watch the amateur club and go to the junior section all individual answers of course and with a strong influence from the parents and peers, of course, too. Amateur clubs do an awful lot to increase the junior sections and they do their own work and to think otherwise would be wrong. BUT to take one link of a chain away sometimes doesnt matter, sometimes it has a massive consequence you only find when you remove it. If, for a bit of bucket rattling, we dont need to take that link of the chain out then that is probably the best way to go. If it is a permanent state of not being affordable then that is a different matter. Many business and private individuals for that matter have to take loans to get over humps we tend not to judge them too harshly for it, they get repaid and all is fine. It probably isnt so easy for a semi pro RL club that has just lost a large chunk of central funding. if they can get over the hump and reorganise then that is a good thing in the long term and this short term pain will be worth it. As I said earlier Glasshouses. Many SL supporters dont recognise that begging bowls have been out in some of the clubs before, some have defaulted on loans others are lucky and its the owner who puts his hand in his pocket before asking others. Semi Pro clubs are the same and some are lucky to have owners or board members that can do this before the begging bucket comes out, others are not. regular offenders I would agree with what has been said by many here and maybe its time for them to stop but as a one off I cannot quite get my head around the "anti" attitude TBH.. there but for the grace of god etc.

I'm glad you posted this as I was about to comment with regards Sheffield and the fact that without the Eagles the fledgling junior set ups wouldnt even be fledgling and that seeps further south than here too (not sure quite how far south you could say though). Its great sitting here saying Cumbria would survive without Haven but how true is that really? how much does having Haven mean that the community game up there is strong. without being there and seeing the interaction I think it is very hard to judge how much you could lose quite a chunk of Cumbria with that one loss, and the knock on to that could be the end of Workington and the rest of Cumbria.. I agree with you about places like the heavy woollen district where the SL is right there but in other areas, those outpost areas, how much is it dependent on the semi pro teams being there as a focal point... we can speculate but only those involved up there could really tell us. Any club going bust is a loss to the game, how big a loss and what that impact is is hard to tell until it happens sadly.

it was talked about pre nations league about the home nations, but never seriously even when NI beat England in the qualifiers.. the talk was always "where do we fit it in" around friendlies (designed to build up for the next major game) and qualifiers. The answer was always "instead of friendlies" in reality but it never got any real traction... it does sound familiar (though the above is simplified)

in that post maybe but we had the begging buckets out and a form of a go fund me page (cant remember exactly what) which I remember as I gave to it! glasshouses.

we were on the side watching the CC final in 2019 as we had bought tickets before the participants were known and then, as it got quieter we moved along to watch with the Eagles fans which was a great way to finish.. my then 12 year old son was buzzing after as we had seen both the team we "follow" win the CC and the team we support win the 1895.. we were staying in london that night as my wife, daughter and mother in law had also come down to "take in a show".. got back to the hotel, mother in law looked after the kids and me and the wife went out on the town!! next day was Stokes at Headingly... 'twas a good weekend!

This is the bit that really annoys me.. We can moan all we like about the aussies not wanting to play but for the first time in my lifetime we have a number of opportunities to have some great games and series and, again for the first time in my lifetime, we actually dont need them. What we do need is some gumption to go and get this organised.. worry about ourselves and not worry about what every other nation is doing and get these games on.. we seem to have done that this year and hopefully next. We need to make sure around us the WRL are getting games on v France. That other euro nations are getting games on too (which they seem to be doing).. screw waiting around and just act.

A good laugh: the story of how one man could be laughed AT both on the pitch and in the pub

you didnt tell her it was your RL autobiography though did you??

I know the ashes has history etc (and dear god lets leave GB in the bin) but I'm really looking forward to seeing England v Tonga this year.. and I'll no doubt get tickets for Samoa the next year. Let the Aussies do the aussies and we will get things moving and organised without them if we need to.. We cannot keep harping back to something that the other half doesnt want move on. If we get it right and build it the Aussies will want back in, then we can do an ashes if we want to more on our terms. What we have to do though is stop the small mindedness about stadiums, get one outside the heartlands every time (London or Newcastle for me) 1st or 2nd test where there is definitely something on the line... But we have to stop hoping we will get something we cannot, the Aussies dont want to come over, fine, lets move on.

not many people outside the tiny world of RL would have known about the USA part so that doesn't worry me at all.. Australia wimping out caused damage to the potential profitability of the competition and it also damaged what could have been a really big win for League as the first sport off the blocks with a major comp.. but that's been done to death on here and there were issues that again were not solely league and people would not have seen it necessarily as a major issue outside of our circles "cos of Covid". If Qatar was really then maybe but in reality i'd be trying to get the NZ and Pacific islands one off the ground if I could.. but equally the key is a 16 team comp happening somewhere IMHO.. not to have it would be terrible and to have it watered down to be Southern Hemisphere + England wouldnt help either.

Eagles had to do similar a few years back when they went full time before "cashing the cheque" of the person who was supposed to bank roll it and didnt... Thankfully that money saved the club and it seems to be turning around (touches lots of wood)

when i was there in 2019 it wasn't perfect but it was still special and still great to win some silverware there.. i was at the old Wembley in 1998 as well so its been a nice couple of trips to Wembley with eagles.

fair reflection. I would point out though that there have been major champs and tournaments change from time to time in the past and questions about their ability to happen.. the Commonwealth games just gone were supposed to be in South Africa but they gave them back. So while I get and agree with much of the sentiment I wouldnt be so worried about the visual of the move/cancellations as long as it goes ahead, that is always the key. Football does tend to have contingencies built in "just in case" ie going back to a previous host from not too distant past or just going to a major nation that can handle it. Mexico 1986 was supposed to be in Colombia but they resigned in 82 for Mexico to be picked in 83.. The cancellation will potentially harm the game in France, of course, but as long as the comp still goes ahead much of the harm to the game as a whole will not be there.. the issue is if it does not go ahead at all or goes ahead in a "poor" way. the rest about how bad the international game is and how badly run it is is pretty much bang on IMHO

hypothetical question.. of course the answer at both clubs is "we can get both" but its an interesting question to pose none the less. 1895 cup final for me.. its a good way of building the team spirit IMHO and moving forward for next season I think it would be a great occasion to build off. I really enjoyed being down in 2019 for Eagles, winning it obviously helped.

Thats my take on it too.. I agree changing mid contract wasn't wise but I think its impact is minimal compared to the above.

Would make more sense than Sheffield ffs!!

Used to watch it at the elusive camel and many a Walkabout in the early 2000s.. met my wife at the Covent Garden Walkabout on a night out with 3 mates, the evening started with watching Wigan v Hull if memory serves.