Harry Stottle

No I haven't LD, only thinking when watching when those incidents as they happened I thought they were harsh to penalise a defender. Who would take statistics that said 'Was the ref correct' but considering the rules committee have highlighted it others must have also recognised it.

Well done that man, bet you were chuffed to have found that, I would have been

Has it been mentioned in any other thread Dave, just asking.

You ref Union as well Rammy? Come to think of it I can't recall any head clashes in that situation. Plenty of penalties given against a defender when the attacker puts his head into the contact area though. But as I said to Lee, let's see what the new season brings.

As I said, lets see what the new season brings with the rule changes. Are you a politician by any chance, you never answer a question that is posed to you.

Thank you, I wasn't being bitter Tommy I thought your mate was your information conduit. But anyway, that is what I thought how cash strapped the game is, it will be interesting going forward if IMG do take a lot of money from the gambling rights and the RFL have effectively sold of one of the family jewels.

Go on then, what has your best mate told you?

Who do Albi play Eddie? Are you putting them in L1 or the Championship? One other question, travel costs.

So like Salford who are in financial difficulties he says "the club had financial problems this year. Even if things are better, the club remains financially fragile" very precarious position to be in entering IMG's new era, how do they score so well on the gradings?

I have never mentioned being correctly penalised for deliberate foul play I fully agree that player's should be and yes the RFL should not back down, my concern is that IF there are consistent bad calls by the ref - which we have been witness to both here and in Aus - then those are rightly pointed out and castigated by whoever, live on TV by the commentary, coaches and players post match, journo's etc. Do you agree with that? Let's see what live play brings shall we.

Wouldn't it have been better for IMG to build up the value of these rights and it still be in ownership of the RFL and then IMG take a share of any profit as we were advised would be the case.

That's away from what SKY normally do MjM, the first tranche of fixtures is guessed at who will be doing well and what games will be attractive to the viewing public, then for the remaining weeks league placings are considered and upcoming fixtures selected on that criteria hence for the back part of last season we saw much more of HKR and Leigh than we did of Warrington and Leeds, I see no reason that format should be changed.

You have the better of me what precisely do you not want the RFL to back down from. But, will you be admonishing all of those targets you claim will be whingeing if they do so when it is the attacking player who is the cause of an head injury, like slipping or ducking into a well aimed well timed tackle and he himself the attacker is putting his head into the contact area, this has been going on here for a while and as I said was tried in Aus until the weight of your stated targets plus the fans were against it for good reason not in the manner of seeing someone hurt.

Thank you for your considered answer Rammy, but I see nothing in there to alter the way we are playing the game but let's see how the new rules go, and yes the preventative measures and testing is very good. As for your "watch on you tube" and relating the game 30/40 years ago, I have been one of the champions on this site for suggesting that we revert back to 5 yards and reduce interchanges to a maximum of 4, that will eliminate the 10min behemoths (that didn't go down very well) in favour of lighter players with a better aerobic capacity, it will eliminate the number of drives we see in every set, attacking lines will be deeper encouraging passing, and the play makers will be able to play as the game goes on and fatigue plays a factor instead of the incessant fresh men being brought on to target them. With you all the way on that one. Whilst it is not good that any player suffers head/brain injuries, it will always be a condition of the game we play/watch and a possibility however remote that may be that it could happen. You will most probably chastise me for saying the following, but everyone who plays this game realises and knows the risks involved, if they play amateur or ood enough and decide on taking up a professional career, some do it soley for the love of the sport, others for reward, and like you say when you get behind the wheel of a car that crash which could happen is not in the slightest in your mind it will happen to you. I will read your links, thanks.

This is Rugby League in the 21st Century guys, "Could not arrange a urinating jamboree in a beer production facility". (Cannot go swearing in front of the clergy)