2blackrooks

It's not April 1st is it .......

It's no it April 1st is it.........

I've said this for years England need a strong France but this fixture has been neglected by the ones on high, relying on the southern hemisphere for bits. I also believe a Knights teams would benefit the home nations playing in the home internationals. You could even look at inviting a PNG, Samoa, Fiji team so to spice things up and offer some publicity stance. We have the talent and the people in the background to really push the game in Wales, Scotland, Ireland but with little or no money it's difficult.

Always thought Dundee would be a great place to get RL going, good uni population, Dundee were quite keen in getting a super 6 RU team up n running but SRU decided not to go down that route.

More positive movement on the RL team front, Aberdeen Warriors are resurrecting for the 2022 season and looking for players etc

Forth Valley accumulating 5 further sponsors over the past 7 days, not sure of the level of sponsorship but still an amazing feat by the team. Hopefully a fixture list will appear soon. No real news on if the other squads will be around for the new season Edinburgh have been posting on FB, Glasgow also on a couple of occasions, but no news from Strathmore or Fife. Hopefully the current situation hasn't forced them to collapse

Scotland RL will hold wheelchair Celtic cup international tournament involving Ireland and Wales June 12th https://www.scotlandrl.com/2021/02/11/the-wheelchair-rugby-league-celtic-cup-returns-to-scotland/

The gift that just keeps giving Forth Valley RL sponsorship announcement https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/forthvalleyvikings/news/callum-stewart-photography-snap-up-sponsorship-2598695.html

Back to Scottish RL scene Forth Valley announce another sponsor Rugby Tots https://www.rugbytots.co.uk/ Hopefully season will get underway soon,

Nice read on Lebanon RL https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12196/12166571/the-ties-that-bind-lebanon-rugby-league-and-links-to-australia

According to the Lebanese RL he hailed from Zgharta, north Lebanon, but I suspect this may be his family,

I think Lebanon are taking positive steps with a 3 team league planned plus the signing of Michael Cheika as national coach. Being born n bred in Lebanon. Ok there squad is Australian based but we have to take a positive and long term approach to this, its a step in the right direction, Hopefully and I would expect the coaching squad to spend time in Lebanon assisting the domestic squads with training, PR etc so to increase the popularity of the sport.

As far as I'm aware I don't think the team exists anymore (Monklands), last time Salford had any input was in 2014 where players visited Duncanrig secondary in East Kilbride to discuss healthy life style, then a rugby focused exercise group to 250 pupils, then conducted a more specific rugby league focussed training session on the Saturday. Apart from that little else is known

UGYM Fitness announced as second sponsor https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/forthvalleyvikings/news/the-vikings-team-up-with-ugym-2598278.html

Great news for Forth Valley, Love Rugby League coming on board as sponsors https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/love-rugby-league-sponsors-scotlands-newest-club/?utm_content=buffer0eeaf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

I really don't think asking supporters to pay for streaming will ever work for the Championship, Div 1. The interest/support is just not there in the numbers required. But I'm sure more informed posters will disagree etc. Just offer 1 game per week from both divisions on YouTube for free. You will get more viewers and increase the potential of match day sponsors coming on board. In the recent Fosroc Super 6 RU in Scotland, they did just this, viewers for live games ranged from 4k up to 9k with highlights of all the weeks matches ranging from 3K to 10k. With the right coverage it can work and it gets RL out there free. Thus showing potential broadcasting companies the potential

Back in the day when I turned out for Hatfield Main, after the match we got a free meal (pie chips n peas) a beer & a lady dancing on a stage.

RLWC start 22nd Oct due to finish 27th Nov World cup due to start on 22nd Nov so it is possible with no conflict on BBC, They could even start it a week earlier so to avoid conflict totally and plenty of time to sort it.

It's impossible to say what will be happening by late October, If it can go ahead with unrestricted crowds then fine, if restricted or no crowds then I'd be inclined to delay until Oct 2022 imo RLWC needs the cash so it can continue developing and improving, they are hoping to get a total of 750,000 supporter's to attend games, an increase of 50% on 2013, and doubling the numbers from 2017 in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Ticket revenue is expected to make up 40% to 45% of the 2021 budget. So the RLWC is heavily reliant on tickets sales.

Personally I think it's a brilliant idea, having fond memories of eagerly waiting for the draw, standing in a freezing Tattersfield watching the Don's take on Hull, Hull KR, Wigan, Widnes Halifax. Magical times making cup matches something special. It'll probably never happen though https://www.totalrl.com/schoey-lets-follow-the-fa-cups-example/

Absolutely spot on, I've said time n time again we need a regular international scene, England last played in 2018, naturally Covid played it's part BUT England RU have managed to play without issue! The only way Spain, Greece, Russia, Serbia, our own home nations etc are going to improve is to play regular high level games. Leading to more interesting/close games in the future

Leave well alone the current format is building nicely, We just need to build a decent international scene, teams playing 8-10 games per year so to begin to close the gap between the top sides and the rest. I'm all for the emerging nations tournament to continue, it's crucial for development, and push an U18 U 21 WC as well. We need to take the long view on this if progress is good then by 2037 WC we should be seeing more closer games. What is important is that the tier 2 teams not be forgotten and nurtured into playing more tier 1 teams, unlike Union where tier 1 seems like a closed boys club and sod the rest ££££££££

Why not....... certainly will give the management areas to look at prior to the knockout stages, give them a feel on how the team will.shape up. Give squad players a run out. Might gives us a chance of potentially getting to the final

No reason we can't play Australia New Zealand Tonga and possibly France. Even a match against Australia and France would get them match Sharp

Good move, loads of teams use other individuals from other disciplines to enhance a teams performance. I'd still like to see 3-4 top level games played before the WC starts. All the gurus in the world can't prepare a team than good old match practice