Derwent

There may be an element of that but I don't think it's the main driver. It's not just the blank weekends that are the problem it's the lopsided nature of some clubs' fixture lists. Take Hunslet as an example - they played at home in the league on 11th April and didn't have another home league fixture until 20th June ! In the interim period they had 6 consecutive away league games. That must play havoc with their cashflow. It surely can't be beyond the RFL's ability to have a fixture list that doesn't give a club 10 weeks without a home fixture ?

For starters... 1. A workable fixture list, particularly in CC1, where clubs don't go weeks without a home game and in some cases weeks without any game at all. Whether this involves condensing the season, restructuring the leagues etc is open for discussion. But something has to be done in this area. 2. Someone to be employed by the RFL to oversee the game below SL level. Give them a remit to be 'CEO' of the Cooperative Championship leagues and concentrate solely on sorting out that level of the game, allowing Wood & Lewis to concentrate on the big ticket issues (SL, International game, expansion and funding etc). 3. A TV contract that is actually worth something to the clubs should be the Number 1 priority. 4. A centralised marketing/business development department doing the promotional work for all clubs, instead of the current system of individual clubs doing it themselves very badly on very limited resources. 5. A revival of a proper transfer fee system to compensate CC clubs adequately when SL clubs take their best players. Although the Bosman ruling restricts what can be done legally, there is no reason why there can't be a voluntary 'gentlemans agreement' in place which all clubs sign up to in the same way as the salary cap gets around the legalities. 6. Introduce an 'add on' to SL season tickets where the purchaser can pay say

Maybe Wigan only wanted him on a one year deal as they have Gareth Hock returning in 2012 ?

I reckon Saints fans should not speak too soon - lets see who they sign to replace Fa'asavalu following his defection to Quins RU first !

I read something the other day (can't remember where) that they were trying to negotiate the use of Goodison Park for their home games against Wigan and Warrington next season.

It is indeed.

Surely there's a logic to that though - if you're going to have overseas players then shouldn't they be among your better ones ?

I assume that part of the reason for soccer sticking with 12 yards is the penalty spot. It must be easier for a groundsman to measure 12 yards than 10.9723 metres to mark the spot properly.

1. Paul Charlton 2. Des Drummond 3. Ken Kerr 4. Paddy Tuimavave 5. Iain McCorquodale 6. Ged Byrne 7. Arnold "Boxer" Walker 8. James Pickering 9. Phil McKenzie 10. Eddie Bowman 11. Les Gorley 12. Peter Gorley 13. Billy Pattinson 14. Colin "Buck" Armstrong 15. Mick Jenkins 16. Gary Nixon 17. Brad Hepi

Parky, no need to hide from me mate ! I've always said that anyone who wanted to put a SL club together needs to canvass opinion from the thousands who like RL but who don't watch either Town or Haven. Their opinion is much more important IMO as they'd form the bulk of your target audience. The problem up here really is the start up costs. You'd need a new stadium, new squad, new infrastructure. Nobody would get a return on such an investment for quite some time, if ever. The money just isn't there to for someone to take the risk. However, I reckon a SL club here could attract maybe 7k to games, more for big games (Workington got nearly 6k for a cup game against Leeds a few years back). Plus there would be other advantages for a team representing a region in that you'd potentially have not 1 but 3 councils to tap into funding from (Allerdale, Copeland & Eden), plus other county wide organisations like the new University of Cumbria. As for the merged team at a lower level - what would actually be the point in that ?

Do you know that there are 5 RFL funded development officers in the area ? However, there isn't one of them that's employed to do schools/junior development ! There's one each for coaching development, refereees, Over 35's and Tag RL and a general one who does a bit of everything. But not one specific junior development officer. With the resources being put into Over 35's and Tag it seems to me that the name of the game these days is simply to record increased participation in "RL" at whatever level in order to justify the Sport England funding. It does nothing for the future development of the game though.

But not a wealth of money unfortunately, so it's unlikely to happen.

Why ?

Nope. Haven will either go bust, be relegated or both. Their better players will gravitate to Town who are solvent. Town will then be top dogs in the area for a few years before they have financial troubles and we'll start the whole process in reverse all over again. That's how it works up here.

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/sport/town/wo...ferrerPath=home

There's quite a few kids at SL acadamies too, such as Stewart and Singleton at Leeds, Marwood and Shaw at Warrington, Richards at St Helens etc Not forgetting lads like McNally and Amor who are now attached to SL clubs.

Probably not, but I'd assume that if Cas win then the RFL will be liable for all costs.

Rod Findlay might as he was pretty aggrieved with the RFL over some things that happened when he owned Gateshead Thunder.

Dave Elliott was there at the same time so make that four !

The whole of the West Cumbria RL area constitutes a few small towns from Maryport to Whitehaven down the coast and across to Cockermouth in the East. The population of Warrington alone is bigger than the combined population of that area. There is a wealth of talent in such a small area - take a look at the make up of any BARLA side at any age group and you will see them packed with West Cumbrians. The problem is that unless they get picked up by SL teams at an early age (and quite honestly SL clubs have only just cottoned on to the benefits proper scouting up here) then many decide to stay as amateurs. They get a well paid job at somewhere like Sellafield and forget about pro RL. When you look at what the likes of Town can pay them under the CC1 salary cap then it's not surprising that many do not want to have the commitment of 4 training sessions a week plus changing shifts and taking holidays for the travelling for away games for what is basically a pittance in return. There's really no incentive for them to progress. In fact, the ones that do sign pro should be applauded because their input far exceeds the gains they make from it.

Yes, Town have no excuse for only having 1 overseas player (Jarrad Stack) as well. Shame on them. Still, don't let facts get in the way eh ?

I have not seen Town make any such claims anywhere. For your info, why should Town bother running an academy and developing players ? They have been doing so for the last couple of years only for a 'better off' club in the county to announce they are setting one up for next year and steal the players away as they can pay them more. Money down the drain. Furthermore, Town's squad is heavily based on local players. On Sunday when they beat South Wales the Town 17 contained 14 Cumbrian players, 1 Australian who has been here 6 years and is married to a local girl and is permanently settled in the town, 1 Australian quota player and 1 Scottish player. Hardly overkill on import players. Financial restrictions mean that clubs can not afford to fly over loads of overseas players at this level anyway, my information is Town are looking for 1, possibly 2, players but have made the advert generic in order to see what applicants they can get before narrowing down their options.

I wonder if Catalans will get the same amount of stick and criticism on here that the likes of Keighley and Oldham did over their "tax and national insurance investigation".................. http://rugbyleague.com/rugby-league-news/n...ces-player.html

Hunslet have played their home games at 4 grounds since 1980 - Batley, Elland Road, Bramley and finally South Leeds Stadium. Blackpool played a season of pro RL at the Blackpool Mechanics football ground. Workington have played a small number of games at Borough Park football ground in the 80's before Derwent Park got floodlights.

I suspect that Castleford probably do as much as any other club to prevent it - tannoy announcements, warnings in the match programme etc. I have not seen any club do anything other than those kind of things. The point is that if what they do is not enough then virtually every club is guilty of not doing enough to prevent it under this judgement. It has implications for all clubs, not just Castleford.