bamfordsbeans

870 at the soccer last night. Whoever owns the Shay it is not viable under the present circumstances. Lets hope for better times for both clubs.

Might be just me but the quality of books 20 to 30 years ago seems a lot higher than in recent years. Mind you I say the same about the game in general,pubs,music etc.

The new signings are very encouraging. Just wondered if anybody in the know is aware of our general financial situation and who are the main members of the board? In the past we had more clarity of who was in charge but most of the recent statements have come from the CEO. Nothing wrong with that but is there anybody in the background with funding?

Of the 57 countries listed in the men's list does anybody know how many of those have an active domestic competition. Over the last 10 years or so I have read numerous optomistic articles about developing countries and their projected growth. Unfortunately this seems to be followed up with limited or no news. Examples are Belgium.Norway,Spain and Sweden.

The extra 2 teams in SL for next season will surely have an impact.

Don't think we're going to see Whitby in a Fax shirt anytime soon!

Normally like to see Catalans do well but like the RFL hoping for a Hull KR win. Implications on the crowd and consequently finances and image of the game is huge.

Going back to the York theme-I noticed that the York v Halifax soccer game on Saturday got 7,000. I believe Oldham also get similar attendances, which must have a factor for the RL teams sharing those grounds.

I attended the filming of Rugby Town at the Rex Cinema in Elland last night. It is a 40 minute film directed by James Mellor on the history of Halifax RL and has won a series of awards at international festivals. After the showing of the above there was a Q and A session with former players Martin Moana,Damien Gibson and Frank Watene all of whom have made their homes in the town. All in all an excellent evening. The director said he has enough material to make it full feature length,although in true RL world- shortage of money is an issue.

Just look at recent Challenge Cup attendances to see what the fans think. A third competition with no history isn't the answer.

Always thought the Shay was ideal for SL.Present capacity is about 10,000 and if Davy was to develop the Skircoat stand that would increase to 13,000.

Good list.Everybody will have their own views but don't think its miles away. Two thirds of that list play for only 3 clubs leaving the remaining 9 an average of 1.

Fax were actually winning for most of the game and Fev drew level.

This game sums up why Sky keep reducing payments to SL. Poor night for the game.

Sky money is probably half of what it used to be and in real terms even more. It seems the majority of clubs have failed to find other revenue areas to compensate for this.

Great coverage from the BBC this morning.

Just as it looks as we are getting a decent team together it seems likely that they are not going to get a meaningful test for at least 2 years. No creditable national team can stand this. Again it puts into question the international schedule that was laid out.

I noticed Leeds got the maximum 2.5 for attendances. Does that mean their crowds over the last 3 years are as good as it gets?

Comparing averages at the top end is certainly one way of assessing different era,s.But I also remember this period and indeed the eighties for good crowds at Challenge cup games,crowds of over 1000 at second team games and 2000 at Yorkshire cup finals (amateur). The average fan these days seems to buy a SL season ticket and attend few other games.

Its difficult to assess when our game was at its strongest. Even though crowds were not as big overall as today-I remember the early to mid nineties as a period when internationally we were nearer to Australia than at any other time since the early seventies,the overall strenghth of clubs outside the elite was stronger and the amateur game in the heartlands was a lot more vibrant.

Its less than 20 years ago since Halifax used to get bigger crowds than Huddersfield and Bradford combined.in fact I used to get bored of the one sided nature of the Huddersfield and Halifax fixures.Its only that Ken Davey was based the other side of Ainley top that things worked out differently. Who is to say that the next Dr Koucash isn,t going to come from Oldham or Rochdale? Thats why the new structure at least gives hope to all clubs.

If we did ringfence these top 10 teams who would they be?I,m assuming you are including the likes of Huddersfield who only managed 7000 yesterday -and I would imagine a significant away support. If we had 10 Wigan and Leeds,s out there OK-but its not going to happen.

Im a bit cofused with all the funding amounts being bandied about at present.Have all the figures been decided and if so for how long? Also I understand that the SL clubs have just had a one off payment of £300K.Is this correct?

Championship clubs are still operating on the existing salary cap which I believe is £300k.Therefore any extra outlay shouldn,t take place until next season. It will be interesting to see the kind of players they attract-and how many overseas players they will be allowed.

Mark Aston seems to be viewing this from his own clubs perspective.In the present system clubs like Sheffield and Batley punch above their weight- but I expect them now to struggle to keep up with the likes of Featherstone,Leigh and Halifax.