THE RED ROOSTER

Are the Kiwis about to be dudded by the BCCI ? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-12749525/Cricket-World-Cup-STORM-India-accused-stitch-pitch-semi-final-against-New-Zealand-Mumbai.html They have form for this, as evidenced by thje recent England and Australia Test series in India. Come on Mitchell Santner and Glen Phillips.

Paul What role do you have that allows such a privileged entree to the inner sanctum of the London Broncos ? Here are a few ideas not mentioned in your thread; London Broncos, unlike the rest of Super League, are a regional club with a fanbase scattered over the south east. With that in mind, why not play on Saturdays as Sundays have a lot of disruption to public transport and Wimbledon can be an a*se to get to. Fan engagement - Does that include all the ex-supporters and season ticket holders royally p****d off with the club by the Monkey and the move. And while we are at it how does the LBSA fit into this ? Merchandise on sale before Xmas. Clarity on Ticket Prices throughout the season, i.e. Buying early Bird Season tickets then getting gazumped by a BOGOF ticket offer later in the season. Any news on Ebbsfleet and Rosslyn Park as Super League venues mid-season when the Dons re-seed Plough Lane ? Is the new away kit similar to the 2004 blue kit I regret never purchasing? Answers to those questions would be more enlightening than AFC Wimbledon's new floodlights- paid for by the London Broncos... And can you post a link to your facebook page so we can all see the prodigious progress made by the backroom staff working with Stakhanovite zeal for the club.

Big one tomorrow between the two biggest dissapointments of the World cup https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/icc-cricket-world-cup-2023-babar-azam-believes-pakistan-can-set-up-semi-final-1408169 While a big ask for Pakistan, can England avoid damaging their Net Run rate. Depending upon the toss you will have a game within a game when, with Bangladesh v Australia finishing beforehand, by the time of the Second Innings you will know not only what England need to do to win but what they need to do Net Run rate wise. A bit like Sydney v Australia A back in 1994/95 when England failed not only to win but to get close enough to prevent an Australia v Australia A final and I had to sit through it Some other snippets - Got to love the ICC style in suspending Sri Lanka after their last game in the tournament.... Do not fear Sri Lanka will be here .. Next August - September. Rob Andrew (yes him) getting appointed to the ECB is asking him to reprise his role at th RFU acting as a bridge between the board and the Counties who these days splits into the haves and have nots. with the game badly fractured due to the Team of the tournament not India but Afghanistan. The afghani;s have artled a few cages this tournament and I look forward to them getting an invite from the ECB. They would be better opposition that Zimbabwe who they have coming for a four day test in 2025. Finally, if you don't like what I write there is a ignore button you can use #justsaying...

The Mole thinks so and Penrith are absent from the leaked NRL pre-season list https://twitter.com/9_Moley/status/1722577250615459944

Two points are missing in this thread, firstly as has been discussed ad nauseam on this board London Broncos ownership are the architects of the clulb's downfall. Secondly, IMG probably wanted different criteria (as they wanted the Magic weekend ended and rightly so) but the club's stepped in and the game has ended up with criteria that favour existing Super League clubs. The question should be at what point does IMG walk away from the game rather than the other way round.

Venues 1 Halliwell Jones Stadium 2 John Smiths Stadium Huddersfield 3 Headingley, Leeds Balanced between Yorkshire and Lancashire

Bears, Colts, Ravens, Bengals, Jaguars, Vikings, Steelers, Buccaneers, Falcons, Lions, Cowboys, Seahawks, Raiders and Bills.

Barney Ronay hits the nail on the head https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/nov/06/jos-buttler-itinerary-what-is-wrong-with-england-and-cricket England stand to lose massively in funding by not qualifying for the Champions Trophy and the "Dutch" with about 3 born in the Country are confident.

