fighting irish
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Posts posted by fighting irish
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14 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:
Where can we find the videos so we can make a fair judgement?
i'm sorry fella's but i haven't got time for this.
But what's happened to this website?
The home page hasn't changed in almost a week.
Is everything ok at Total RL HQ?
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What's happened to this website gentlemen?
The home page hasn't changed in almost a week.
Is everything ok at Total RL HQ?
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On 17/08/2023 at 17:53, John Drake said:
RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD – ISSUE 488 (SEPT 2023) – AVAILABLE FROM 25th AUGUST
A digital edition of Rugby League World for computers, tablets and smartphones is also available via Pocketmags.com
Inside this issue:
- 26 page celebration of Wembley 2023, including the Men’s and Women’s Challenge Cup Finals and the 1895 Cup.
- Interview with BBC TV’s Rugby League anchorman Mark Chapman.
- Interview with Troy Grant, departing chairman of International Rugby League on the next World Cup and the new international calendar.
- Interview with Kiwi legend Mark Graham.
- Features on London Skolars, Bramley and rugby league developments in Hong Kong.
- All this and more of your favourite regular features inside.
Subscribe now at www.totalrl.com/shop
Just got my copy, thanks to all concerned.
What's happened to this website John?
The home page hasn't changed in almost a week.
Is everything ok at Total RL HQ?
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I'm pleased to say, i sat in the grandstand at the end of the ground (as a 16 year old boy) and watched him break the world record for the number of kicks goaled in a season. I think the opposition that day was Rochdale Hornets.
That achievement, the performance of the team, the power, skill and athleticism on show was truly inspirational and cemented in, my love of the game for the rest of my life.
Many years later, he accepted an invitation to play in an ''All Stars'' rugby league team, to play against Aberavon RL club in a charity benefit match, in support of one of our injured players at the Green Stars rugby field.
A quietly spoken, gentlemanly sportsman, generous to a fault and an absolute genius with the ball in his hands or at his feet.
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1 hour ago, Big Picture said:
I was working on lining something up with a well-connected person in Toronto but wasn't able to finalize anything before leaving the country on an extended trip. I'll pick up where I left of after I return to Canada.
In the meantime I've been able to get some good market research down done here, so there has been some modest progress. Time will tell though.
Please keep us informed of progress. Good luck.
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9 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:
Over on the football thread, @Damien posted that under Chelsea's current chairman they have spent 1 billion pounds on players. That is one single football club. The money in football is earth shattering.
It got me wondering how I would invest 1 billion pounds into rugby league.
So that's what I'd like us all to have a bit of a dream about, how would you lot invest that sum of money into our sport?
Well, it's a lot of money HG, much more than most people appreciate.
Do you know, that if you had a book with a billion pages in it, the book would be 78 miles thick?
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Yes more good news in the Americas. Roll on RL
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17 minutes ago, RL Tragic said:
My point in that is how come London have produced so many home developed talents with no where near the profile of storm in Melbourne.
I'm confessing my ignorance about the state of the game in Melbourne but this question links to a debate we had in two other threads. (Edinburgh and State of the Game in the Heartlands).
I'll try to summarise or at least, get to my point very quickly.
Whilst it's nice to have a Pro club in the vicinity (bearing in mind that Melbourne is in Victoria which is a huge place). I don't think that the existence of the club is the main motivator for young people to get involved (and climb the ladder).
I'm convinced it's the awareness that the (amateur) game exists where they live, is ingrained in the society, part of their shared culture and the young people are provided with every opportunity, in schools, as juniors and youth players to get involved.
Those Londoners all came through the amateur system in London at the time.
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1 hour ago, Gomersall said:
Great news, roll on RL
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45 minutes ago, The Future is League said:
I would settle for a 5 year plan if clubs could stick with it
Rugby League has this bad habit of ditching things if they aren't successful after 2 or 3 years instead of giving it a bit of time mature
Which clubs?
Are you referring to the RFL. That will never work, on their own, they just can't do it The organisation isn't big enough.
What i'm suggesting is that all BARLA and Welsh league clubs, in fact everybody, everyone, switches on to the benefits (and the absolute necessity) to grow the game, in their locality, not just sit on the status quo. 30 years ago, BARLA was a huge, active, thriving and growing organisation, now it looks as if they've chucked the towel in.
I think the snub, from the Sports Council (on who should control the game) caused them to ''spit the dummy out'' and just stop working on behalf of the amateur game. With a ''see how you get on without us'' middle finger to the RFL.
Well I think it's obvious that the RFL can't do it without the amateur clubs, actively involved in promoting the game. So I think it's time to think again.
The RFL, the game can't do this (grow) without the assistance of everyone, yes everyone involved in the game from top to bottom putting their oar in.
