gingerjon

Until this season, Cardiff City were one of the (surprisingly not that uncommon) sides where a club schism had created on team called Women and one called Ladies. One of them played in Wales, and the other followed the men's template of playing in England (with due confusion, the latter one was not the official Cardiff City team). The English playing lot have become Gwalia United this season and moved to Newport.

If you're English, it's EDI. If you're a terminal online troll, it's DEI.

Adult tickets for Arsenal Women's next league match at the Emirates run from £17 to £54. Cheaper than the Premier League, but not 'zero' or 'given away'. I presume they will get 30,000+ again.

Has he? (That's not snide, I haven't seen that.) That does move the dial.

Pardon me for assuming that for obvious financial benefits, we’d be talking about obvious financial benefits for the game.

There are plenty of Aussies (and Brits) who’ll be US based.

1. I like that question but I'd say that, sadly, the Australia women's cricket team may feel they've been overlooked. 2. Waiting for the NRL is not required. We can make a lot of the necessary improvements ourselves. It just takes effort and investment, and not at the impossible levels. There is money available, we have people, and we have a structure. People just need to make it a priority. 3. England Women need to play. A lot.

So not for rugby league?

Just anything to elevate it from weekly park pitch level games (and attitudes from those in authority) with little presents like being the curtain raiser for important men’s games. It is being done in literally every other sport.

What’s the evident financial success?

But England should be. And France. And, indeed, any European opponent who can raise a credible side. When's their next match? Oh.

I said this yesterday that if the numbers were right (they're actually slightly worse in terms of total attendance than predicted) that it essentially showed a significant drop in Aussies and Americans turning up - with a lot then riding on Brits turning up and being vocal. That may or may not be a worry, depending on what the NRL want out of the event, but it is the reality. Obviously, I'm not in Oz so don't know what impact that has but I'd be surprised if the response to this year is as positive as last. A lot of questions need answering for next year.

USA 16-16 Canada https://europeanrugbyleague.com/fixtures/1302/united-states-16-16-canada

I think it makes sense for the players to respond now. You can take broken promises when you can see an end line but when a key promise (i.e. getting paid) is broken *after* the end line has been reached then it is definitely time for a response.

The studio is the Brentford one they use for NFL. It's problematic for rugby league given none of the presenting team will be anywhere local to it. I don't disagree with your assessment but that's a big issue.

That seems under par.

Likewise - although I don't have the firsthand knowledge others have so very much a 'this is how it appears to me' perspective. For this board: this was always the most likely outcome given how Australia has been putting resources and effort into developing the women's game at all levels, and England simply has not, instead focusing on weird totem things like getting the women's Challenge Cup final to Wembley.

I don’t see how England progress with the set-up and attitudes to the game as they are. If there are plans to develop the women’s game then they seem to be either invisible or reactive. Losing 90-4 didn’t come out of nowhere, it was probably the most likely outcome from the moment the match was announced. Either the RFL can carry on with essentially a park game that has occasional big moments as the undercard for men’s games, or it can actually look for distinct funding & sponsorship and resource growth and development. Changing the manager might make the next game 60-0 but that will be the limit of our ambition without meaningful change.

Just the NRL games on that channel, isn't it? Not even sure if it's both of those.

The BBC that have been bigging up Vegas all week, who had a report on both Breakfast and the evening news about it, and who put out a BBC Sport push notification for this match, and who are covering it on the radio. That BBC?

I would have said yes but, unfortunately, I now know too much.

9.30pm, we're three minutes in

The short version is: the pitch is small and the markers do not represent reality but the games will be played as if they do. The longer version: see the other thread.

I see we're taking the Super League tradition of "not starting anything like on time" to the USA. A country where baseball and basketball games start at times like 8.07pm.

I think it's this. It's a Fox live event so Sky will have had to pre record their stuff.