Lounge Room Lizard

I do feel the Refs should be stronger against this and award yellow cards to players who backchat and moan constantly.Certain players are well known for it. I would like to see Stuart Cummins actually do something about this problem for next season. Only the captain speaks to the Ref for example and that a player caught using bad language or verbally abusing at a Ref is Red carded. The respect for match officials has sadly been lost. l

Halifax RLFC do a great job and every school I believe gets a visit during the year from the players. Fax also work with the Eureka Kids Museum and run various projects there like healthy eating etc. In the Halifax/Calderdale Service area (The Smallest Service area in size of area) the following clubs run Youth Sections: SIDDAL U8s, U9s, U10s, U11s, U12s, U13s, U14, U15s U16s(X2) U18s. OVENDEN U8s, U12s, U16s and U17s. KING CROSS PARK U8s, U9s, U10s, U 12s, U14s, U15s, U16s (X2) and U18s. ELLAND U7s, U8s, U9s U11s, U12s, U14s, U15s, U16s, U 17s, U18s GREETLAND U8s, U 10s, U13s, 14s, U16s (x2) ILLINGWORTH U8s, U9s U12s U15s, U18s BRIGHOUSE U13s, U14s, U15s U16s Its not a surprise that Halifax/Calderdale area has such a strong amateur scene and is way better in Quality and Quantity than Bradford and Huddersfield for example.

I fear that Murdoch News Corporation has both codes of Rugby by the balls and will look to merge them in around 20 years or so. Murdoch funds both games in the UK and has alot of power in Australasia.Who owns the Broncos and the Storm? Who runs the NRL at present? Who controls the media in Australia? Laurel and Hardy (Woods and Lewis) at the RFL are trying to expand the game at all costs and have succeeded in upsetting a large section of fans with franchising. Rugby League professionally is probably at its weakest it ever has been. St.Helens, Hull KR, Wakey, Quins, Crusaders are losing money. Others like Huddersfield and Warrington are living off a sugar daddy-but for how long? The RFL have no money, no power and no control over the game. The Media has control of what Murdoch and his organization wants. So because League is the weaker of the codes it can easily strangle its growth or at least have more say in what it does. Union in the UK is kept going in many cases by Sky (same as most other sports) Sky can say to League and Union to merge or they will drop both games and whilst Union could probably survive to some degree it would be a lot weaker and likely would have to go back to part time. League at Pro level would disappear and the clubs that do survive would maybe forced in to playing Union to survive at a Semi pro level. Sky saved Rugby League to an extent in the late 90s. But now it can kill off Rugby League very easily and by not reporting Rugby League it can slowly kill off League. Soccer is pumped down the throats of the Youth alongside Union. League cant cope with that sadly.

Perhaps because Des is well known to go in to the changing rooms at HT when Barrow have had a bad 40 minutes. He also hates losing-which is fair enough, but his actions after losing at such places as Leigh, Halifax etc do not help. And the timing is very wierd to say the least! I bet Des was fuming and being hammered by little Dewsbury and the way they were hammered. I doubt Mcmormack thought ever- even Sunday-OK time to go. More like Des was more than unhappy and told him goodbye.

Quit! Dessie forced him out more like. Des who has done a great job in pumping money in to Barrow is unfortunately a Power Freak nd somebody who most people do not want to work with. Its a shame for Barrow that Des is the way he is.

Its OK Cummins the Clown will defend his match Officials no matter what. The sooner Cummins goes and somebody not so arrogant and prepared to admit faults comes in, the better. The standards of match officials across the Pro League is poor. That comes down to Cummins.

Wigan 30 years ago were getting beat by many teams in the Old Division 1 and going nowhere fast. Should they have just given up? Halifax got beaten by Cawoods in the cup. Were massively in debt and bottom of the whole Pro Rugby League in the late 70s. 10 years on had been to Wembley twice including beating St.Helens and won the League! Bradford more or less died in the 1960s. Should they have just not bothered anymore? Cant just give up or say whats the point. Gateshead could become a strong Championship team in 10 or 15 years with a strong local amateur scene around the N.E.