So come on BARLA, (clubs and local league administrators) pull your socks up, it's game on.
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1 minute ago, sam4731 said:
I didn't think you were being rude, I just genuinely didn't understand your original response. Valid point I think but there seems a long way to go.
yes i think that's true, please see my response to you in the Edinburgh thread?
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4 hours ago, sam4731 said:
The big question of course though is, can rugby league survive what would be optimistically a 15 year development plan?
I don't know.
It might even take a lot longer than 15 years (look at Newcastle) but what i'm arguing is that there is no alternative. So the sooner we accept that and start work, the better.
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3 hours ago, sam4731 said:
It begs the question, why have the Crusaders gone backwards this year. What's the final missing piece of the puzzle?
I'm sorry Sam my response to your post was abrupt (hastily prepared). i didn't mean to be rude to you.
The missing piece of the puzzle is the potential growth of the game in Wales.
The potential is that part, that doesn't already exist.
In order to provide adequate support to a pro or semi-pro team in Wales, i think the game needs be 10 times as big as it is now. Then a Super League club could emerge, with an adequate support base, funding etc.
There's no guarantee, even at that (but we'd have a great amateur competition).
Expecting Crusaders to go from strength to strength without that pyramid base, is (i believe) wishful thinking.
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I don't believe its a local pro club, that attracts young players to play.
It is true, however that, the cyclic fortunes of the Pro and Semi pro clubs in Wales is partly due to the paucity of amateur clubs. I'm putting the horse, before the cart.
I'd estimate that before Wales could produce a sustainable SL club, the amateur game would have to be 10 times as big as it is now.
But the game does seem to be growing in popularity and in participation numbers, men women and children.
I say, we should cheer them on and stop bemoaning the absence of a SL presence.
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3 hours ago, sam4731 said:
It begs the question, why have the Crusaders gone backwards this year. What's the final missing piece of the puzzle?
No it doesn't Sam.
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20 minutes ago, glossop saint said:
This is where the argument for top down expansion comes in. Give Wales a SL club that the kids can aspire to play for, that can challenge in the playoffs and for the CC. Unfortunately this takes patience and money which is something as a sport we don't have.
The absence of that Welsh SL club hasn't stopped the game growing to its present size.
It's grown because it's run by competent, passionate people, who love the game.
When the time is right, a pro club will emerge.
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55 minutes ago, Big Picture said:
The OP overlooks the most important point: why kids take up a sport.
Whichever sport they take up, they do so because they dream of being the next Gretzky, Jordan or Beckenbauer, playing to capacity crowds in big venues and seen by big TV audiences. That's what RL needs to get today's kids to choose this sport rather than another option.
That's not why kids take up sport at all.
It might be why some of them do, but certainly not all and not that many.
They take up sport, because it's fun to play, with their mates.
Providing a televised sport, that is played in big venues to capacity crowds certainly presents the game in a good light, but not every kid, playing park football, actually believes or even dreams they are going to be the next Gretzky, Jordan, or Beckenbauer.
They play because it's an enjoyable experience, in the moment.
Now i'll argue, that for a sizeable chunk of the population, playing rugby league, would be more enjoyable than playing anything else.
What we need to do, is provide the opportunities for them to do so and make them aware that they exist.
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36 minutes ago, Damien said:
Surely a blank weekend for all clubs to do that would be easier and better? And that doesn't require odd numbers.
Please see my response to Griff, above
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55 minutes ago, Griff said:
Aye, but that's not so good if your week off is week 1. Or even 2-4.
If you think a break is important, far better to have an even number of teams and have two consecutive weeks when only half the teams play - or even a week with no fixtures at all.
It's clear Griff, that you haven't understood the proposal. Why is it no good, if your week off is week one or 2-4? The idea is that your fixture secretary prepares for your dead weeks the previous season (in advance) and arrange 'out of area' friendly games to introduce a bit of variety in the season and provide opposition for new teams in new areas. I'm not really suggesting that teams ''take a break''.
It seems you don't understand why i think the odd team format is important either. Why are you so convinced that your idea of a break is ''far better'' if its even numbers of teams taking ''two weeks when only half the teams play, or even one week with no fixtures at all.''? That's a complete misunderstanding of why i'm suggesting the odd team format. Your suggestion wouldn't do as much as my proposal for the development of new clubs.
It reminds me of being offered, by a Barla official, a visit from one team around Easter. That's no help at all, quite frankly, (and it showed he didn't understand what i was proposing either.) What we wanted and needed was teams free to play us, on every weekend of the season, not just one or two weeks as you suggest. Our nearest opposition was 200 miles away, when we started out.
