Gerrumonside ref

Did Australia essentially take New Zealand under their wing and attempt to grow a rival by including the Warriors in the NRL? Was that the reasoning behind doing it at the time as my memory fails me a bit? To help grow the Kiwis? Did UK RL have the same plan when Catalans entered Super League that it would help nurture the French national side? Would be grateful if anyone can clarify? My twopenneth is that we should help France and Wales from a geo strategic perspective to give England more competitive games. It’s a long term project, but maybe a future French World Cup with some Euro-cash behind it could help turbo boost that part of the plan.

Cleveland, Cincinnati, Green Bay, Atlanta, New York Jets, Carolina, Kansas City, Las Vegas, LA Rams, Arizona, Tampa Bay, San Francisco, Seattle

If it makes you happy, it can’t be that baaaad.

Have Wigan even got the resources to develop their own ground even if they wanted too?

Got a couple of books on the go: The Thursday Murder Club 2 - Richard Osman How to be a rock star - Shaun Ryder

It’s not going to be easy and I understand your concerns as a Leigh fan whose team will probably feature more than some.

I think the key is to make more of the game than just, “it’s XXX playing XXX”. There’s far more that can be done than just marketing around the sporting merit of each team, but sure a winning team sells. I think the problem isn’t that the clubs lack ideas, enthusiasm or competence - but more perhaps there is a lack of actual finances or seed money to execute on what they might like to do. I think the big mistake that’s often made is to only assume cost is a factor on whether people will attend. I believe making it worth someone’s time is much more important, as leisure time is at a premium.

Can recommend NFL Redzone if you’ve not already discovered it on Sky. Just a constant cut to the latest action from around the league with no ad breaks. The final five minutes of each kickoff session are usually very exciting due to the way they vision mix the action from everywhere.

Just found some time to read and it’s very interesting stuff. Had a look at what Clydebank are up to now and they’re fan owned while playing in the West of Scotland league. That feeds into the Lowland League in the Scottish pyramid and possibly therein to Scotland’s Football League 2. Upwards and onwards from there they could end up in an interesting clash of shirts with the mighty River Plate in a World Club Championship encounter! Perhaps a more likely future is a meeting with East Stirlingshire in the Lowland League one day as the two settle an old score and duke it out to try and regain a place in the senior divisions.

Thanks I’ll give that a read later

Cheers, I’ve pitched my tent with the original MK Dons equivalent I still fancy watching them though as it’s £7 for an adult which is around what I used to pay on the Kop.

Yes, I have an inverted bucket list in which watching a Clydebank home game as well as the Bully Wee (Clyde - my father’s adopted Scottish team) at their home ground is on there.

Or was it Third Lanark?

The Brisbane Fire Dolphins? (Logo: Futuristic robotic metal Dolphins with fireball consumed eyes)

I used to be a proud fan of the Manchester All-Stars, Manchester Spartans, Bolton Buccaneers etc. I can still remember the names of most of the bigger U.K. American Football teams of the 1980s during that period of great enthusiasm for a local version. The key difference to me (although I agree with the previous points made) is that back then there was very few alternatives to watch the sport and the TV coverage was still limited. There was no internet so if I wanted to see live American Football, then a local version was of few avenues. Even the eventual NFL American Bowl games at Wembley were obviously just glorified friendlies with few starters risked. Fast forward to this day and the NFL or College Football is easily accessible and everywhere you could want it, when you want it. I wish every piece of luck to this initiative but I think they’re up against it to replicate past glories. Talk of holding a regular season game in American Football mad Germany is interesting to me, particularly if it is coupled with reenergising a local angle that had consistent support generally last time in the World League/NFL Europe idea.

Is there any other team in France near the level of Catalans, Toulouse or indeed Super League?

I wouldn’t minded seeing some passionate West Yorkshire derbies between Featherstone, Wakefield and Castleford (I’m guessing). Must admit I found myself rooting for them as the underdog in the Championship Grand Final. But Toulouse won and it’s vital that Super League chairman take advantage of their potential and not just see this as a threat, but an opportunity.

Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, LA Chargers, Carolina, Green Bay, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, LA Rams, Kansas City, Arizona, Las Vegas, Dallas, Seattle, Buffalo

I guess being able to drink all day prior to kick off on a non working day at the weekend makes it a ‘late’ match. In England, the police are known to insist on some early kickoffs for football matches they consider to be high risk. This doesn’t apply to rugby league which has a reputation for different fans mixing unsegregated with little to no trouble, but this can make stewarding complacent when problems occur.

Or: ”If something is hard, it’s probably not worth doing.” and “They didn’t bring enough away fans.”

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to post your experience at the weekend. It is shameful for us that you had to go through this with your young daughter in what should have been a great occasion for Dragons fans. As embarrassing as it is, unfortunately you are not alone in reporting this kind of anti social behaviour at the Super League Grand Final. Many of us believe that the late kick off and easy access to alcohol plus an innocent belief that rugby league can’t have the toxic drinking culture of English football are among the main cause of these problems. Have you shared your terrible experience with any of the organisers of the Super League Grand Final? If not, I would encourage you to do so as that will help us come to terms with minimising these things as much as possible.

Okay you’ve convinced me.

I’ve not missed them.

If we are a European Super League then maybe it’s time to consider rotating one of our major events to mainland Europe on a ‘1 year in 5 type basis’. Perhaps ‘Week-end Magique’ one year to be held at a big stadium in South West France? Just a thought to test the water there.

Well done Toulouse - sounds like they have big plans for an ambitious project. Interested to hear that they benefit from a dual emphasis on rugby with the local union side - hopefully that can continue without either feeling slightly cannibalised for fans by the other? Guessing that for most of the rugby fans in the city that the well established union team is the priority, so hope that we’re not overestimating average crowds based on what they’ll get for a one off big event. Interesting times for sure - any prospect of a third French team entering our pyramid?