Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

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.

Barrow 18, Oldham 22, I believe. I didn't get a chance to watch this, bit it sounds to have been good. Well done, Barrow RLFC, and thanks for flagging it up, the man.

Hurling Ice hockey Rugby league Shinty Gaelic football The caveats are (I) this is sports to watch (nowadays I'm too old to play anything but table tennis!) and (ii) this is when all these sports are played at their best, so, for instance, a really good rugby league game beats a poor hurling match.

To be honest, Trojan, I have never heard it before, but I like it. The reference to scrums having push and test rugby being, from an Aussie perspective, the pinnacle of the game seem curiously nostalgic! It seems to have come off the same conveyor belt of simple, unpretentious sporting songs as two other good Australian examples and an equally good North American one, namely Mike Brady's, Aussie Rules' Up there, Cazaley and One day in September and Stompin' Tom Connors' The Hockey Song ('Good old hockey game'). These are all great songs; try not singing along when you have heard them a time or two! By contrast, if you haven't heard it, try Warren Zevon's Hit somebody! (The hockey song) Happily, it seems rather anachronistic now; cutting out much gratuitous violence has made the game much better in my opinion, especially at the level of skill on display routinely in the NHL. Bob Hope's wonderful one-liner, "I went to a fight last night and a hockey match broke out", almost seems hard to understand nowadays. Sorry, I have drifted off topic. Thanks for the video, Trojan; as I say, a good song.