fighting irish

It seems to me that Gareth Kear is saying that the games will not be in Wales so he doesn't have to even consider whether permission is required. His tone seemed to be one of understanding the clubs desire to take part and wishing them well. He's adopting the position of an interested bystander. That's very different from the authoritarian ''thou shalt not'' attitude which some of our posters seem to espouse. I have to say (as I've said before) that that attitude is utterly anti-development/expansion and taken to its logical conclusion will act as a severe brake on worldwide development. Its akin to the lunatic fringe that seized control of the game, with authoritarian government backing in Greece and took so long to overthrow. Ironically, if we begin and continue, going round telling people they can't play the game without permission we are driving them into the arms of World Rugby League.

Why can't the British teams play at home Tom?

i'm sorry Mr C but i haven't seen a report of the RFL's statement. Can you tell me where I can read it, or tell me what it said? I'm particularly interested in why the Welsh team (or the English club) can't play their games at home?

Well said Johnny.

That Rocket explains, in a nutshell, the popularity of Ra Ra. It makes room for the whole spectrum of the human form but in the process of fitting them all in, their hapless fans have to accept their inept, disfunctional, clumsiness and in-built inertia. They recently made a Welsh Ra Ra second row forward the international ''player of the year''. (Which made me laugh out loud). His chief talent is having longer arms and legs than most people and weighing more than 150 kg. He can't pass, can't run faster than my Nan and he can't change direction quicker than the queen mary, let alone sidestep. Taumalolo on the other hand is a real rugby (league) player. I agree we shouldn't alienate the extremes but I'm sorry, the Eton Wall game, just can't hold my attention for more than a minute or two. I quickly end up talking to my wife, or the lads in the pub, or doing the crossword, or walking out the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Nothing comes near NRL or SL quality in terms of sporting entertainment.

You're not displaying the usual fastidious attention to detail one expects from a pedant. Very funny though.

Dancer, Prancer, Dasher, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. Then came Rudolph and ''Olive''. Listen to the song? ''...... Olive the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him (Rudolph) names. They wouldn't let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games''

That reminded me of the old quiz question, who is the tenth reindeer on Santa's sleigh team?

Oh they love it. Lol.

Yes my friend there's more than one way to skin a cat. In our case, the union lads came afterwards. They began as spectators, who came to jeer. Then inevitably, a few could see the excitement of it and wanted to play. So over time, we recruited some but we were never reliant on them and always favoured players who committed to us first. We had made commitments to the London league (to travel away for about 10 games a season) so we needed to reward that loyalty by selecting ''our'' players before any opportunist (RaRa) lads who just fancied a home game or two or playing in the glamour/glory matches (cup finals). I remember meeting Bob Brown from Hemel Hempstead, who told me, he believed he could start and run a club ''anywhere'' (and started Hemel to prove it). He was right. So I think, we should be actively seeking out Bob Browns, from all over the county/world and like I've said before, cheer them on. Can you imagine, what our game would look like with another 100 Hemel Hempstead's dotted around the country? See also Newcastle? Now roll forward 30 odd years and Newcastle will be twice or three times as populous (so hopefully, London and Wales). Can we confidently say the same about our heartlands areas?

Its a long time ago, now but when we started our club in Wales, we deliberately avoided Union players. We found enough real athletes who just weren't excited by Ra Ra but whose curiosity was aroused by TGG. Here's something (in my experience) that a lot of people just don't get (even RL fans). Rugby League is more satisfying, more enjoyable, more demanding, more every bloody thing. There's a whole (ignorant) population out there, for whom Union is somewhat lacking, frustrating, boring, just plain unsatisfactory for many reasons. Those are the blokes to go for. But, just like the ''if you invent a new mousetrap'' story the world will not beat a path to your door. You'll just end up with a warehouse full of mousetraps. You've got to make people aware, of how good it is, show them and tell them and then let them try it on for size, suck it and see and then take it home with them for the weekend, with a money back guarantee. Then they'll buy it. Maurice Lyndsay said to me, what makes you think you can sell RL in Wales, isn't it like trying to sell sand to the Arabs? (The Arabs in this case, were Ra Ra lads). I said, no its not like that. Its more difficult than that. It's like trying to sell pork to the Jews. You can't just tell them it tastes good, because they think there's something ''wrong'' with it. Its not kosher, its sinful, unclean. (To explain why, I need more time.) So I looked around for the heathens, the pagans, the goyem, the atheists, the non-believers, the ones who had enough cojones, to eat the pork, without worrying about disapproval from the dark side. I found loads of them, who (as it happens) were on average, much better athletes than the average local union players. So my advice to the Yanks (and anyone else) is don't start with the mystics, sell the game instead to the rational, the free, the proud individuals out there who don't go asking permission before they come along. Go find them, don't waste your energy on the hard to gets, the envious, the haters, they are pound for pound, tougher to convert in the first place and rarely stick with it in the long term.

Thanks mate. More haste, less speed.

Another good news story. Come on British Colombia!

Oh god, I'm fed up of this now.

Go on Cookey!

Yes congratulations to all concerned, please keep up the good work?

Own up! You thought about it though didn't you? Lol.

Steady on chaps!

Where's he gone? Have you ''disappeared'' him?

Come on the Tigers! Perama and Brisbane Easts

great news.

I think another motivator, for going to the video ref in these circumstances is to convince the moronic referee baiters that they've made the right decision and to stop the arguments (in the crowd) and the heckling.

Ok, thanks U.P.

Any idea, where I can watch Power Meri?

If the player is passing the ball ''forward'', the ball will be accelerating towards the opposition goal line for a whole series of milliseconds before the player lets it go (as it passes across and in front of his body). When he lets the ball go, it will be travelling towards the opposition goal line, faster than the player himself. If it continues to accelerate after he's let it go, that acceleration is the effect of the wind. If the air is stagnant, then the ball will begin to decelerate (towards the opposition goal line) immediately it leaves the passers hands. So you'd have to separate the motion, into before and after it parts company with the passers hands. If you want to judge a ''forward'' pass then its the acceleration (towards the opposition goal line) up until the instant the player lets it go that counts. If he's accelerating it, its a forward pass and if he's decelerating it, its a backward pass.