Hemi4561

You asked, RL is not the only thing that one can become fanatical about

Come out and state unequivocally that you believe that it is imperative that the semi professional clubs should be supported so that they survive as it is I the sport's interest

Same question as I posed to HKR, say it out loud.

I think that it's no less selfish than you wishing that the chosen few survive at the expense of all the rest.

5 minis 1976-1985, 4 land rovers 1978-1998,4 Daimlers 1960-1966 (not badge engineered Jaguars)

Minor details that were to be solved by the advent of the Sky deal but are still arguably worse now than then.IMHO You and I are unlikely to agree on anything RL (unless you come out and agree that it is crucial that the levels of semi professional rugby are vital to the sport and should be funded to such an extent that they can survive). Personally if the choice was between a single top level funded to solely provide TV spectacle, and then totally amateur levels, or part time semi pro I would choose the latter everyday. The justification for IMG seems to be that to paraphrase you RL is "dying....,and the NRL is on the verge of dwarfing us financially" and we have to do something about it. That surely is what the original Sky Deal was supposed to do? It would seem that that reboot has failed in all that it was supposed to deliver, and it's unspoken aim of keeping the same small group of clubs at the top,and still relying on their owners to bankroll them year on year is its only success. TBH I could write 10,000 words on how I see RL but the reality is that it would not make any difference, and would be wasting time that could be better spent doing something else. On that note I am now going to the pub, tomorrow watching live RL,and on Monday I will resume work on one of my classic cars.

I get it now, you work for IMG, spouting double speak,gobbledygook gook, nebulous "concepts" and "visions" that will be the saviour of Rugby League. The same crock of shxxte that was promised in 1995.

So we are having a Bobby Ewing dream moment are we? I am hallucinating that TV revenues have dropped massively and none super league clubs have had their share out decimated. In the real world obviously Sky have upped their deal so that super league clubs get 6 million each, Championship clubs get 2 million each, and Division 1 clubs 250,000 each.

"A rising tide lifts all boats" Except those that the Admirals have decided are no longer required as they are using fuel that they don't deserve, and so will be used for torpedo practice by those more deserving of the finite resources.

These experienced and smart business men whose clubs have survived on large amounts of being doled out to them, curtesy of Murdoch, and even larger amounts of money out of their own pockets. IMG will be a "success" insofar as they will come away with more money than they went in with, and even if they don't that will be the price of doing business, they don't have all their eggs in one basket. Unfortunately RL doesn't have that luxury.

I take it you are going to pull your boots on and replace one of the "no marks".

And that issue is solely for London to solve.

I don't disagree, however my club has never benefited from the hierarchies benevolence,far from it.

Is the club to which you refer the one that was so royally shafted by an odious bookie from Wigan, who even now he is dead seems to be venerated as a Saint. I seem to remember a certain journalist in a esteemed RL publication implying that as the bookie was dead that he, and by extension we, should forgive and forget and not ask hard questions,not in the journalists case perhaps discuss some of the misgivings he may have had.

I accept your take,even though their initial entry into the top division was protectionism, not equality or ranking based. Let's see what IMG's future holds.

That's your view My intelligence is not self declared, it has been measured by others. What I work out is that it those who repeatedly post on the General forum instead of the more appropriate one, as titled by those who run this Forum, would find their threads almost entirely unread by most, and engaged with by very few, which is fine.

I repeat, for accuracy, important in my disciplines, why post in a General forum when there is a specific sub topic forum in which you could post.

Read my latest post, if you can.

Aah, I have joint honours degree in accountancy and law, you?

Reported.

The obvious tinpot club that has been protected since the early nineties is London xxxx (insert moniker). Abject failures. Pay £20 to get in, and £20 for an "artisan burger" and a pint of "artisan real ale". No Way.. I go to watch Rugby league, give me a bacon bap and a cup of tea for £3 and I won't feel ripped off, and I might go back on the same day for another.

I'm not worried, I asked a very simple question. The replies I got imply worry.

Perhaps we should create a cranium forum for you. There is a French forum but some people persist in posting French specific threads on the General forum "because more people will see it" Judging by the responses on thses forums they are mostly from Francophiles. I know there is a Political forum, but I have no wish to be involved in it nor do I wish to see overtly political threads on the General forum. Over to you John and Martyn.

Then why have sub-forums?

Why is this on the General forum when there is a specific French forum?