Keith T

Teams in the middle group of 8 teams do not carry over their points from the first 11 games, only those in the 1st and 3rd group of 8 carry them forward.

In your theoretic system at 1. Will the 2nd tier also have a Magic weekend as well or are you just concerned with Tier 1? What about the unfairness in the fixtures in that first 11 games, where one team could be away to the top teams and another playing them at their own ground? At the end of the regular season it is suggested that there will be playoffs for each of the 8 team groups, but what are they playing -off for? If the top 4 from Tier 2 go in to the middle group of 8 with 4 teams from SL then they are playing to decide the four teams that play in the top Tier1 the next season but what is the third group of 8 playing-off for? Which teams will be the Championship Champions?

I might agree with you, if only we knew the Cumbria team!!!!!!

The tannoy system was pathetic all day to be honest. At one time during the emergency there was 3 messages going out at the same time. One sounded like an automatic message then there was another and also the fella on the pitch with his roving mic. Even when they were announcing the teams via the roving mic it was hard to make out names etc, because a) he was holding the mioc too close to his mouth and b ) there always seemed to be background music to the message. The only really clear message was the warning that the stadium was no smoking and smoking was not allowed in any part of the stadium!!!!

How come everything you put forward Alan Marsden is fact and yet whatever I have said is subjective conjecture? Stick to subjects that you may know something about and don't try to be the knowall that you come across as. Walsh was never chased from Town he left of is own accord and went to Hull. He is still a very good friend of Town and came over this year for a re-union with old mates at the club. He also keeps an eye out for any budding players down under for us, so stick to what you think you know about and you may be respected otherwise your talking a load of b******s..

I would like to see the Giants pull this one off and I would feel more confident if their coach played Lunt in his natural position of hooker that anywhere but hooker. When he goes to acting halfback he gives them far more go forward than Robinson or Brough. In the Crusaders game Lunt never went to acting halfback once but everyone else had a go, Robinson, Brough, Gilmore, Faiumui. Play Lunt at hooker with Brough at loose forward and Robinson at 7 and I'll go with the Giants.

As a matter of fact Harry Edgar and I exchanged letters in the Whitehaven News back in 1995 about the proposed merger of Haven and Town and Harry was the main man at that time that was against the idea. He led the call for Haven to remain a community club and for a time later he actually became a member of the board at that club, so I wonder how he would describe that period of management. Town came out of SL with no parachute payment and several players on SL size contracts. The crowds dropped and they couldn't afford the salaries and from there it was all downhill. The bottom came when we went in to administration with the double jeopardy of losing out on the Sky payments that lower league clubs were paid at that time. We went nearly two seasons without any Sky money at the very time when the club needed it most to help pay the debts. All in all I think our board of directors have done quite well to the point where we show a small profit in the last published accounts. Maybe Harry is a bit out of date, eh!!!

Maurice Lindsay thinks he revolutionised the game which is different to reality. He was merely a pawn or a puppet of Murdoch in his quest to gain power of Australian Rugby League in the pay to view war with Kerry Packer. Murdoch needed to get the British game on board to strengthen his case and Lindsay happened to be in the right position at the time this came about. It could have been anyone but it happened to be Lindsay. It was Lindsay who wanted a team in Paris and he did everything in his power to ensure that he got that team. It was this that caused so many problems for Workington Town because come hell or high water he was determined that Paris would finish above Town at the end of the season and so not be relegated. Paris that season had over 70 players and most of them were not British. Two players were supposed to be coming to play for Town but were somehow "waylaid" and ended up at PSG. John Kear at the time was employed as the Director of Coaching Development at the RFL and he was sent across to PSG to, in his own words on Sky, to ensure that PSG finish above Workington. Next Lindsay himself and Harry Jepson went over to Paris and became directors of PSG and of course we won't mention the dubious win that Paris had in the last match of the season which saw Town relegated. The following season it was Oldham's turn to compete with PSG but in the end the debts at Paris got so high that the project was brought to a halt with debts of over

I get a little bit annoyed about this subject and find it hypocritical at times when we seek more attention from the national newspapers when our own trade paper(s) give a substantial part of our game very poor coverage, in my opinion. As a Championship 1 club supporter I have complained to Martyn Sdaler about the lack of coverage for Championship and Championship 1 clubs in the Rugby League Express. Martyn obviously didn't agree with me stating that they gave two pages for Championship clubs news and "sometimes" a mention on page 2 or 3. Wow. Take a look at any weeks copy and in the majority of cases you have to wait until about page 10 before you get 1 page for the Championship clubs and then the next page is for the Championship 1 clubs. Stevo has a full page every week and very rarely, if ever, mentions Championship or Championship 1 clubs. Martyn himself has at least half a page for his column and again rarely, if ever, mentions the lower leagues. In the rear of the paper there are about 8 pages usually covering academy, amateur and australian rugby league before we get to the letter pages which are usually full of SL club fans calling each others teams, etc. I suggested they should change the title to Super League Express but I note they haven't changed it. So, how can we complain about our game not getting national media coverage when we don't cater for a large part of it ourselves.

