Bostik Bailey

I have just finished Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse series (Shadow and the bone etc) I am not that into fantasy but these are excellent stories and characters, but the Shadow and the Bone series does contain some rather pathetic teenage romance writing, and it is testament to the strength of the story that you can read through that. the six of crows however is a fantastic heist story. non-fiction Soccermatics by David Sumptor us and interesting read even if like me you don’t have that much interest football.

That Sidney Potter has just died

A very good resume of the current state of cricket in England. there are rumours that the hundreds is a precursor to franchising the first class game over here with ~10 city based “test” teams, concentrating the the available talent. the problem is that franchising in sport hasn’t really succeeded in the UK but of course the lower counties don’t want to be reduced to basically a fully professional version of league cricket (which it isn’t that far off at the moment) One thing that is needed is less limited overs and more competitive timed cricket

The roots of feasting at this time of year are quite pragmatic. In high Northern latitudes Nothings grows now for the next 2 months, so you have to survive till spring. This means that in all likely hood you do not have enough fodder to keep all your animals, so slaughter the excess livestock and feast heartily since the birth of the new year is upon us.

Yep a date celebrated since human’s became aware, and absolutely nothing at all to do with the mythical birth of someone in the Middle East.

For anybody with an interest in all things wild and wonderful, this site is very good for keep up to date on why you don’t see many birds of prey when you are out and about (especially in North Yorkshire) https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com

In my school (in the RL heartlands)in the 80s if you were picked for the first XV at the weekend you couldn’t play for your RL team that weekend( even if the matches were on different days) quite a few ended up in detention for it. Add in the rampant homophobic comments from the sports teachers about anyone playing rugby league, and you get the picture.

Much that the RU back line is good, Hanley and Newlove at centre! As good as Gibbs and Bateman were, they would have been in Newlove and Hanley’s pockets all afternoon. the only ones I would swap would be Davis for Conolly and Offiah for Drummond

On the one I was on it was me , by virtue of being picked first and sitting in the ‘foremans seat’ as it was refered to. but generally it just tends to sort its self out

But in the piece Goulding states that there were procedures in place(baseline cognitive tests) but as players they manipulated the results of these test, by getting other player to complete them etc. If this was the case then the RFL can only do so much if the players did not take these tests seriously then that is where a portion of the blame lies. I don’t buy into the claim that the tests were unregulated and open to manipulation, the protocol was presumably designed to be done by responsible adults, who did not require constant supervision. That is not to say that the suggestion that other agencies could have put undue pressure on players to manipulate these test, isn’t valid. But without any hard proof of this happening that it is just hearsay and can be rightfully refuted.

Central Park and Knowsley Road knocked Weldon Road into a cocked hat for being a great place to watch rugby league in the last century. As to going to an actual rugby league ground I suppose I've gone all soft in that I would like basic hygiene facilities when I pay over £25 for access to a venue.

Etherhethetheth Chris Waddle

Nah he’s already signed for Wire

That used to be the rule, initial contact was the deciding issue on the legality of the tackle. However since we have become more aware of the dangers of head knocks it is contact to the head that decides the illegality of the tackle.

What we are talking about here is elite professional sport the very reason it exists is for individuals (clubs etc) to pursue excellence and beat the opposition. Your comparison to the NHS, and how society as a whole should be run have absolutely nothing to do with elite sport.

What the rules regarding a voluntary tackle?

Well considering that these three clubs developed their own players and all their champion winning sides had a large proportion of home grown talent, that could be the main reason. And we should be championing this system of excellence. however this is British rugby league, far easier complain about the success built this way and look for ways to level down. having said that next week is no forgone conclusion and however wins will be deserving champions

Coming in your ears

Yes that is why they are called enabling developments. Neither St Helens nor Warrington councils provided any funding for the projects.

I do think that the make up of the DP panel is the problem. The last time any if these people played the game was 20? years ago. The injury protocols and general attitude to player welfare has changed beyond recognition in the intervening years. What was acceptable 20 years ago should now be a straight red, so of course these ex-players will be lenient because, “in my day, we would have done far worse”…etc

How much wood has he got in his head?

Well go and watch Union then. The RL scrum has been dying a slow death, to resurrect it now will lead to players (and refs) not being certain of the rules and more ‘gamesmanship’ trying to milk a penalty. If that is what you want you know which sport will give it to you. the scrum is just a way to restart the game after a mistake by a team, why should we reward the mistake by giving the team a fair chance to get the ball back (or give the opposition poor quality ball).

If people want to watch contested scrums, watch rugby Union, and see how many scrums go against the feed in top level games. let scrums in RL die a natural death.

Channel 9, bouno esthenis, ethethethetheth,bethethethethis Alfy Langer butrous butrous Gali

So another Lancashire clubs looks likely to fade away because they believed unless they got a new ground they would be kicked out of the top flight. They should have just followed the same model as Wakefield and Cas and just put all the sky money into half decent antipodeans and salary cap cast offs from other clubs, rather than try to bring then game into the 21st Century.