iffleyox

Bulldogs are a small number of people's very long term passion. 1989 to date.

given they've already played at Kings Norton RFC, Aston OE, Moseley, Witton, etc*.... I think they've got the first part weighed off. That's not a criticism by the way - they've done really well to be going for about 34 years now with basically no infrastructure, so they're not quite as nomadic as they might look. Some of them have been decent length stays. *those are just the ones I can remember. There are probably more.

maybe... we can test that hypothesis with the reasonably promoted (at least locally) RU game between England Deaf RU and Jamaica Deaf RU on Sunday in Birmingham.... The bigger problem in Birmingham is that while there's a lot of rugby (U) played, Birmingham is the last big city (standfast Trafford in South Manchester) to have retained the 11+ and grammar schools, which historically have fed the RU sides. RU participation is struggling in the city because the products of the school production lines move away now much more than they stay. For a long time it did well because RU in the city provided the social scene, the contacts, and the private club out of hours drinking. The world's moved on, licensing laws have been relaxed etc. It's not (at best) the 1980s anymore - the RU heyday in the city was really the 60s and 70s anyway. But the grammars are still the engines of youth rugby in the city (alongside the usual hardworking M&J volunteers). Clubs are trying to address that - and do more in the local communities - one of them got a TV series out of it (School of Hard Knocks on SkySports), but it's tough going. Birmingham, like virtually everywhere else, is a football city. Changing demographics mean there's a lot of hockey there too now - and cricket remains relatively strong. Making rugby (either RL or RU) work from scratch in Birmingham as a spectator sport is going to be a huge challenge - especially in RL's case essentially from scratch. When the city had a top flight RU club they got a couple of thousand. When they had a level 2 RU club, they struggled to break a thousand. I'm going to go and watch Hurricanes, I want them to work, but it's going to be very tough I think. There's a big residual RU apparatus in the city which is hardly making waves. I don't think (personal view) that many people are sitting around waiting for RL to happen - but there's basically none sitting around waiting for RU either. Essentially, Not A Rugby City. I'd be delighted to be proved wrong. But that's a lifetime in and around the city. I do think they might do better in Birmingham than Coventry though as even the minority that are interested ought to be bigger in the former just on raw numbers. You won't get 'proper Brummies' (TM) watching anything with Coventry in the name though (and vice versa) - hence probably the name change.

Given Flybe have in the last 24 hours demonstrated the state of play in the budget end of the aviation industry I think we might be approaching the end of cheap flights, never mind budget airlines wanting to fly people around for free. The big push from easyJet is currently package holidays - flights alone isn’t enough any more to make money. i don’t want to be overly negative, but since 2020 airlines are probably no longer the partner you want, or in a position to want to be.

Only slight watch out there is Truro City being owned by Cornish Pirates RU…

Really sad news. What a week.

Only 20?

Exactly - both codes would probably stop before helmets got introduced.

First question’s easy - they’re starting at amateur level because they unilaterally can. To do it at pro level would take agreement across all the world’s unions (because they’ve got to play each other) and they’re not there yet. the commentary is it’s a matter of time before the pro game follows, which means global.

One or the other - it’ll either work or not. I’m not being flippant, I mean either all that building will create more demand, or it has saturated demand - it’s not so much a grey situation as a binary one

Quite, I’ve got a cricket habit and an extensive model railway. All good fun…

Birmingham City Council are quite proactive at this sort of thing. They were a massive help when Moseley lost the Reddings and the University move wasn't working out. Finest city in the world... I never warmed to going to watch Bears (I had Oxford on my doorstep initially, and obviously as a Mose fan I struggle to support anything with 'Coventry' in the name) but will try and make it up for Hurricanes. I've not watched an RL match in person since before the first lockdown astonishingly.* *admittedly I've got young kids now, but life has really got in the way with a vengeance. I've not used my Mose season ticket yet this season!

Difficult to see where else they could go though. About the only other option (and I've got no idea if they explored it, and assuming we're ruling out Villa Park and St Andrews as a bit too aspirational) would be Moseley, which is within walking distance of a station (Yardley Wood) but otherwise still in the outer badlands comparatively. As I'm sure you know, Perry Barr has got good bits and worse bits, and tbh the Alex sort of straddles the two. It's just the North Birmingham grey wilderness really. But the park's quite nice.

from the link: 'Bleacher style covered stands will be installed on the running track.'

stadium's great, area not so much - though it's ok. Essentially a Birmingham equivalent of Stratford before the Olympics came along.

add another 24 people for every person currently living in Leigh and the case will be unanswerable

Surely 3 - Moor Street? (4, if you include international - plus dozens of suburban stations that don't have the B word in the name)

Close to the M6 and M62? Could this be Warrington's year?

Or is it secret option C - which is the same in RU - bigger clubs that have historically not bothered with M&J because they could just have the players from the amateur clubs in the locality, then a few decades on still not bothering with M&J because they didn't want to torpedo what was left of the youth set ups at the local amateur sides as they struggled, then, er, just basically not doing M&J because they don't do M&J? Even from a ground-utilisation/clubhouse turnover pov, one-team semi-pro set-ups are a luxury that increasingly neither code should be indulging. Except in a very few locations where there's still a wealth of thriving amateur sides.

Never underestimate the income streams you can get from a 4G training ground pitch. You can absolutely rinse them in a way that a stadium requires much greater operating costs. Until the inevitable scandal a few years from now when it emerges that they're really toxic or something, 4G training piches should almost be more of a no-brainer than 4Gmain pitches.

Now that really is The Greatest Game, besides which RU and RL are mere children's hobbies. My great grandfather turned up the ball* twice. *Ashbourne for kicking off - you got your name on a board in the pub.

I'm sure this has been said before, but have a look at an aerial view - there's actually a fair bit of space on the western side, so when the time comes I think something 'substantial' could be done (though would probably have the right to light surveyors and solicitors salivating. Seriously, I think there's a weird effect at Belle Vue where people go expecting a dump, and actually therefore don't see the potential of what they're looking at. I've experienced it myself - the western side feels cramped when you're on it but if you got your tape measure out and looked properly at what's available it's basically just a dreadful use currently of (quite a lot of) space. In the fullness of time, it'll come good.

makes a change from M62 - I like it. The Championship, being the middle of the three tiers could be the A1(M) league...

Come on, Smashing League is awesome. Keep Super as the top league then work down… Super Smashing Great replace the SL trophy with a speedboat and job’s jobbed

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