17 stone giant

So who's top? One of the Wigan teams from the 80's/90's? Or were there better teams than that way back?

I watched Eng v Wal and Aus v NZ and a bit of PNG v USA. First impressions were positive. Certainly much preferred it to RU 7's, which I find much too open. I will definitely watch a bit more tomorrow, and I definitely think it's something that could be worth holding in the UK in future.

Citroen AX

I've spotted a problem with those suggestions - it's that you've mentioned rugby union too much, so there's now a risk of this thread being moved to the cross code forum.

Talking of old GB players, I was looking at this pic of Tony Fisher but I'm more interested in the stadium as there's a house that overlooks the pitch. I love that sort of thing. I'm a Southampton FC fan and I always remember at The Dell there was a block of flats that overlooked the pitch. I always used to think how cool it would have been to live somewhere that overlooks a sports stadium, so that you could watch matches for free. As stadiums improve and stands get bigger, that sort of thing doesn't happen much anymore. I was wondering what stadium this would have been. I checked on Wikipedia and Tony Fisher played for Bradford Northern, Leeds and Castleford, so would it perhaps be one of those?

The thing is they didn't want to devalue the shirt. If you start selecting players who aren't good enough, just because you need someone from Scotland, Wales and Ireland, then you devalue the achievements of previous GB players who were selected because they were the best we had. I think they're using this tour as a way to keep the Great Britain brand alive - perhaps to keep the options open in case they should ever want to bring GB back more permanently.

No need to include the word "league". The other code never bothers and also it gives the impression that it's a league for international rugby. I'd have gone with the International Rugby Association.

I don't know whether he was deserving of a place on merit, but I'm sad that injury has deprived him of the possibility of being selected. Having had to miss the world cup final, it must be a double blow to now miss the Great Britain tour. A great player and I wish him a speedy recovery.

Good efforts, but nothing that especially stands out for me. And I feel like you may have lost your way somewhat towards the end. M62 Crew Grim up north Gang

Get over yourself. Of course it wasn't a serious suggestion. I picked the most extreme and blatantly stupid suggestion I could think of as a lighthearted way of illustrating that any name involving "white" is somewhat problematic, due to the (in most cases unintended) racial connotations. Even Man of Kent's "White Noise" - which given its connection to sound might make it seem viable - actually sounds more like a magazine that the BNP might produce. Fine. Let's discount that suggestion then. Now lets review your suggestions. Oh, what a surprise - you didn't contribute ANYTHING. Just moaning and then further down, more moaning. As you were.

So what ideas do people have for names? The White Supremacists? The Lion Pack?

I love learning about all your exotic northern ways. Can you please tell me more about this? How common was it to do this and when and why did you stop doing it?

I could be wrong but I don't think charging people £50 for a shirt is the way to go about changing that. Especially not when combined with a strategy of reducing those very shirts to £12.50 less than a year later - which is what happened with the last England shirt!

Rugby league should let football and rugby union charge those stupid prices and instead be more 'for the people'. They should be trying to promote interest in the national team (whether it's England or GB) and make everyone feel part of it. Be willing to accept making less money in order to create some interest and affinity with the team. It might pay off in the long term. £50 for an England nines shirt or a GB shirt is ridiculous. What's wrong with £25 or £30 max? Like a lot of others, out of principle I'm going to wait until they start selling them off for £20. Probably in December.

It's funny that, isn't it? It seems to happen across all sports - that sudden urge people have to reconnect with the identity of their parents/grandparents country when they think they won't be good enough to get into the team of the nation they're actually from and would prefer to play for. I don't actually blame the players/athletes themselves - I would do exactly the same if it meant me having the opportunity to take part in an Olympics/World Cup/international match. It does devalue to a certain extent the whole point of international sport though. Plus one thing that's often overlooked is that it denies opportunities for genuine born and bred players. I often think how many Irish boys must have grown up dreaming of playing for the Republic of Ireland, only to watch a load of English guys being parachuted into the team. And let's not pretend that RoI was the first choice for ALL of those players.