fighting irish
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Posts posted by fighting irish
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3 hours ago, Archie Gordon said:
June and July.
Oh, so that's not the reason they are going back to the Stoop then? (or is it?)
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3 minutes ago, Click said:
I assume it is that time of year where they re-seed the pitch, like usual.
How long do they have to play elsewhere to allow for the re-seeding?
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Why aren't they playing it at Wimbledon?
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1 hour ago, daz39 said:
I had an absolute nightmare last year using my points for Grand Final tickets, i must have made 6 phonecalls and sent 20 emails before it was sorted.
Why is it, that no-one (at the RFL) thinks this is important enough to get it right?
We will never prosper, while we treat customers with such contempt.
I could cry.
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I wonder if these appointments are linked (or will become important) to the establishment of the recently rumoured NRL America professional franchised competition?
I must say I'm very excited about the involvement of the NRL in the USA (something I've been advocating for a number of years) and can't wait to see how it all progresses.
I'm convinced that the combination of a great product (surely the best) with some really professional marketing and hard won, real world, business acumen is bound to succeed.
Bring it on.
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51 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:
Your opinion and I appreciate that, but I have been on two such trips down under and can only speak very highly of them. We went down under in '19 where we obviously met others from some other organised tours who where literally dumped in hotels, transported to the games with provided match tickets but other than that left to sort out their own 'enjoyment'.
We went with Catalan Sports Tours run by Australian David Foti and the itinerary he provided was excellent, many trips were included in the tour price far more days organised than 'free days' the value for money was incredible other than sorting it out yourself and we would most probably not have seen or even thought about going to a good few of the things we experienced.
Yes it was my intention to do the '25 tour and also take in some of the England Cricket Ashes games, but with the usual lack of organisation - dates and venues - from the RL authorities that is an unknown.
And there is also another reason while I will be waiting before booking - I am very curios as to what season '25 will bring with the 'Armpit and Below' tackle rule we are bringing in, we are already somewhat different to the rules they play to down under and this will just take us further away, I doubt International rules will accomodate the RFL's mantra, so I will bide my time in deciding but if I do go it will most definitely be with CST.
As for the OP and the '26 WC, the itinerary of dates and venues is very important to me, the last WC in my opinion was ridiculous with the amount of travelling involved to attend the England games, from memory Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Auckland, Brisbane something like that but happy to be corrected, if it is similar I will not be going to that.
Thanks for the advice. It's always good to hear from someone with real experience of the travel company. Useful comments also, on the England games locations.
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3 hours ago, Gomersall said:
Great!
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12 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:
FWIW Valencia's team was bolstered by three Salford Academy loans. The game was played at an athletics stadium about 20km down the coast from Valencia. It was all very real though.
Where's he gone? Dean Buchan I mean? Has he raised his head above the parapet since?
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11 minutes ago, phiggins said:
Really struggling with the Dupree one. So it's ok to raise a forearm / elbow with the arm not carrying the ball, and hit a defender with it, just as long as you don't hit him in the head?
It's as if the game is trying to legislate for every specific action, and cannot just adjudge something to be serious foul play
It did hit his head.
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33 minutes ago, The Rocket said:
Mate we do not need any more NSW sides in the (Inter)National Rugby League.
The future is the Perth`s, the Christchurch`s, the Fiji`s, the P.N.G.`s, the Wellington`s et.al
Let the central coast be absorbed into an existing team`s pathways.
Tell that to the European Super League, who want to keep the game in the four quadrants defined by the pennines and the M62.
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1 hour ago, Gomersall said:
All good news from over there. Thanks for keeping us in the picture.
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5 hours ago, Damien said:
New Zealand 2 in Christchurch now please:
Makes perfect sense to me. Unless they're afraid New Zealand will become too strong.
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2 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:
Now let me be clear Irish, in no way whatsoever am I ridiculing, abusing and ostracising what the volunteers and enthusiasts do for our game, taking that stance would be like looking at the man in the mirror and telling him he wasted time, energy and no little expense over the years he was active and involved in the amatuer to become the community game, and no longer being active he stills gets along to watch junior, youth and senior games in the non played ranks quite regularly.
I take it that your reply was a defensive backhander delivered because of your involvement in the amatuer side of our sport which is visible to anyone who reads your Avatar or remembers the many references you have made to your expieriences on these pages, all of which I congratulate and admire what you have done and achieved.