Who cares about Crowds? Surely the game is more important? Not in Rugby League! This just shows what a farce the RFL and this franchising lark is! Fax will not be in SL and are not ready for it. Fev won the League and for me hoipe they win the Grand Final-best team over the year. They deserve to have a crack at SL rather than clubs who have won nothing this year! But the way the RFL keep moving goal posts to fit their point of view it would not surprise me if clubs did exagerate things to stay/get in SL. In many cases there is little difference between Barrow, Halifax, Leigh, Fev over Salford, Bradford, Quins, Crusaders , Wakey, Cas etc. Some clubs are only in SL due to a sugar Daddy being with them at the right time. The sooner the RFL take the expansion mindset off the better. The RFL need to realize that clubs-Heartland with decades of playing the game or clubs recently set up- need to be stable and have a structure in place. They need to be strong focal points of the local community. You need a strong fan base. You need the local population to atleast have some feelings and that the many floating supporters will turn up a few times a year. That would happen in places like Halifax, Featherstone, Barrow more so than London, Neath and Bridgend it would seem. The game has not learned anything from the Paris and Gateshead days. Quins are basically on their last legs. They are not a focal point of the local community and they are not playing at the level that is too high for them as a club in the present situation they are in. The problem they also have is they are so far away from the Heartland teams. So they get less away fans. They do not have a massive Floating Supporter Fan base. They are like a Paris SG for me. No real culture No Stability, No positive Image and No real community focal point. They are just existing for now. But for how long? Crusaders for me are again similar to Gateshead. They have been shoved in to SL, but have not built up Supporter base properly. They have financial question marks over them. They have probably only really got better crowds this year, due to Wrexham being not too much of a Journey, especially for the Big fan base that the west of the Pennine SL Clubs have. They do have a hardcore Welsh Fanbase. But is it enough to keep them going over the next 3 years? I seriously hope Quins and Crusaders can somehow improve off the field and be the local focal point of the community. I also hope that they can challenge for honours. But at the moment they just seem like nothing more than clubs who are treading water or near to sinking. Is that good for the game? I would prefer Expansion teams to follow the lead of South Wales Scorpions who are mainly local players and seem to be much more of a community focus point than either Quins or Crusaders are. I hope to see South Wales in 10 or 15 years in SL and be a properly developed club like many Heartland clubs are. That takes time and effort as well as much patience. But it can happen.

Fax are short of numbers and lost another player today for the season in Goddard (snapped Achilles). Beswick is not looking good with a suspected broken Ankle today as well. Haley, Gleeson, Greenwood, Rudd are all out for the season as well. Tamghart maybe back for Toulouse game. Fev will be major favourites

PS threads are good for a laugh if nothing else. The sad thing for me is French Rugby League is a big a joke as PS.

I seriously the game uses him as an ambassador or whatever after he retires. This is an opportunity to good to miss. We have let too many jewels leave our game without a fight. Hanley, Edwards, Offiah, Farrell etc have gone doing other things when we could have used them to promote the game. I dont really rate Thomas as a player, but he is 36 years old and not played much League. However he has the potential to open the game up to many people from different backgrounds. Will our game once again waste this chance?

As usual PS is on drugs. The French game is buggered to hell, yet PS expects teams in Paris, Lyon, Marseille that are going to have turnover of millions of Euros! Who is going to fund it? Where are the players (SL Quality French players) coming from? Yes 15 years is a long time but not long enough for the French game to change and be able to have 4 French SL Teams. Gateshead? Gateshead are nothing more than amateurs at the moment and are struggling to even survive. Where is the money and Players coming from to have a SL team? Sheffield have potential, but I doubt they will be ready for SL for a while, as the crowds are often under 1000 and they have no money. But they have been around for a while and what is important is that a number of amateur clubs are in the near like North Derbyshire, Hillsboro etc Dublin? Bristol?, N London?, E London? Again where are the players and Money coming from? Who is going to run these teams that have no or next to no amateur presence? I have no problem with expansion, but please let us be reasonable about it. You cant just set up a Pro club and expect to have success. Any expansion team should build its way up like the South Wales Scorpions. I have no problem that they have 6 or 7 Aussies, but then they must have 10 local players in a squad alongside the odd "Heartlands" player. By having and using the local amateur players as well as experinced Aussies/Heartland players you can build a community club, where locals feel they can relate to it. Hopefully they can get to a point where they can move up to the Championship and then SL. ANY club needs to have a pathway in to the top League. Sticking a club more or less straight in like Crusaders with no solid base is asking for trouble. The same with a French team they should build from Elite 2 through to Elite 1. Once they are doing well in Elite 1 maybe test themselves in the Championship. But have atleast a stepping stone effect. Rushing a French or Spanish team in to the Championship or SL is not the way for me. Sadly the French game does not have enough Quality for the next 5-10 years to run 2 let alone 4 SL Clubs. Build on and off the field first and see how things are then take the next small step up. Anything more will be too much on and off the field for a club.

Toulouse are a joke just like yourself. They do not belong in SL and its questionable whether they belong in the championship. They need a total new squad to even be a decent Championship side, as clearly the players are not good enough with 1 or 2 exceptions. You need a minimum 15 decent French players for SL. Where are they as Toulouse are allegedly the 2nd best French team?

I am sick to death of the RFL and the way it has ruined the game I love. Why would I pay 15 Pounds to watch a series of Friendlies where the best team is never allowed to get promoted? My team are not allowed to run a scholarship or an Academy according to the RFL-neither are any of the Championship Clubs! I see no future for my team despite maybe being very successful. The RFL just want a closed shop with Expansion teams with no structure over clubs that have been going decades. Sod it why should I waste thousand of pounds on a sport, that basically is now pointless. I will watch the NRL instead and watch the Professional game outside SL die. And I know dozens of people from various clubs have the same feeling. But the SL fans on here will say good riddance or whatever. All they care about is there club not the game as a whole.