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Please see my comments in the Edinburgh thread about amateur clubs.
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22 minutes ago, Damien said:
Great post. If only the Rugby League Conference was supported and stuck with we could have had a whole development league of Hemel Hempstead like clubs.
Here's a subtle codicil to the re-creation of the Conference (or any league).
I believe that all (amateur) leagues should be created with odd numbers of teams.
This would mean, that each week, one team in each league would have no game! (calamity!!)
They could then decide to rest, or the more adventurous with let's say the greatest Corinthian spirit, would look (seasons in advance) for fixtures against clubs outside the vicinity of the league's local geographical spread.
This would necessitate the establishment, within the clubs of a fixture secretary, (god forbid) but it would provide an annual highlight for players and members, in the otherwise dull, repetitive, monotonous, league season. It could be promoted as an annual tour, or the visit of some ''unknown quantity'' from Wales, or Scotland, or just from across the Pennines, etc. etc. (anyway, you get the picture).
What it would do for development clubs is provide, each week, scores of clubs who could potentially provide opposition where otherwise, there would be none.
The more patient of you, will know i've made this argument before but i believe that if this policy had been implemented in amateur rugby league since it's inception, we would have a far greater geographical spread, a warmer, friendlier, more connected amateur game and a much happier, more confident and optimistic view of our future.
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These discussions tend to depress me.
The whole paradigm they are based on, is fundamentally flawed but it tends to steer the conversation down a very narrow track excluding what (really) needs to be done to grow the game here (or anywhere).
The basic paradigm is, 1. set up shiny new club somewhere. 2. Buy in a lot of players from somewhere else. 3. Sign a short term agreement with the owner of some stadium. 4. Put up a poster to tell people the club exists. 5. Wait for the money to pour in.
Whereas what really needs to be done, is to contact Bob Brown, of Hemel Hempstead and ask him how he built the club, from nothing, in a place completely devoid of any exposure to RL in the past and replicate his model far and wide. Then crucial to the whole plan - find more Bob Browns, loads of them.
As supporters we need to treasure the likes of Bob Brown, who has proved that with the right approach it is possible to develop sustainable (participation) clubs anywhere. What these forums tend to do, instead, is treat them with contempt.
As a young lad, I became school swimming champion, then I won the town championship, then imagine this, West Wales Champion and height of heights competed in the Welsh Championships. The pride I felt at achieving those titles and being ''all i could be'' was immense. My family were ''over the moon'' as i hope you can imagine. Never once, was my achievement diminished by the very real fact, that i couldn't compete with Mark Spitz.
As a group, we've got the cart before the horse.
What makes Australian Rugby League so successful is not the professional coaching, conditioning etc. at the top end, but the never-ending freight train of young talent arriving at NRL central, every season. The clubs that produce that talent are a big deal. They don't spit the dummy out just because they can't get into the NRL, they are motivated by the love of the game, the joy of competing ''at their level'' for the local trophy (like me as a swimmer).
We tend to think, that all that, is just amateur sh.....te, which no-one is interested in and no-one cares about.
That is the root, of all our problems.
A hundred (more) Hemel Hempsteads would produce the players, the fan base, the sponsorship, the financial backing to create, nurture and sustain a Super League club in the South of England, (or in Scotland or anywhere else). We can ignore this fact and the basic wisdom of this post (or argue vehemently that it is wrong) but I'm saying unequivocally, there's no such thing as a short cut here.
Increase the participation numbers or die.
True lovers of the game, who administer our amateur leagues need to accept the responsibility to do more. No-one else is going to do this for us. Development needs to be on the agenda of every RL meeting, at every level within the game. Some time and effort must be found and exerted to keep spreading the game, or it'll never happen at the top end.
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49 minutes ago, Havenlad80 said:
Sure did.
I had forgotten about this game.Where did these players come from? Who was controlling the USA game at that time? They look like they could really add something to our International game, why have they been allowed to wither on the vine? I do hope the NRL get involved over there to try and pull together all the disparate groups under one governing body.
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Just now, Havenlad80 said:
Nobody could ever accuse you of not being an old romantic
i've got to ghost it past my wife though.
Can Anything Be Done Before 2031?
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted
I think we should do, what we've always done - nothing.
That way, we'll stop deluding ourselves that we are actually working on spreading the game.
More importantly, we won't waste the American's time with promises of ''help'' which will not be forthcoming, only to dash their hopes later, with the inevitable climbdown.
Far better to let them develop their own teams, structure, management systems, tailored to suit the territory and seeking to solve their own peculiar, particular problems.
Offers of help, tend to promote and encourage dependency which is the biggest inhibitor of real growth and delay the acceptance of the burgeoning responsibilities in any new territories.