OriginalMrC

None to be honest. Coventry rugby (who Bears share a ground with) have seen attendances rise since wasps have been in town. The Bears were invited to play a game at the Ricoh arena by Wasps and had a crowd of 1000+ and we also had the 4 nations there. The world cup is coming next year which will surely be positive for the Bears. There was talk of wasps potentially investing in the Bears but that never materialised. Crowds for the Bears have remained steady but I think success on the pitch would see increases. The reality is that the Bears have the lowest budget in the league and need to do loads of work just to be able to compete. With investment though there is a lot of potential.

Just watched this on delay. What a game! Salford had no hope at half time but what a second half from them. Really enjoyed watching. This Superleague season (coronavirus permitting) is shaping up to be a really exciting unpredictable season

Yes there are a number of local lads (well midlands based) in the first team squad. Current all time top try scorer Hayden Freeman is a brummie and came through the Bears Juniors

And although the six nations is affected club RU also continuing for now

I think it's only a matter of time before Superleague also stops but I'm not sure the RFL can be criticised when they are following Govt advice.

The Bears came off second best against one of the hot tips for promotion on Sunday, Barrow Raiders - we've got match analysis, plus exciting news from Canada and New York, and music from Wilde! Available now on the Bears website and all the other usual places like Spotify, Apple and YouTube

I've looked back at what you said and it was different that what I wrote. There's a difference in expressing disappointment in a decision, and telling a ref what you think of their performance. I think the two can be separated, and for me the distinction is when it gets personal. Saying James Child had a stinker and has a chip on his shoulder crosses the line into making it personal in my opinion.

The abuse of refs has to stop. There's nothing wrong with expressing displeasure at decisions but personal abuse should not be tolerated and needs rooting out of the game. Half the people who constantly whinge about decisions have no idea on the rules. Forward passes and offsides being a good example.

There's been alot of changes at the Bears in the off season and one of them is that Bear Necessities is now the Official Coventry Bears Podcast. We've been going for a couple of years now and are approaching 100 episodes! In our latest episode we've got all the reaction and analysis from the Bears' first game of the Betfred League 1 season, a home defeat to Newcastle Thunder. That means quick-fire analysis and the post-match thoughts of Bears Director of Rugby, Alan Robinson. Not only that, we've also got our first song from a local musician to play out. This week, you get to enjoy Incompatible Me by Abz Winter. It's available on the Bears website and all the usual places like Apple, Spotify and YouTube

Bonkers! How can the RFL not sorted out the issues from last year!

I've said loads of times the scheduling in League 1 is so damaging to the competition. There is no way to build momentum from one home game to the next

Think it's a typo, he was playing for Newcastle.

Sherwood Wolfhunt have joined this year too I believe.

Bears were caught cold early on and looked for the first 20mins like a team that haddened played for nearly a month. After that they more than matched Thunder. In the second half it was one try apiece until a late try from Thunder just before the hooter. All in all I was pleased with the performance from the Bears. A couple of mistakes cost us, and players are still getting used to each other in attack, but we have a good group of players this year.

This is great from Barrow and I fully applaud what they are doing. A point of note though (and not wishing to take anything away from Barrow) is that there are quite a few other clubs that let kids in free. The Bears as an example let under 12s in free.