wiggler

As Bradford Bulls have not been able to make a success of their recent tenure at Odsal and have no city home now, how about merging with Dewsbury to form the Dewsbury Bulls? That way money could be invested to develop Owl Lane rather than blowing it on some new 'boutique' white elephant in Bradford. Look at the Oakland Raiders in the NFL. They are moving to Las Vegas next year and will be called the Las Vegas Raiders. NFL teams move quite often and tend to keep the nickname whilst changing the location to appeal to potential new local customers. Makes sense to me and the NFL clubs know how to run themselves as sustainable entities. Should the miracle happen and a new home is found for a professional club in Bradford the Bradford Bulls could be resurrected then. A club playing in Dewsbury called Bradford will have little appeal to Dewsbury people and the Bradford fan base is likely to slowly drift away over time. Don't believe that could happen to a once great club? No? I will leave you with one word as a potential domesday scenario - Swinton.

I attended the Wath Brow v Thatto Heath game on Saturday as a neutral. I enjoyed my visit to Cleator Moor. Thatto Heath scored a very late try to tie the game. At the end of the game I was a little disappointed to hear a large number of home supporters soundly booing the ref as he came off. He had to work the game alone as there were no official touch judges so cut a somewhat lonely figure as he came off. I thought he did an adequate job overall and did not deserve to be boo-ed off. What about the 'RESPECT THE REF' campaign that was featured in the match day programme? No point 'talking the talk' if you don't 'walk the walk'. I appreciate that emotions get high, but it was not the ref who failed to deal with the bomb that led to the equaliser. On a lighter note why can I only get XL cheese crisps in west Cumbria? Now they ARE something to shout about! I wish the Brow good luck for the rest of the season and I hope to see them in the NCL grand final, presumably at Widnes. Maybe even against Thatto Heath?

Just to add to the confusion/entertainment value the RFL NCL website has now moved the next 2 Salford City NC 'fixtures' to Friday evenings with a 7.30 KO! Is that the best they can manage? At least they won't show as fixtures when Saturday comes around!! I guess that is their logic.

I know that Salford City Roosters have withdrawn from the NC some weeks ago. However, looking at today's fixtures it says they are playing at Eastmoor KO 14.30 - but if I go to results it shows Eastmoor have already 'won' this game 46-12! It seems unprofessional of the RFL not to show this fixture as postponed. I hope nobody ends up travelling to watch a non- existent Salford City game because of poor website management. Same thing happens with other leagues - Chorley Panthers game today has been conceded by their opponents but it is showing as a fixture with a 14.30 KO yet the result is already in the results section. Surely once a 'result' is added then the fixture should no longer appear (or be shown as cancelled) in the fixture section?

When and where will this game take place? All I can find is weekend of 26/10.

Thank you for replying to my post. To answer your questions - I don't know how it is (proposed to be) funded. I have not seen the business plan. I was asking a question, as it seems likely that the Allerdale tax payer will bear some of the cost and I think any money spent on this project might be better utilised elsewhere in the community.

I appreciate that forums are not the be all and end all of activity, but I am concerned to see how little comment there is from Keighley fans on this forum bearing in mind the current parlous situation of the club. Is anybody from Keighley actually that bothered about the future of the club?

i am sure a new stadium in Workington could be delightful for both Town and Reds but why should the Allerdale taxpayer fund it? There are higher priorities such as education, elderly care, libraries, roads and health. If Allerdale spends millions on a sports ground then that is money that cannot be spent elsewhere. If Town and Reds cannot fund their own stadium then why do they deserve to be in business? Both are supposedly commercial businesses but they have both run their businesses into the ground so why should the taxpayer save them? Failing businesses being propped up by public sector funding is not a viable long term solution.

I am a little bemused by the takeover of the club by a seemingly faceless company that has no history of interest in RL? What exactly has the new owner bought? If it includes the ground then this could be prime building land. The land might be worth a lot more than keeping it as a rugby ground.

