iffleyox
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Posts posted by iffleyox
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39 minutes ago, The Daddy said:
RL is about supporting the team of the town or city you're from
which is very difficult in England if you're not from Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumbria, or London.*
*yes, also Newcastle, Birmingham (this year) etc, but you know what I mean
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8 hours ago, SB1 said:
It is happening, although scaled down from it's original size; due to the Conservative government backing down from a David Cameron promise in 2015 to provide funding for the stadium, it wasn't included in the recent Levelling Up funding scheme as a project. As such, another partner in Truro and Penwith College pulled out their segment of funding because of this.
Not a political swipe, but just an observation.
As I understand, the Cornish Pirates and Truro City would play there in the winter season and Cornwall RLFC in the summer.
More context: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0cht9rp
AIUI the stadium as planned is basically now dead, and what is going to be built is a smaller thing just for Truro City. Pirates are stuck at the Mennaye now for the foreseeable. Might as well change their name back to Penzance/Newlyn…
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24 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:
You’d have to ask the ref that. It shouldn’t come into the equation, obviously.
In all, I thought the ref had a pretty decent game actually and made far fewer mistakes than some of the players on both teams.
to be fair, I was following it on twitter, and depending on which team you were backing sounded like he was generally decent except for the (again depending on which team you were backing) occasional lapse. Not sure you can ask for more than that in reality.
Still. Up the Trin.
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33 minutes ago, Josef K said:
I wouldn’t trust a rugger club, look at the Sale Cuckoos.
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10 hours ago, Tommygilf said:
Surely they must be planning at least, even just on a "worst case scenario" basis.
No one in their right mind, at a fans forum, is going to read out the disaster recovery plan. It's bad enough when you're talking about a datacentre, but when the main ongoing cost is wages that would be a presentational, morale, and probably legal nightmare.
You're never going to get anything other than the most anodyne 'we're not expecting that'.
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36 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:
Belle Vue is again an absolute hole, but Ive seen some great games there with a great atmosphere and being pretty much beneath the pitch its quite unique (and scary if there's a big hit right above you)
free of charge, depending on where you are in the ground. I think it's because of a misunderstanding when they built the ground and the directors said they'd like Trinity to be a team people would look up to....
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as someone who started out like you, a neutral, and has been to many of the grounds before ending up a Trin fan, I cannot say to you strongly enough that you need to pick a big game (maybe v Leeds) at Cas and get yourself down to Wheldon Road. When it's full and Cas are on song, it's hands down the best atmosphere in the sport.
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26 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:
Funding went from 500 to less than 250k https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cityam.com/championship-rugby-club-chairman-increase-funding-to-clubs/%3famp=1 .
Nottingham went pt and so did scottish. They are going to have a closed shop in all but name and maybe let doncaster in to have a team in Yorkshire.
Sorry yes I know the finding has been cut, I meant everyone going PT as a response was supposition/likely to happen but hadn’t yet.
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16 hours ago, The Future is League said:
Perhaps time to look at some young players in that league and see if they are capable of being TGG players to a decent standard.
there's a slight inversion effect going on though because level 2 clubs have (more or less) grown dependent on the central funding, such that some of them are on or near the skids without it. Level 3 hasn't had any funding to speak of for years, so is more used to raising its own cash. At the moment, in so far as anything it happening at all in terms of the effects of the funding issues at level 2, there is some indication of players either going abroad or from level 2 to level 3....
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21 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:
Not sure after RFU cut funding to their Champ. Most have gone part time. Their crowds are no better than ours at tier 2. Bar Ealing it is going to be part time.
no - that's supposition/likely to happen, but it hasn't happened yet.
As a direction of travel I wouldn't totally disagree, but I make it 8/12 clubs full time at the moment off the top of my head. The only ones that I'm actually sure aren't full time are Bedford, Richmond and Caldy*. I suspect London Scottish aren't either, but I don't know.
Incidentally, I think you can add Doncaster in as certs to stay FT, given that this very morning they've put in planning permission for two new stands to take their seated capacity north of 10,000 and meet premiership minimum standards.
*and of those three at least two of them have got hybrid models with some full time players and some PT.
