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nadera78

Coach
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Everything posted by nadera78

  1. Sponsoring the England RL team - that only plays 3 or 4 games pa, confined to small stadia in one region of the country, and (BBC match coverage excluded) with limited media coverage - is a very, very niche proposition. What's the return on it? It has to be very limited.
  2. I wouldn't be surprised if the England team is based at UCLAN - some teams were for the RLWC, they have a strong sports business department and I think a strong RL team - and the RFL are getting it free in return for a sponsors patch.
  3. I understand all the reasons for accepting a team in Port Moresby (and I would buy a replica shirt tomorrow!) but it's not without huge risk. How long will the Australian government fund this team? Is that funding set in stone? Are we expecting the PNG economy to grow enough that it will be able to support an NRL team once government funding stop (IIRC something like 80% of PNGers are subsistence farmers)? What about the inevitable backlash from other politicians (and sports) with vested interests and the resulting pressure to cease funding it? How many Australian/NZ players are going to want to base themselves out of POM (we're always told players don't want to move to Canberra)? Or are we expecting this team to solely consist of locals, in which case the first few years are going to be painful on the field (it's likely to be painful anyway tbh)? And then, looking at the alternative options, is there a plan in place to get Perth and NZ2 into the NRL? Because both of those place would be tremendous additions - footprint, player development, TV and commercial revenue . Or are we just going to ignore them again? If it was me, I'd saying: Perth or NZ2 in 2025, the other of those in 2027 and POM in 2030. And working with the Australian gov't to put in the funding now so that the player pathways in PNG (which are still pretty ad hoc) are developed so that by the time POM enters the NRL there are enough PNGers capable of playing in the NRL so that at least the question over players is removed from the equation.
  4. Some of us have been warning about the situation in Serbia for years now. The sport has stood back and left them to it, and now it looks like we've let another opportunity to really assist a developing nation slip through our fingers. You can see the potential for something similar happening with Greece too, given the RLWC nonsense.
  5. I don't see how anyone can spin this as a good deal for RL. If people don't now realise the corner the game has backed itself into over the past decade they never will.
  6. Despite the handwringing on here the truth is most RL fans couldn't give a monkey's about clubs outside the heartlands. In fact, many of them actively dislike these clubs. In the end, you get what you want.
  7. I was going to laugh at this, but it's unfortunately true
  8. I saw the Canadian RL tweeting about this yesterday, pleased to at least have some clarity on the issue. Must say I'd be surprised if they can find a way to meet the criteria in the next 6 months, seeing as their season is now over. Same goes for everyone else, I suppose. Scotland have no business whatsoever being a Full Member and shouldn't be allowed to take part, but the IRL has shown no desire to deal with that issue for a long time now. And contrast that with Greece almost certainly being unable to take part - despite there being vastly more RL being played in that country. Such a great way to destroy 10 years of hard work that led to them playing in 2021.
  9. 1994. That was my first Broncos game. 27 years later I finally walked away. If I'm an "anti Broncos troll", like you say, then there are thousands of us out there. All of whom at one point considered that club to be an important part of their lives, none of whom now have anything to do with it. But sure, crack on and tell us about all the good things London Broncos are doing.
  10. It's a game against England Community Lions U18s, I believe.
  11. Historically, it was true to say that the PNG players were a shorter, stockier build. That would most likely be because of diet (IIRC even just a few years ago 90% of PNGers were substance farmers) and isolation. As those things have changed so would their physical characteristics, we see that the world over as people's diets and living conditions change.
  12. They must have played at, and upset, every club in London by now. Does that bring about a Netflix reboot with a return to Craven Cottage?
  13. Perhaps, and this is based on nothing more than 30 years experience, there is no plan?
  14. That said, Serbia have just scored a nice try. Chip over the top, then a miss out pass.
  15. 1. I've never seen a French team play in red and white hooped shirts and black shorts before. Feels weird. 2. Serbian RL hasn't progressed for a good few years now. The game just hasn't done enough (or anything?) to help them. We're our own worst enemy.
  16. Not only is the RFL logo from that era a beautiful thing, as others have commented, but the England RL badge with lion rampant is also better than the current England logo.
  17. I was over in the Vaucluse last week - beautiful cycling (and wine!) through the Luberon and surrounds - and was very pleasantly surprised by the number of towns and villages that have a RL presence. I knew about Avignon, Carpentras, Cavaillon obviously, but lots of other places with clubs, or at lease junior sections. As ever with rugby league, the issue is finding a way to maximise that interest.
  18. The idea that Sky saving £5m on rugby league will have any bearing on their £Billion PL contract is a bit far fetched. All they're doing is pushing down the price because they know we have no alternatives, same as any other business would. As to where the sport goes from here, assuming the rumours are correct, well it looks pretty bleak tbh. A version of WatchNRL might fill some funding gaps but only if it is done alongside Sky's continued broadcast of 2 games pw, it could never replace that funding in full. I'd also question how much more the BBC would pay for Challenge Cup group games if that is the plan.
  19. The NHL salary cap is based on a similar principle, with the players entitled to 50% of what's known as Hockey Related Revenue. It works pretty well for what is and has always been the 4th of the big 4 sports (in some ways similar to RL tbh, although they've expanded in a way we could only dream of).
  20. I never go to watch live games anymore, since the Broncos gave up trying. I watch fewer games on TV than ever. I visit this forum less than ever. I talk about RL less than ever. I think about it less than ever. And none of it was a conscious decision, it just crept up on me. Life's too short to bother with a sport that, at best, refuses to help itself and, at worst, seems to actively seek out damage.
  21. This is so far off the mark it's almost unbelievable.
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