Saturday and the chance for Australia to end England's involvement in the World cup (technically) and the Champions Trophy. A prospect almost as good for Aussie Cricket fans than waking up next to fellow Aussie Margot Robbie. No Mitchell Marsh and No Glenn Maxwell whose golfing exploits have ensured that The Big Show is again a no show. This kind of reminds me of Adelaide 2002 when I was regaled with" How easy do we have to make it for you" when we lost an ODI to a sub-par Australian XI. Any chance Ben Stokes will be dropped. His swipe against India alone should cost him his place, to Harry Brook but England's main problem is the "bits and pieces players" who bat a bit, bowl a bit but not to great effect at either namely Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone to which sadly on the evidence of this tournament you can add Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes. Curran and Livingstone neither of which play much Red Ballk cricket are living proof of the arrested development that happens in a cricketers careerrt whenn you follow the T20 cash rather than woprk on the findamentals of your game. Are either of these better now than when they first started out internationally? English Cricket will take a deserved financial hit if they do not qualify for the Champions Trophy with less allocated revenue from the ICC falling behind Australia. Anyone care or is this just a chance to rest inbetween Franchise tournaments ?

A bit of seculation here but with NRL pre-season (10-17 February) affected by the Las Vegas Games, I would not put it beyond the NRL to schedule the WCC on week 1 on a Thursday or Friday (7-8th March) as they are two games down on the slate and this may satisfy Channel 9 and Foxtel

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The Mole thinks there is a deal to be done. WWS - Three Club race for Welsby

Happy families at Souffs next year.... https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/latrell-mitchell-weeping-during-arrest-for-alleged-nightclub-brawl-with-jack-wighton-court-told/news-story/5249d6226a2612185bfc89efaf0fd816

It would halp London's cause greatly if they tried to reconnect with their former fanbase and the what's left of the RL community down south. I am an ex-season ticket holder up to the pandemic angered by The Monkey-Lover and the move but no-one has ever tried to e-mail me to see if I am still interested. I thinks the clubs attitude is almost like its the Hughes family version of Lashings, https://lashingsworld.com/cricket/ where it's a collection of players brought together to play for an owner in a series of exhibition games rather than a Rugby League club that is a integral part of the fabric of the area in which it plays. Not that there may be that large an marketing budget once AFC Wimbledon have their new floodlight, which the Hughes family agreed to as part of the tenancy. And of course when the Dons re-seed the ground it might be problematic to play at Ebbsfleet or Rosslyn Park in particular which could delay this years fixtures coming out. Maybe there is a correlation between this approach and the low score the Broncos have achieved under IMG grading. #Just a thought.

Best game of the tournament and Pakistan like England have underwhelmed in this world cup, as to a degree have Bangladesh.n If Australia Beat New Zealand tomorrow then essentially we will know the identity of the Semi-Finalists with nearly half the tournament still to play. Too depressed to put finger to key[pad yesterday, but one thing is certain for England now playing four "dead" matches and that is both Harry Brook and Gus Atkinson need to be told your playing all four games and Ben Stokes who is Injured should come home as Jofra did. Broadcasters paid to promote the going into contortions to avoid the elephant in the room - You can have the or the blast but not both . You have to play the format the rest of the world plays. In the past as I have posted before, the prioirity of English Cricket was win the Ashes and win the 50 over world cup. The one every real Cricket fan cares about. These days the priority is bonus payments for executives. Of course we have no spinners coming through because if you have white ball cricket monopolising the best months of the summer when the pitches are dry and turn as the (longer) game goes on. They are never going to learn their trade, if the Championship is pushed to the margins in damp conditions favouring trendy medium paced trundlers. Ditto with International 50 over Cricket which should be the showpiece between Test Series in the summer Preferably as part of a Tri-series. why does that not happen, I can give you reasons why. As for the players, I have always posted on here and maintain that professional sportsmen and women have the right to maximisr their earning potential, and that remains the case. What I cannot accept though are those who want to have their case and eat it so to speak, playing franchise Cricket then thinking they can just rock up to an Ashes Series or a 50 Over World Cup after a round of Golf, and think it will be allright on the night is stupidity of the highest order. For those who now claim to have an interest in Test Cricket England were 2-0 down in the Ashes and up until tea in the final test were going to lose 3-1 before the now retired Stuart Broad got going. The World Cup "defence" speaks for itself. Will this be the "flash that lights up reality" for the fans yes, administrators - no chance. One other set of villans here - SKY TV if you want to know why a five match ODI series against New Zealand got changed to 4 ODI's and a pointless four match T20 series thank SKY who are doing for English Cricket what Johnny Vegas has done for the sport of hang gliding. Rant Over