I got an email from the RFL promoting some SL gmaes this weekend. I was disappointed not to see a mention of the free entry offer at Swinton today as I think this is a great way to push the game around Manchester. I emailed them and asked them why no mention of Swinton's initiative. Guess what? No reply. I think that says something about what the RFL thinks of the non-SL gmae and it's general attitude towards customer service. Even a quick 'thanks for your message' would have been polite. It is much cheaper to retain customers than it is to recruit new ones but maybe the RFL does not realise this!

Is it free to get in tomorrow? If it is I will make my first trip to Heywood Road. My McAfee safety software was telling me not to go to the Swinton LIons website as it is unsafe. Is the club aware of this issue? Parking - the website mentions that there are no Sunday restrictions to street parking but no mention of Saturdays so what is the score? It would be useful to have this info on the website.

Is it free to get in tomorrow? If it is I will make my first trip to Heywood Road. My McAfee safety software tells me not to go to the Swinton LIons website as it is unsafe. Is the club aware of this issue?

Thanks for the feedback. Not sure what you mean by 405 lines. It was on bbc2. I could see a little red (don' tforget the collar) but black and blue predominate . As stated I would expect to see more as red is part of the team name. Hull FC's primary home colour is black and their away strip features a pink and black shirt, black shorts and black socks. I could see the black quite clearly on the same tv that I could barely see the red on the Salford kit. Perhaps Salford Red Devils could take a leaf out of Hull's book? Manchester United do not feature the word red in their club name so the comparison seems a little tenuous. Manchester United (whom I neither love nor hate) have created a worldwide brand whereas Salford RL struggle to come up with a consistent imagery or team name. Man Utd - major worldwide brand in arguably the world's biggest sport. Salford/Salford City Reds/Salford Red Devils - weak brand in a minority sport. We cannot compare apples with lemons. Very interesting to learn about the origins of the city name. I was not aware of that. I can see the logic now but would still question the value of etymology when it comes to marketing. It may be a bit arcane for younger customers. Just seems a bit incongruous to add the words red and devil to the club name and then largely drop the colour from the away kit and not feature the devil in the logo. Still I hope it works for the club. Once again, thanks for taking the time to respond to my ramblings with some well made interesting points.

As a name how about West Cumbrian Jets? This name would clearly be a Workington/Whitehaven/Maryport club - linking it with Barrow would be a stretch too far. Cumbria is a big county with poor roads so the journey time from Barrow to Workington is prohibitive. According to Google maps it takes 30 minutes longer to get form Barrow to Workington than from Featherstone to Rochdale. And how ludicrous does it sound to suggest a merger between Fev and Hornets to generate a Super League team? The better non-conference amateur teams are playing in the North West league this year rather than travelling up the coast to West Cumbria, which tells you something about the journey. Biggest stumbling block would be the ground. It would need to be new so as not to alienate existing club fans (not there are many left who pay to go these days) and attract new comers (both Derwent Park and the Rec are past their best before dates). Lillyhall ( near Distington) has always been the favourite as there is land and it straddles the Allerdale/Copeland border. The playing talent is there, so keep dreaming. All it needs is plenty Koukash cash!

I doubt I am the first person to think of this but how about a USA v Canada game as an adjunct to the Denver test? That would make it a double header and give the locals a parochial reason to attend. It would also help to raise the profile of the US RL. Maybe give it a fancy title like the 'North American RL Bowl' to whip up some entusiasm. Without some US involvement I fear it might be as interesting to a Coloradan as a game of field hockey beween Holland & Argentina at Old Traffprd would be to RL fans. If that holds no interest for you then why should an American go to watch a sport he has no interest in just because 2 top teams are playing? I am also a little bemused by the location as all the USARL teams are based in the East of the country but Denver is west. Surely it would make more sense to play it somewhere like New York, Boston or Philadelphia? All big cities with some grassroots RL to build on and nurture. Call me crazy but wouldn't Toronto be a better location? If the object of the game is to develop RL in USA Denver makes as much sense as playing a game in Norway to promote the game in Scotland! Oslo is less than half the distance from Glasgow than it is from New York to Denver.