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30 minutes ago, The Future is League said:
Possibly its a pity this didn't happen 8 to 10 years ago for him then.
There must be young union players out there who are not in the top flight that would be better suited to our game than union, and will never play in the union top flight, but certain clubs need to do better when it comes to junior development in our game.
the issue there is that there are full time* players in tier three of English RU earning a SL squad player's salary and getting their summers off while still dreaming of making it... at level 2, full time is the rule rather than the exception. It's not just junior development, it's (as always) the availability or not of blunt, ready cash.
*not a vast number obviously, and not superstar wages.
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1 hour ago, The Rocket said:
Not sure whether the journalist writing this article knows something that we don`t, but hopefully he does:
"At the beginning of the year, Channel 4 only gained access to ten Super League games – including play-off matches – but that will surely change from 2022 onwards with how well it has been received."
Thought this was interesting as well:
"It was the first time that both of those sides have been broadcast on Channel 4 in 2022 as the broadcasters attempt to get round all the Super League sides."
Shows that part of the deal was to show all teams at some stage, that`s not going to help with the ratings some weekends as less attractive teams have their go.
You`d like to think that if C4 are so happy with it they may be prepared to stump up a bit of cash for a weekly match and perhaps a greater say in who they can broadcast. Might see that upper band of viewing figures reached a bit more consistently in that case.
The full article.
yes, but I'd still expect them to want to go round all the teams over the season - it fits with C4's remit much more than chasing ratings. Obviously I appreciate that they've got to have one eye on ratings (I'm not that naive), but the point of them is not to be overtly commercial, it's why the entire channel exists.
It's not C4's job to start demanding 'we want Wigan v Saints' or whatever - that's literally what highest bidder rights auctions are for. To that extent I think the inconsistent ratings are going to be baked into their coverage -whether for good or ill.
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45 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:
But don't the numbers speak for themselves? I know it's not often enough for loyal red ball fans, but there ARE county championship games on at the weekend, even in high summer this year. They get a fraction of the audience that the Blast does.
Ish - I love Worcestershire, but do I love Worcestershire enough these days to drop everything and get to the maybe two matches that I could actually physically attend in the red ball?
Regular weekend county cricket hasn't been done for over 20 years, so the 'one man and his dog watch it' shouldn't be any surprise - they've even been through the absolute nadir period of scheduling the championship matches Monday-Thursday, which really did feel like trying to kill it. Thankfully I waas a student at the time, so it didn't hurt me as much as it could have.
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42 minutes ago, Jughead said:
Cricket has created an audience in Twenty Twenty cricket that is very different from their audience who watch county championship cricket.
some of that's desperation though - at 41 I'd lower the average age of a county championship spectator dramatically if they were more interested in actually scheduling matches over weekends where I actually stood a chance of being able to watch them.
as it is I tend to watch more T20 and one day than I otherwise would, simply because that's what's on on a Friday night or over the weekend. Neither is actually my preferred format though FWIW.
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12 hours ago, Tommygilf said:
I went to the same school as him to be fair mate, rough as chuff in old Glaws, by the sorts of people Oxford was describing.
Oh I know, but it was the irony that just jumped out at me. FWIW there's a fair bit of crossover between the Beaufort Hunt and Gloucester season tickets, they just tend not to be in the Shed.
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On 29/05/2022 at 12:10, Tommygilf said:
That wasn't BPs point however.
BP said that our sport suffered because our clubs were not in cities that people associate with top level sport. I pointed out that this wasn't true for RU either.
Acceptability isn't as if we're talking Bridgerton or Downton Abbey. In fact, places like Gloucester and Bristol would be distinctly negatively viewed in those circles. Our problem is that we are viewed as, and I assume the facts back this up, a low GDP per capita sport stuck in a small pockets that aren't cultural drivers.
That isn't "Acceptability", its economics.
I really want to believe you've just gone for the ultimate snob points here and mean that you regard the Windsors as not top drawer - because given one of her sons and her eldest daughter live in Gloucestershire, and her eldest granddaughter is married to one of Gloucester's most well-known players, I would imagine the Downton Abbey circles would be quite keen on Gloucester.
(still doesn't affect the fact that in Gloucester it's the sport of the working man, but still...)