Amid the sound and fury on here, I would point out these are provisional gradings and not the final outcome and they do represent a challenge to clubs to improve. It's also fair to say that unlike the previous incarnation of licensing this is more weighted towards traditional clubs and appears to ensure the game will remain in the M62. I did not think London Broncos would fare well in the gradings, but I am surprised at 24th and finishing below Newcastle, who as it stands are not in the league next year. Gutterfax has already appeared on this thread with his anaysis of London Broncos and it's current owner and there is not much else to add save this; If London is as strategically important as IMG tell us it is, and not just as a fig leaf to cover the nakedness of a sport confined to the M62, then IMG efforts need to be focused on finding the club a new owner be it a bloodnut exiled Northerner or an Aussie / Kiwi wiuth a love of league to fund the club and take the game forward enabling it to finally leave its self-imposed confines of the M62 And it's always better to leave and expand than remain and stagnate..

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In my case it's down to three things, Uncertainty about a potential rail strike being called for the day of the match as it was for the Wifgan double header Quarter Final in the RLWC (England W v Canada and England v PNG) which I had a ticket for and was not able to travel to. and the longer you wait the more the cheap rail tickets have dissappeared. Secondly, the journeys I had during the WC to Sheffield and Manchester were both nightmare journeys on Britain broken railways (I do drive but not that far from Kent) Finally, I have a few issues in my personal life at present which require me to be around down here. So it's the BBC for me for all three. Though I am going to be making an effort in 2024 to get to more League in this country

Havig not rtead through the thread, I wonder if this question has been posed. If all Super League games not televised by SKY were to be sold on a PPV basis for say £ 10. What exactl;y is the incentive to turn up at the Ground ? For sure, lots of you live round the proverbial corner from your club. But I do not, so I would save myself money and time by watching on PPV rather than going. In fact, lets say you were a St Helens or Hull KR fan playing each other, what's more attractive getting from one end of the M62 to the other in a cost of living crisis, or staying at home watching the game on PPV. Live sport needs a live audience and if the scenario I outline in my preceding paragraphs is true then this has not been thought through properly by the clubs.

Joe Root now calling for England to play more 50 over Cricket https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/oct/23/joe-root-england-cricket-world-cup-50-over-increase Actually this is the point people are missing in tjhe current debate, its' not so much that he best players are not playing Domestic 50 over Cricket which would not jhave the best p[layers anyway because of the number of proliferating franchise T20 leagues. It's the lack of International 50 over Cricket that is the problem. Next year the 50 over series against Australia finishes on a Chill- I Sunday 29th September with 5 matches which should be the centrepiece of the summer played from Thursday 19th September in a 10 day period. And of course Jumbo remains in the room, If you get rid of 50 over Cricket what happens to Fist Class and Test Cricket even less attractive to broadcasters outside the big 3 Countries with players such as Dawid Malan opting out of red ball cricket in favour of franchises.

Cracking programme for the England v Tonga First Test. Almost like the good old days If your not at the game you can order it from Curtis Sport https://www.curtis-sport.com/specials

Wowzer Afganistan beating Pakistan noiw by 8 wickets... Assocaite Nations beating Full member nations -Better stop this 50 over lark and just play T20 instead ICC to Discuss future of 50 over Cricket

Chickens coming home to roost,, Although I had forebodings posted on the forum pre-tournament, the actual England performances, with the exception of the Bangladesh game, have been wat worse thatn I expected. As it stands a last 4 of India, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Now when the inquest starts, perhaps someone not taking SKY money might just look at the schedule and the warped prioritiers of English Cricket for while an Indian win gurantees the survival of 50 over cricket, which is also the long form game played by the associate members and the porimary form of the women's game. The elephant in the room is first class / Test cricket which is increasingly marginalised. When the Bazball effect wears off and England's Test side declines with a side filled with players who no longer play much redball cricket, wither the next TV contract, which after all contrary to agitprop is based upon the success of the national side not the with the latest scrambled 4 year deal and reprtesents a 20% real; term cut in income by year 4 (Source Kent CCC annual Report).

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