hunsletgreenandgold

I do kind of feel like you're answering your own question. It's clearly very popular and in many ways intrinsically linked to RL in this country. The sub-forum in my experience covers the sport a bit more club-specific, but in my opinion, the NRL certainly has a place in the General Rugby League Forum - it's not called the British RL forum. I hope the irony isn't lost that you've just started another one btw

Not sure if this has been discussed on here before, re Sinfield being Knighted and the reason(s) it hasn't happened, but I've definitely read about it somewhere. He was awarded an MBE in 2014 and apparently it's 5 years until you can be added to the honours list again. In 2021 he was awarded an OBE - so if this is true then he couldn't be awarded a Knighthood until 2026. I've just tried googling if any such 'rules' definitely exist but it's not very clear.

I absolutely agree - those two rising stars are most likely 'never 'eard of 'em' characters to most in RL circles. I guess I more meant from a media perspective though - if either of them signed for a SL club it would be big news and raise a lot of eyebrows in the English RU world. I was also highlighting that the 'poor relation' complex RL suffers in the UK doesn't really bear true in Australia, where NRL contracts are as (if not more) lucrative than union.

The significance of this in the Australian sporting landscape is far less than if this had happened in England, IMO. NRL is far more popular than rugby and whilst this will be a blow to Australian Rugby, it won't send the same shockwaves that it would in England if a top union player came to RL. The equivalent in English terms is probably a guy like Freddie Steward or Harry Arundell - the latter of which was also being pursued by a couple of NRL teams. I think we're a million miles away from this being any kind of catalyst for change over here and we'll still see RL talent more likely to go to union than vice versa.

In the same place it was back in ‘04 - can’t you see it?

These are the worst kits I've seen overall since I can remember. Pretty much every away kit is a non-descript abomination. Hull FC and KR home are the only ones that I wouldn't feel short-changed with.

But then I'm not sure what measure you're referencing when you say 'do you think it matters?' If not time and ease to get there, what do you mean?

Right now, Harry, you could get to ER from Leigh in 1hr 5mins. It's 1hr 26mins to Headingley. To be honest, I was more thinking of the greater West Yorkshire area in my original post (as there was a test on your side of the Pennines) but the little research i've just done has shown even from further distances, like Leigh, the time difference isn't insignificant. Also, no stadiums are great to get away from but again i'd guess you can be back over in Leigh far quicker than from Headingley.

If I may add my 2 pence. Yes, because it's far easier to get to for people travelling into the city than Headingley. I'd hazard a guess 15k at Headingley was mainly people from Leeds, considering everybody to the South, East and West of Leeds would proably have found it easier to go to Hudds. ER is right next to the main motorway links from those directions.

Why would they go on a tour of Leeds' suburbs? Makes no sense. Were RL fans taking tours of Gorton, Longsight or Moss side when in Manchester? Or the likes of Walton, Croxteth, Norris Green when in Liverpool? There's a point you're trying to make in there somewhere - i'm just not sure what.

It's been said a various points throughout this thread, and many times over recent years - the biggest problem with these multi-game one-stadium events is nobody understands the purpose. Originally it was definitely linked to expansion - taking the game out of the heartlands to new audiences and hopefully creating a wider pool of interest. I've never seen any evidence that had any impact. So what we've then ended up doing is trying to come up with venues that the existing fans will be willing to attend. Ultimately the crux of it comes down to does the given stadium have enough bars and food outlets nearby which means people can dip in and out of the stadium throughout the day? It's really no deeper than that. The fixtures will have an impact for some, but that's true of all weekly-round games. I last went to Newcastle in 2022 and find it interesting some are pining for another year there - the stadium and city centre in large parts was, by 5pm on the Saturday, an anti-social p*ss up with tokenistic 'entertainment' dotted about, which some are lauding as being a festival of rugby league. Really? Elland Road isn't the answer either but where is? Or do we just accept this is the end of the road for this format of fixtures because....what's the point?

I mean that's been true at each and every Magic event there's ever been. I've been to Newcastle twice and Cardiff for Magic over the years - whilst those 2 stadiums have massive pluses, owing to their city centre locations, it does in fact if anything encourage people to spend more time out of the stadium than in it. This isn't me suggesting ER is ideal (because the opposite is true) but i'd hazard a guess it will actually appear fuller on TV.

Yeah this isn't the best decision. I slightly defended ER for the CC semis double header the other year, but it's not the right stadium or location for a magic crowd. Headingley would genuinely be better.

I am now thoroughly convinced 'Coco' is a ChatGPT bot

That's genuinely a good thread idea - there have been some shockers over the years!