It is a stupid system where a club tops the league after a full season and are not champions but that is the rules of the competition and has been for several years. In 2005 Whitehaven topped the league but it was Castleford whowere the League Champions and won a place in SL. Haven's only trophy in their 62 years history was not the League Champions Trophy but the National League 1 Leaders Trophy. Another point is that going back in to the 40's, 50's and 60's the top team wasn't the champion as there used to be top four play-offs to decide the Champions. Town won the Championship in 1950 -51 from 3rd position and several others did similar but that's rugby league for you, nothing is ever simple.

Let's face it if any team coming down from SL can't hack it in the Championship then they haven't been doing the job right over the past 3 years whilst they have been in SL. SL clubs are supposed to be the clubs that are developing all our new young talent and the clubs that are loaning our players to Championship clubs under the dual registration system. Most Championship clubs have made use of many of these youngsters during this season.

Let's face it if any team coming down from SL can't hack it in the Championship then they haven't been doing the job right over the past 3 years whilst they have been in SL. SL clubs are supposed to be the clubs that are developing all our new young talent and the clubs that are loaning our players to Championship clubs under the dual registration system. Most Championship clubs have made use of many of these youngsters during this season.

But from my experience the numbers of similar fans from Championship and Championship 1 teams is getting less year on year. There used to be several such trips from west Cumbria to the CC Final but now you are lucky if a mini-bus goes and I'm sure that will be repeated elsewhere from lower league clubs. Lower league clubs can't even look for a good pay day getting drawn against a SL team any more as the SL club fans don't wish to pay for an uneven contest in most cases. So from where I stand, a lower league club supporter, is the CC worth it my answer has to be not really.

Or how about a few more pages for the clubs outside of Super League??? I usually have to turn over 6 or 7 pages of RLE before I see a mention of Championship and Championship 1 and soon I fear they will be called Super League Express and Super League World!!!!!!!

Sincere condolences to Paul and family members and friends. Such a young age it certainly puts life in general in to perspective. RIP Christine. God Bless.

I wish people would stop using Workington as an example in these arguments as their relegation was as the first sacrificial lamb on the alter of expansionism by the RFL. Had the RFL not assisted PSG so much to help them finish above Town then Town would have not been relegated and who knows what might have happened? As it was they did get relegated with players on SL contracts which had to be met and in a lower league. Several players left and the performances in the lower league were poor and they dropped again into the third division and then went in to administration. The period in administration meant that they did not receive any money from the RFL from the Sky monies which only added to their predicament. That scenario would not happen now for as Derwent states the problem has been legislated for regarding SL contracts.

If it's only clubs trying to get promoted to the top division or trying to establish themselves in the top division who get in to huge debts then how come Man Utd are

So am I and the RFL need to take a look at the incident in the 38th minute where March instructs Wabo to charge in and hit a Town player. The Town winger had been half tackled and was on his backside with a Hunslet player holding his lower body. March was holding him up and he truned and shouted to Wabo to charge him. Wabo charge in and March jumped out of the way as Wabo arrived. Fortunately contact wasn't as serious as it might have been but it was certainly designed to cause physical injury to the Workington winger and something the game doe not need.

Yes, we haven't had him that long from Whitehaven. Just wait until we get him fit. Having said that he looked slimmer than Low and Woodcock of Hunslet or did you not notice them!!!!!!!!!!!

Memories of the way it used to be misty water colour memories of the way we were. Ah, some of the good old days and as yanto points out Town did get promoted to the Big League and didn't go right back down again but finished 9th of 16 teams.

Sport England is not doing the job it should be doing for ALL sports. Ten identified sports such as soccer, RL, RU, cricket, athletics, tennis, swimming, (is polo one?) etc, are doing alright but lesser sports are missing out. I attended a funding fair a few months a go and the facilitator for the lettery workshop was telling us that for sports outside the top 10 selected by Sport England it was a waste of time looking at them for funding until after the 2012 Olympics!!!!!!!!

Hornetto, my cup is always half full but I have no way of knowing how many of our lost fans would return just the same as you don't know if we would lose fans or gain thousands. What I do know, from my own experience and talking to others who still attend and some of those that don't attend, is that unless something in the nature of a new venture happens, one or both of our semi-pro clubs will go out of business in the not too distant future through lack of support through the turnstiles. Both clubs have stadiums to maintain and all the other costs of running a lower league club plus trying to put an attractive, competitive team out on the pitch in an area outside the M62 heartlands. We often say it is easier for us to get players from Oz or NZ than the north of England as they move to the area not suck clubs dry with travelling costs, etc.

Hornetto, the position in Cumbria is very different to where you are located. Here we have two towns, 6 miles apart, with a total population of around 65,000, with two mediocre teams who presently get crowds of around 500 and 800, two stadiums to maintain, each fighting each other for the same sponsorship deals, same local players,etc. The nearest SL club is Wigan at a round trip of 250 miles and Barrow, who several people keep shouting about doing something for Cumbria is 60 miles away from the rugby league" heartlands" of west Cumbria. If Barrow get in to SL, and I genuinely hope they do, it will be of little benefit to the west of the county and I don't think it will attract many people from our area. Many fans of both clubs have walked away from the game not just the clubs because they can see there is no future for either club other than struggling along in the lower leagues. Three seasons ago Town went 14 months without losing at home and struggled to get crowds above 750 so not even a winning team can get some of these fans back. It needs something to re-invigorate the game up here or it will certainly wither and die and that won't happen with just patronising talk.

I hope you don't see too much of him nec as he is definitely past his best at 40 years of age. He'll probably get 5 minutes each half.