Now back to my post, no one in their right mind can contradict my statement that without Australia and NZ we would have a very much reduced contingency of participating nations in the WC - by my reckoning 5 teams, happy to be corrected - I know the world has changed but for the better is open to interpretation and debate, and I can recall the days when one had to be a bona-fide native of a country to represent it. I have 2 games in my portfolio I follow with enthusiasm RL and Cricket and I could never be accepting of when Cricket would make up rules just to employ 'Johnny Foriegner' in the England team in previous times like the modern day Joffra Archer it should have been 7 years before he qualified for England but that was fast tracked to 9 months, and I was of the same repulsion when the RL had to put Muari Fa'asavalu in the GB team, then Rangi Chase and there are others as you know, did we need them? I can understand it if mum or dad is from the mother country, but the likes of Jackson Hastings and Blake Austen, who respectively had done 18 and 12 months respectively in this country before selection, I was on that tour there was not many of us supporters mind and we were all fervently getting behind the team with the national anthem only to look at the team and witness those two along with the other mercenary Lachlan Coote with heads silently bowed, it's not right, you should grow 10' tall when putting on the International shirt, I would wager they would have done donning the 'Green and Gold'
But I think the most laughable of the lot is Union, was a few years ago when my son who knows my opinion of International representatives and knowing I don't watch Union phoned me and said switch on the TV and watch this, it was the line up of the Japanese team for the pre match presentation and as the camera went along the line there was a number of white caucasian 6' - 5" plus players wearing the Japanese Uniform, Uuurghh.
As I finished my original post Irish with "is it right, I will never be convinced just my opinion". And I stand by that. It is all about the selection process for me, and nothing whatsoever to do with our grass roots as you interpreted it to be.
Thanks for the clarification. It's pretty much what I thought you meant. I wasn't trying to criticise you but merely to seek clarity.
My reference to ridicule, abuse and ostracism was a dig at what seems to be going on in Ireland and Scotland. Where the self-appointed authorities tread on the tiny seedlings and grass roots, at the most vital time in their development. A time when nurturing those seedlings is absolutely essential.
Our own (the established nations fans) treatment of these new enthusiasts, also leaves a lot to be desired.
Many's the time I've heard (here) talk of ''minnows'' in the game (that in itself is contemptuous of our own (RL's) enthusiasts, often struggling on their own, to establish the game in their own neck of the woods). Other's discount their efforts as worthless because they can't compete with the established Nations.
Heaven help us. We've all got to start somewhere.
I'm just arguing that we should treasure these newcomers to our game, no matter at what stage of development. We should stop expecting miracles and insisting they rush the process, just to please us. We should instead be thanking them and saying a silent prayer for more of them.
We need all the help we can get. Let's hope there's lots more to come.
On a personal note, I think you and I are far more alike than different. It's clear you love the game. So if nothing else, we have that in common.
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58 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:
Let's be totally open and honest to all this, without Australia and to a lesser extent NZ, how many teams would we have competing in the WC without the flexibility of the heritage ruling, yes I know it is a global thing in all sports, Union, Cricket, Athletics etc, but is it right, I will never be convinced just my opinion.
I find this post a bit confusing 'Arry.
At first you seem to imply that the international game would be almost non-existent if not for the allowance of heritage players (which may be true). I interpreted that as if you thought to forbid the inclusion of heritage players was a huge negative for the game.
Then your last line is unclarified, but seems to suggest that it was never right to include them in the first place, please clarify?
It seems clear to me that the use of heritage players (certainly as far as Ireland and Scotland) has allowed them to compete in our World Cups but has demonstrably hindered (nay destroyed) aspects of the development of the game locally and succeeded in insulting the players and volunteer organisers to boot!
I think we need to ensure that all our actions (in the short term) move us towards our long term goals, however long that takes and we take great care, to do nothing to move us in the opposite direction. Every effort to short-circuit the process inevitably takes us away from our long term goals.
Having said that, the growth of the grass roots game, should always take priority (when resources are meagre). All our experience to date, shows that establishing a ''glamour'' team in a wilderness just doesn't provoke a significant, spontaneous demand amongst amateur players and supporters to be part of this great game.
Development comes from unearthing enthusiasts, with enough enthusiasm to make the effort to organise teams for themselves, with nothing more than the desire to play (or watch) as motivation. Treat them with respect, treat them like their dreams and desires to be involved are legitimate and worthy (no matter how ''good'' at RL they are) and if you can't help them, at least provide some encouragement and take care not to ridicule, abuse, and ostracise them.
Is anything I've said here contentious? controversial? I'd argue absolutely not.
My big concern is why it needs to be said, to RL people, at all.
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Loved that, where's the first part?
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2 minutes ago, Griff said:
No, the obvious solution is a 12 team, 22 game league season, starting in March.
That is another obvious solution not the only one.
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4 minutes ago, Griff said:
If that's the deal, that's the deal.
it seems to me that the real issue here, is the possibility of multiple visits (to France) due to repeat (loop) fixtures.
The (obvious) solution to this is, in Super League at least, the move to a 14 team league.
It's a bit more difficult with a league with less than 14 teams but I think that if (by chance) a club has to travel to France, more than once, then the league should (if anyone) provide financial assistance to the disadvantaged club.
To ask the French club to pay for it all, is (to me) completely unjustifiable and embarrassingly unpalatable.
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On 12/03/2024 at 17:04, Bearman said:
Easy and free
where though?
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What's parking like there? I might just make the effort to get to one of their games in the next few months.
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Something's just occurred to me about the debts.
Did Sonny Bill get paid?
Or is he part of the group suing for unpaid wages.
