RP London

yes and no... I dont like DB and the way he does things but he has done a great job at leigh.. but I dont agree with you when it comes to the RFL.. for me the best leadership (and I use that word specifically) that I remember at the RFL was Richard Lewis.

Its the same thought process that permeates through RL... those that are "in the game" at the higher levels MUST know best, those from another background whose experiences maybe from a different industry have no worthwhile input.. its the same type of issue that seeps through places like the NHS where Process and Change specialists cannot get to win contracts if they have never already worked with the NHS.. therefore they never get best practice from other organisations, where as many/most extremely good and profitable companies actively look outside of their organisation/industry for new ideas, innovations etc..

basically yes.. you have a bill every month/quarter to pay to HMRC and its up to you to pay it.. it is taken off the amount you pay the staff but its your responsibility to then pay that over to HMRC..

obviously you were going to save the receipts form the night out so you could claim the VAT back too.

honestly its hard to tell at the moment!

Unless the petition is on a just giving page linked to donations its not going to do anything.. when HMRC decide its time for them to get their money you either pay up or get wound up, there isnt much a petition will do about it.

Did someone suck all the air out of the person in the Dolphins away top?? like one of those vacuum storage bags!

The NFL have quite strict rules about the "uniforms" only allowed a certain number, not allowed to change all the time (Denver had a "significant rebrand" last year and it was literally adding a bit of colour in the shape of mountains to the jerseys. But that was the first change in something like 8 years.. ) they can have the odd "throw back" set including helmet but that is it.. nothing for the UK specifically. Not a huge change to the 2 kits this year, Wire just a tweak of their traditional shirt, same badge etc Wigan's i thought was quite tastefully done with the shirt staying the majority the same but a nice play on the fact they were red and white hoops, like the flag.. assume to appeal to a US audience who may be looking to buy a shirt and thinking it might get them ahead of the others with a US audience, would be interesting to see the figures and if it worked. Neither had a special magic weekend shirt IIRC which they have done quite a lot in the past, so is it "another additional shirt" or will they have the same amount this year as last but just for different occasions (FWIW its still too many shirts IMO, 2 is enough if done properly... heritage/charity for magic at a push).

Its the most effective one we have had for a while!

There are some very interesting studies in anthropology about that especially with countries that lurch from one authoritarian regime to another..

That and slave labour!

dont be scared.. heres a sneak preview

I am not sure how it could be a strategic review anyway, that would imply there is a strategy to review in the first place.. not seen any sign of one of them for quite a while!

It isnt, its a racial stereotype and its the type of thing that makes games/events etc less inclusive. Some people from that racial category may act like that but in no way is it all and therefore it alienates those that do not see that. What used to be seen as "jokes" is actually part of the problem of bringing different sections of society together. Like it or not THAT is the real world. To perpetuate that with comments as you did means you are part of the problem. "Tackle like girls", "Throw like girls" etc stops girls wanting to get involved, and yet when they do they add a huge amount to clubs (and how wrong could people be with "tackle like girls" BTW). Japes/Jibes about race or about sexual orientation (any number of homophobic jokes that belittle someone's effort or toughness by calling them a homosexual slur) stops those from different backgrounds thinking it could be a place for them, yet there are some very wealthy and very astute people who we should be desperately trying to get involved to bring their business acumen into the game, let alone the paying fans (its not like we couldnt do with the cash).

well this sort of emphasises the point that was made earlier about inclusivity now doesn't it.. nice bit of racial stereotyping!!

The thing is a lot of clubs etc are doing that in many sports, changing the badge to suit the training top/shirt they are wearing, you see it quite a lot in football. Along with that training tops are often different colours from the rest of the branded things, ie Sheffield Wednesday training kit is some sort of horrible green and grey... terrible.. but it seems to be the way they go.. is Oxen just following the norm but the Kangaroos, Samoa etc are an exception? I would prefer to have some form of training shirt and polo range that is very similar to the shirt as I'd rather buy those than the shirt itself but that may just be a personal thing.

