Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

I rarely get the chance to attend top flight RL matches, so I am not sure how much, and related to what, is said by the official announcer, but perhaps RL could take a leaf out of ice hockey's book in which the announcer tells the crowd the reason for each stoppage, except perhaps the very obvious things like icings. All goal scorers and those getting assists are announced, as is the time of the goal. Likewise, with penalties, the crowd is told the reason for the penalty, the player penalised, the duration of the penalty (if it needs to be fully served) and its start time. In RL, for situations in which it is not necessarily clear why the game has restarted as it has, this could be a simple solution. It just needs the ref to be able to speak to the announcer when appropriate. I'm no techno-expert, but in this day and age that doesn't sound too difficult to me.

On reflection, I may have got that a teeny bit wrong.

I don't know why there is all this affectionate nostalgia for Pootang/Poutine. Wasn't it his regime that banned the great game in France during WW2?

Is there any evidence yet that, or is it the plan that, the reserve league is also used as a way of nurturing on-field match officials towards league ! and above, or is it felt that they can step up from more local leagues directly to the semi-pro structure?

And just wait, Dunbar, till we see moving pictures of Les Dracs as they set out on the road that ends at Wembley; that'll be cup-and-sorcery!

There are brief highlights of all Catalans Dragons and St Esteve XIII Catalan matches on the club's website.

Is that a typo, Bob8, or are you suggesting we're a bit medieval? Either way, you could be right!

Are you sure, Deano? What happens if nobody scores in extra time?

Done. As a diploma holder from Leeds Polytechnic, happy to help in a piece of research by somebody from my alma mater. I recall my own final year thesis, Rural bus services: the planner's role, was heavily reliant on responses to a questionnaire - in my case to local authorities about their public transport co-ordination role - so I fully understand the need for help in this way. Incidentally, Lewis, because I am a Wiltshire-based, Catalans-supporting, armchair fan, I couldn't give many useful answers, I'm afraid. Perhaps another student could ask not dissimilar questions to yours, but aimed at what motivates SL fans to watch on TV, with perhaps a copy going to Robert Elstone as background info during the next TV contract round negotiations.

I always thought the Beach Boys' Let's go away for a while from Pet Sounds took some beating; very romantic! Not sure how many of the Beach Boys actually feature on it, other than Brian Wilson, of course. I like the unpretentiously cheerful intro music for some cricket broadcasts; I think it is probably performed by Booker T & the MGs, but cannot recall what it is called. From a much earlier era, it is hard to beat the emotional intensity of John Dowland's Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares figured in Seaven Passionate Pavans, when played by a consort of viols. This is real soul music!

Do those of you mentioning handball mean the team game of that name, popular throughout much of continental Europe, or the Irish alley/court game?

As an ornithologist, can I ask whether 'root' also means 'cormorant'? Just asking!

I've a horrible feeling you could be right, Ivans82. I suppose waxwings are a species that come here in very variable numbers from one winter to the next; I believe it is called an irruption when they migrate across here or elsewhere in continental Europe in very large numbers, but I am not aware that bramblings are equally erratic. And, as I say, the lack of fieldfares and redwings is really strange. I suppose the positive for them is that they have not faced the challenge of a long migration flight. When I lived in a village called Embsay, on the southern edge of the Dales, I remember coming across a dead redwing once on a narrow lane out of the village where I was walking the dog. It was very early for the species for the species to have got here - about the second week of September. I thought how ironic it was that it had managed the perils of a flight across land and sea, only, I presume, to be hit by a passing car in a Dales country lane.

I'm still looking out for any large flocks of fieldfares and redwings in and around the New Forest. I cannot recall seeing more than about a dozen of either species at the same time. I suppose this could be good news; they have not required to come here to find the right temperatures and food. I'm just not sure.

Thanks, BP.