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On 18/05/2022 at 09:24, ShropshireBull said:
Hemel Oxford and Gloucester all sub championship stadiums.
Oxford moved to a joke stadium with no real facilities and a running track round the pitch. The ground they played at for the first two seasons, Iffley Road, would have been fine for the Championship - city centre location, covered seated stands down both sides (from memory the one on the far side of the pitch holds 500, the one on the road side holds 750-1,000, small terrace, clubhouse. Not sure where the problem is - it's better than Ealing...
If googling Iffley Road, ensure you're looking at the rugby ground rather than the athletics ground (where Roger Bannister ran his famous mile) as they're different.
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3 minutes ago, tiffers said:
Out of interest, what insight to the planning have you had?
Last I heard, the land was allocated and the conversation had moved to funding it. With the lack of central government commitment in the Autumn budget, it meant they were back at the drawing board for funds.probably wishful thinking on the part of an ex member of Cornwall Council I run into from time to time - funding is the main issue, but the antis managed to kick the can along long enough for us to end up where we are rather than getting it done years ago. So it's more that the planners/local worthies lost their long drawn attempts to stop it, but stopped it long enough for premiership ring fencing and lack of central government funds to ride to the rescue - IYSWIM.
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On 09/03/2022 at 12:35, Eddie said:
Looks like Cornish Pirates might be reverting to semi-pro, can’t be bad for Cornwall RL https://www.rugbypass.com/news/cornish-pirates-issue-statement-after-newspaper-report-on-status/?fbclid=IwAR0N9o2ThW6Oyx-V87oPf4tLq7gjzyTPil9_pHCzmVhpygyVNXt6JN6OA1U
the negative - and there is one - is that this is likely because both the premiership is essentially ringfencing, and even without that shot in the hull (hit to income and anchor tenant), the Stadium for Cornwall is yet again listing heavily as a proposal because the planners and enough of the local worthies don't want it.
So, what it does mean is that Cornwall appears to be stuck with the sports grounds it has got. Pirates' benefactor has spent millions over nearly 20 years trying to make pro sport happen in Cornwall - and Cornwall's most popular sport at that.
If I was trying to introduce RL to Cornwall, and really committed to it rather than a stunt for a couple of years, I'd be drawing conclusions from that experience unfortunately.
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On 09/02/2022 at 11:38, fighting irish said:
Why would they expect us to offer them cash? It would be just as inappropriate to ask them for cash, to join us?
I can’t even remember the conversation to be honest - have you been in a coma for 18 months?
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Egodo has just signed for Moseley in RU National 1
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22 hours ago, Yorks Tim said:
From a fan's POV, Years 1/2 you just want to see that players, coaches , owners are commited to getting the club established and you're not wasting your money coming back next week.
Years 2/3 you want to competitive with the other teams not in the play-off mix and maybe getting your first win against one of them.
Years 3/4 you want to be winning all your home games against them and maybe one away.
Years 4/5 you want to believe that the first win against a 'heartlands' teams is round the corner.
Year 5/6 you hope it happens and you can now think about fighting for a play-off place.
Starting from scratch in League 1 is tough - as West Wales have found - but the club will get support if the fans can see that there is something worth getting behind.
I'd actually disagree with this - unless you're really sure that there are enough people out there crying out to watch rugby league, you need a winning team. It was a much easier sell to get people to come and watch the team that they kept reading about winning on the back page of the Oxford Mail (in the first season).
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10 hours ago, Pen-Y-Bont Crusader said:
Tastes like dishwater but well done to them.
Not in Cornwall it doesn’t. Cornwall still gets it from the brewery in Rock (as does Devon) - everyone else gets Doom Bar from Burton on Trent…
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12 minutes ago, Forever Trinity said:
Well the upgrade to BV has been passed the Council are now considering plot 8 at Newmarket which is the key to the majority of funding
when are they looking at that - today?
IMG - Vote on Wednesday
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted
I might have missed anything on hard numbers, but in all this fevered excitement about who gets to be A or B or whatever, is there a small possibility that the number of A clubs announced next year might 'accidentally' tally with and match up to the Super League clubs? I.e. it won't matter if a B finishes above an A, because there won't be any Bs in the top flight, or any As a level down....