I get what you are saying but it isnt 70,000 fools brainwashed in a 2 legged tie becuase there will be a good chunk of them that went to both. It a pedantic point but one worth making IMHO as its a good point you make but people will always pick holes in it if they can.. I was at wembley a few seasons back for Wednesday's successful play off final against Barnsley, I dont go to football as I dont like much of the atmosphere, and can find it quite dull, but for the occasion I went.. wasnt the best game but was tense if you had skin in the game.. it was packed... people get sucked into occasions etc, look at RU internationals and you see the same.. Yet again, on this forum, we come back to (IMHO) we are poor at making the game a spectacle.. more than just the game.. get that right and we will be able to attract more newbies who then get converted.. (dons helmet and walks away)

I don't really know Oxen from anyone else so I don't necessarily want to be "jumping to their defence".. I'm a brand owner of a couple of brands, surely the fault of the branding is on the RFL not Oxen.. If I just went to a company and said "look i don't really know what our colours are, have a crack and see what you can come up with" then that's exactly what you'd do.. we have quite a big brand guidelines book around colours, fonts, designs, the fact that certain aspects NEVER get used together etc etc.. if the RFL haven't got that then that's on them not Oxen.. and frankly if they have and Oxen aren't sticking to it then that's on the RFL not to sign it off too.. I'm not keen on the training wear with the block patterns on the chest, but you see other sports doing it so might be a "this years fashion" type thing. I quite like the ashes one with the black streaks of Ash on it (base colour aside), I don't mind swirly patters, some of the training stuff held up on here for Samoa and NZ have differing "patterns". But its that base "brand" colour pallet we are lacking and surely that comes from the RFL. You know more about this than me and these "tweaks" to designs are fashion led, or design led I assume and I 100% agree the base colours should be nailed down but the RFL cannot even decide if we should have blue in the main shirt or not etc.. the branding is surely at their door.

While not LGBTQI+ related as such Lewis Hamilton did get Mercedes to change their entire livery around the Black Lives Matter campaign.. just as a point of order.

not quite.. it was included with the information about Cheshire.. even though it was described as between the Ribble and the Mersey.

Know what you mean. Dont mind parents too much, 1 grandparent but never really visited the country/still playing aborad or living here for 3 years etc seems a stretch though.

To be fair most people that you are discussing things with on this thread so far are big supporters of expansion so that doesnt add up. Out of interest, just looking at the formatting of your posts and the language you are using are you using AI to write/spell/grammar check your posts? not a slight if you are, I do it sometimes at work, just wondering as it reads like it, the formatting of the paragraphs etc look like it and the formatting in terms of changes in fonts and spacings to the regular forum posts look like it too.

Yes I know that but that's not the point of what is being said is it? Surely doesn't need to be spelt out that it's about where the money is being spent not what the company registration number is...

so you dont think that if they had carried on funding sheffield or newcastle to the same amount as they have Huddersfield that there may (stress may as we will never know) have been more to gain than the stagnation at huddersfield?

London were Wigan Highfield previously.. about to go bust so bought by the White City Stadium company to play games on a Wednesday night under lights.. players trained in the north and travelled down to play. Funnily enough they didnt last more than a season and moved back north to become Liverpool Stanley. Streatham & Mitcham and Action & Willesden then came around owned by Sydney Parkes who wanted to start a league of 6 teams in the south. asked the RFL for help, there was quite a lot of interest in the local areas but the RFL didnt help them out, expected him to sort out everything and hence it eventually fell away after 1 season (for A&W) and 1.5 season (for S&M). A trick was well and truly missed at that point, to have had a "Southern Rugby League" as it was called in the Daily Express, Mail and Telegraph at the time would have been an excellent expansion tool. They had got some good union players across (including George Nepia who was brought over by S&M) and could hold their own, finishing mid table.. so it was possible. But teams up and down what would become the M1 or M40/M6 could have joined that league or the precedent could have been set and a "midlands" league could have been formed.. the whole picture would have been so different. The fact major papers were covering this potential is something we wouldnt see now. The RFL not grasping the opportunities is a very long historical story and issue.