gingerjon

Soccer's World Cup final dwarfs it in both TV viewers and revenue.

It can be a good indicator of the size of the operation. If you’re getting that up to date then you’ve probably (note: probably) got enough of a team covering the essential operational roles.

Scotland. Tonga for two decades. Samoa have played one match in Samoa this century. It’s endemic in the sport. It doesn’t happen in others.

We have a handful of communities that do not necessarily border each other where rugby league has a notable presence. In a smaller subset of these, limited even further by the size of the communities involved, it is the most popular sport.

Nah. But it’s reasonable to expect nations to play in country. Except in rugby league.

And because I'm in that sort of mood, we should also add, as a lie: "Rugby league has heartlands".

Shall we do: "a bunch of people playing in a Sydney suburb is an international just like they have in other sports".

It looks like nothing has changed because nothing has changed.

It is. I still do think they’d not pass this weird test every time. And I am understanding it, right? The suggestion is that RL’s poor position is shown by the fact that it couldn’t easily move games around the country and guarantee an equivalent crowd?

And if you moved Arsenal v Spurs to St James’s Park?

What’s the list of English sports that could move a regular domestic club fixture away from the location of either of the participating clubs and draw an equivalent audience? Because I’m not convinced it even applies to football, really.

A really good way of putting it

From memory, it was this sort of loan which was the dagger for Rangers FC. Their last borrowing was against future season tickets which then did not increase by enough to cover that debt - let alone the others that they had accrued.

About as long as you persist in creating a new identity to keep trolling? Or probably not, because no one normal could keep going for so long. Or, to be really obvious for the terminally stupid: 40,000 in the north is the same 40,000 who go to other games. 60,000 (ish) in the south will include thousands for whom this is there only direct connection. Therefore, the latter is more valuable if you wish to sustain and/or grow the game, the former is what someone who loves to contract the game would propose.

Spoken like a true believer that rugby league can never be bigger than it is now.

Not a cover version as such, but I just love watch musical people being creative for fun and revealing a little bit of how the magic works

Paul King, later: https://clip.cafe/the-sting-1973/youre-not-gonna-stick-around-your-share/

I am now going to use my favourite film line of the twenty-first century: THIS CAN ONLY END BRILLIANTLY.

I’m sure they know some guys

Madness.

I do see your point but it reminds me of our Australian friends before the first Vegas (before they’d twigged it was event for them not Americans) going on about how there was a collision sport market to be filled because the NFL season is over by February. There’s no evidence that’s really how sports or entertainment seekers see things.

Pretty much this. No need to go pile em high on this. Play it is a prestigious fixture worth winning.

There is no “collision ball sport” market. You spent too long in Australia. You’ll be thinking anyone outside of Oceania gives a tinker’s cuss about football code wars next.

I absolutely respect the subtle trolling of calling Nantes one of the best handball clubs in the world.

Is that a home with or without a sundeck?