You really are a prized idiot of France. Sorry but Toulouse cant even make the playoff in the Championship. They have crowds smaller than Fax, Fev, Barrow and Leigh. The City does not have an amateur base anywhere near that of Fax, Fev, Barrow or Leigh. Nobody in the UK is going to suddenly decide to start watching SL on Sky just because Toulouse are playing. So another of your stupid ideas is blown apart. Toulouse will bring literally one or two fans to SL games-just like in the championship. So in other words Toulouse have neither met the criteria nor are they better placed than Fax, Fev, Barrow or Leigh. The RFL is ruining the game with the way they are doing things. Tell me how much money do you think Crusaders or Quins make? There is not enough French talent to run 2 SL teams. So we have yet another team stuffed full of Aussies. Fantastic!

Toulouse are a joke of the highest order and are struggling in the Championship. They have never even got close to meeting the requirements that was originally set down by the idiots at the RFL. The whole Franchise is a farce with Sky/RFL choosing who they want and framing things to fit that. Sport is all about the best teams playing each other. Yet in Rugby League that is not the case. The rules are changed to those whos face fit. I have no interest in watching professional Rugby League anymore as itsd just a joke the way the game is run and how the way the championship clubs are treated. Its no wonder Rugby League is such a small sport when its run by people who do the best to upset the games most important thing-The Fans. RIP Pro Rugby League below SL.

Union lies no limits. I hate Union and the way it thinks it can claim everything. The people running it have no honesty!

But having a millionaire chairman willing to cover costs puts Widnes in a good place. I bet if SOC was not there, then Widnes would not have an academy or many of these Kids would be at Widnes. You could say you are very very lucky. But thats life. However the way Widnes fans go on about things they fail to see the difficulties, Fev, Leigh, Batley, Fax have with no money man throwing money to support them and why its very difficult running a Academy. Also Widnes may be in a good position to sign local players despite SL clubs presence due to SOC and the way Widnes are likely to be in SL from 2012. Other championship clubs do not have that luxury and often are left to sign the best of the rest from the local scene who often have little chance of being good pro players.

Penky goes in again. No conversion. 30-16

26-16 10 minutes left

Fax looking good and some of the play is quality in attack. Just wish they could learn to concentrate and defend for 80 minutes.

Was Bob Beswick last week Mick not Luke Branighan

This just shows how daft this Franchise lark is. People have so many diiferent opinions yet you could twist facts to justify a team being in SL. Widnes for example are struggling to make the playoffs this year. They have not exactly set the place a light being in the championship. Yet off the field are well set up-probably more so than many SL clubs! You have Quins, Wakey,Cas, Salford and Crusaders who not much better tha Halifax, Barrow and Leigh and have had time to sort things out and done very little. Often they have had problems financially and the grounds are sadly no longer fit for the future of playing in SL. Its the main reason I hate this SL Franchise ###### as its very difficult to say why Crusaders, Quins, Salford, Wakey etc should be in over Halifax, Barrow and Leigh. All of the clubs mentioned are going to be also rans in SL. All are going to seriously struugle to spend the full cap. Some have decent grounds. Others have good academys. But the RFL will fit and twist things to have what they want. I am not sure that us good for the game though. And the biggest fear is that the Championship is just a place to slowly die for clubs who are not in SL.

For me the Sporting World is a joke. Should just be Born in the country or has a Parent or Grandparent who came from the Nation. And you can only represent ONE Nation in ANY SPORT! People like Ottey, Manu etc for me have no real tie or pride in the nation they want to represent. The Residency ruling is a joke that is abused. If we must have it then should be something like 10 or 15 years Residency not just a couple of years like now! I would love for the RLIF to be stronger on this area but sadly expect no change.

If you do not have the cash to run properly an academy for me there its not worth wasting that money. I would think that would cover most Championship teams. For example Barrow are forfeiting games with one of their Youth set ups. What good is that? Other Championship teams have been in a similar situation in the past couple of years. Whats the point in wasting time, money on things that simply are not helping the club? Barrow have more money than probably all other Championship clubs bar Widnes! And do you run an academy with players who are very unlikely to make it? For example Halifax had an Academy that got to 3 Grand Finals in a row a couple of years ago. How many from that era went Pro with Fax? 1! James Haley. The rest are at Siddal, Keighley or teams lower than Fax. Is it worth a cash strapped championship club like Halifax, Batley, Whitehaven, Keighley etc spending money they do not have on players who are unlikely going to make it and on a team that plays in a League where other teams are forfeiting games? Its things like this that the RFL need to sort out below SL level.