Whippet13

From what was presented yesterday, Harry Sunderland was a huge (and very successful) self-publicist, amongst other things: He appears to have been a highly divisive figure in Queensland RL and involved in arguments which led to Brisbane RL breaking away and forming their own league. Regarding France, he seems to have taken a lot of undue credit for work done by others in the growth of the game there. Tony has also unearthed an article from August 1939 where after a continental tour Sunderland refers positively, if briefly, to Hitler and others. He was also given money by Wigan for his fare back to Australia when war broke out but stayed here, kept the cash and took up a job running Salford.

My wife and I also went to this. Tony's presentation was very interesting and filled in plenty of detail around the self-serving antics of Harry Sunderland throughout his career, not just his relationship with Roy Francis. He's not around to defend himself of course, but it has nevertheless convinced me the Trophy needs re-naming.

I noticed the lower back of the England shirts had Salboy on them yesterday, presumably that was due to French regulations around advertising gambling in sports, although the French seemed to have a betting company company top back of theirs so not sure how that works. Anyway, Salboy appears to be a company jointly owned by Fred Done and someone called Simon Ismail, it specialises in property development and......private equity investment. Now I could be putting 2 and 2 together here and getting 5 but......

I'd prefer some sort of lottery, you buy a weekly ticket and if you win get to pick what UK town or city the club plays out of the next week. It could raise millions overnight and cover the RFL income shortfalls.

Cleared to play RL again. Only 25 I think, best of luck to him.

The England RL shirt designs are very poor every time, that has to be down to the RFL, not the manufacturer. This St George's flag obsession has been going on for years and it's never looked even remotely classy. Should be either chevrons or hoops in classic RL style. On the plus side, at least they've given up on the dreadful "wall of white" rubbish these days.

Their RFL licence has a value so it sounds like they are going to try and play out of Bradford in 2022 (maybe just as "The Aces") and be open to offers if anyone wants to buy their licence and relocate the club. Someone, somewhere, will be interested.

Almost: To win games today....lets worry about tomorrow when it comes.

You can by using JustPark or a similar parking app.

Looks like it includes the Tottenham and Arsenal stadiums, where there are big RL games next season. Wembley is just outside the zone. From using the link, my vehicle is impacted - although my better half's is ok though.

It says the Combined All Stars will be a standalone event so that'll be an improvement, but I hope it's on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon to help attract a decent crowd instead of tucked away midweek or on a Friday night. Problem with the GB labelling for me is that England barely play as it is so we just aren't building either brand into something substantial. I suspect this will be a tour down under as that seems to be the GB purpose now. Probably 2023 as the NRL won't want their precious assets being away in the deadly northern hemisphere for 2 years running.

Surprised there isnt an option for all 3 clubs to play at the AJ. SRD have only 13 home games plus cup and any (unlikely tbf) playoff games and the stadium is surely empty for 4 months over the summer.

Tom Starling getting arrested again might throw a spanner in the works: https://www.watoday.com.au/sport/nrl/latest-starling-incident-clouds-future-of-raiders-hookers-20211020-p591oc.html

And here they are: https://everythingrugbyleague.com/dog-in-the-fight-staffies-born-with-an-aussie-pedigree/

As per DoubleD's post, the crowd loved it obviously, was especially amusing as there were just 12 points in it at that point after a great Samoa fightbacks had everyone watching roaring them on and NZ were getting worried.

Yes, mine too, I was stood right in front of where it happened.

To fight for the game on social media I often give likes to obscure RL teams who post messages and pictures on Twitter in languages I can't speak a word of. I seem to have a particular habit of doing this with Ukrainian teams for some reason. I also always make sure to select "Hide this ad" on any RU content that appears in my Social Media feeds. When it asks for a reason I carefully select the most negative feedback, such as "Not Relevant" or "Offensive".

https://everythingrugbyleague.com/the-lezignan-spirit-will-be-very-good-for-james-maloney/ Sam Moa is still there as well.

Link to Lezignan v St Gaudens, doubt Maloney will be playing though.

100% of the fee goes to his fund I understand, so well done to the RFL on this one.

Sod that slight underdog nonsense, go for Carcassonne, we have easily the best medieval citadel in France and a statue of Puig Aubert.

Enjoyed that, we do have some good young talent coming through. Be fascinating to see how the England lads played after 2 or 3 games together but sadly that won't happened. For Jamaica it was a good workout, Scotland will be a lot closer and the more games they can play the better they will gel for the WC. Commentary team wasn't great but then again neither is Sky and being able to watch it was a bargain at £4.95.

Is there a podcast version?

It was Nick Du Toit.

Have you considered an email or phone call to BARLA? https://www.barla.org.uk/contact They would presumably be able to put you in touch with potentially interested teams.