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Just now, Harry Stottle said:
Yes we were a Limited Company Irish, but in the case of TWP do you not believe the debts were accrued and not paid for a period of time before Mr Elstone had his instruction (my interpretation) to tell him that TWP were no longer wanted?
Like you said earlier to @Dave T we have a difference of opinion, let's park it here.
Incidently, we sold the business in 2009 to an American company who were situated across the water of lake Ontario from Toronto.
I'm sorry mate, I don't know what happened when, so I might have the cart before the horse. cheers,
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2 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:
Let me say what my take was with our business, my instruction to our 'Bought Ledger' was that we paid our suppliers/service providers as per the terms of our mutual trading contract, likewise I expected to paid from our customers on the same agreement, on both these activities you hopefully keep your cash flow situation at a good equilibrium. But that does not always happen, cumalitivly I lost well into and over 6 figures over the years through unpaid invoices.
If you are suggesting to me that after being accepted into SL and then the RFL/Mr Elstone or whoever made it plain to Mr Argyle that he was not wanted and only then he took his bat and ball home and didn't pay his Bill's, I would suggest to you that he wasn't paying his Suppliers/Service Providers for a good period of time before he took umbridge in fact the debts that were accruing were for goods from suppliers and services from his players that had already been recieved and utilised and he had an obligation to pay those Bill's in effect he wasn't and as you say "What's the point in carrying on pouring money into this pointless, bottomless pit?" New debts would have come later had he carried on financing TWP.
In fact I will say it he has robbed people, as has anyone who buys anything utilises it and subsequently doesn't pay for it.
Forgive me 'Arry but I've made my ''take on it'' quite plain and I think the scant evidence we have, supports my hypothesis.
Let me ask, did you operate under the protection of limited liability status 'Arry?
Gladly, you seem to have operated profitably, over the course of your business life, despite some significant defaults on the part of your customers, congratulations!
If however, your business suffered a catastrophic deviation from your business plan and nose dived below the break even line, for a sustained period of time, your business would have gone into administration and ultimately bankruptcy.
Would you have sheltered under your limited liability status?
Or done the heroic thing and sold your home, put your family into the poor house, just to pay your creditors?
Almost all businesses in the UK operate as limited companies, as you well know, and under the circumstances mentioned above when things turn down, ''the company'' carries the liabilities, not the founder/directors of the company. The owners liability extends only to the capital invested. Under the circumstances, Argyles decision to stop investing is quite reasonable.
I made it quite clear that I thought the Wolfpack company owes the money, not Argyle. So my ''position'' is quite clear, completely unambiguous.
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18 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:
So walk away and leave people high and dry, players and businesses who could very well not afford it, this is about principles, didn't take you to have the same mindset.
I hope he gets used with interest, but he will probably not pay it.
22 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:I have always said and will never be convinced otherwise, Robert Elstone was the marionette who took instruction, advice and acted on what he was told to do by the string pulling masters at the head of certain SuperLeague clubs, the ones that hired him and effectively shoved him to resign once his worth was over.
Funny isn't it we fast forward a few years and people are aghast at the possibility of Catalan being told they will have to pay for the travel expenses of all visiting clubs to Perpignan, does anyone really think that this is soley the decision of Rhodri Jones. Or is there any possibility that the chairman of the SL clubs could be involved, Robert Elstone MK2 anyone.
Come on 'Arry. I agree that we should pay our suppliers and employees, no argument.
I must say though that while remaking this point you deftly sidestepped my question. What would you have done?
Suppose you entered a competition and invested 20 million in good faith and then it became apparent (I'm not blaming Elstone for this, as I agree he was little more than a mouthpiece) that your club has no future in this competition.
What's the point in carrying on pouring money into this pointless, bottomless pit?
So come on mate, what would you have done, if your were Argyle, 20 million down, when the double-cross became evident?
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12 hours ago, Dave T said:
I have plenty of sympathy with anyone that holds the view that covid made it impossible for them to continue. As per one of my previous posts, I believe they had trouble accessing furlough schemes etc and it was challenging for them.
I think anyone who justifies what happened as an outcome of Elstone's comments is bang wrong. It's a really bad take to justify not paying debts because they didn't feel welcome.
People should be clear why they believe these players haven't been paid. It's either covid or it's Elstone.
Well Dave, of course you are entitled to your opinion. It's clear we disagree. We needn't say more.
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Is it their year?!?!
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted
I thought that was a very interesting aspect of his approach too.
Anyway, what great weekend for exposure to the general public. Two great games. Very intense, highly skilled, loads of heavy bumps and perhaps the highlight of the weekend, Ashton's incredible acrobatic try in the corner!
Just a few words on Warrington - I didn't even recognise half the players, a collection of young fellas absolutely ''mad for it''.
Their dogged defense eventually undermined Saints confidence as their usual bullying/muscle tactics didn't seem to be enough. Add in the skill and pace of Warrington's back-line, marshalled by Walker and Williams who contributed to out smarting Saints at every turn and it all made for a very very entertaining match.
If those two games don't draw in some new committed fans, I'll eat my hat.