paul hicks

yep im afraid reality does get in the way of hope quite a lot

personally, i think it should be up to the international board to spread the word

and yet people complain when leeds, st helens, wigan and Huddersfield to name but four clubs who take it seriously hoover up the talent they have helped to produce

one of?. thought they only had tanya Arnold

perhaps they rely on the organiser of the fixtures to inform them

the thing against performance academies is who pays for them. both Leeds and Huddersfield put a lot of time and effort into junior clubs and reap the rewards. so i guess my question t you is why would those clubs and others put time, effort and money into junior development if they had no more to gain from it than clubs that make not much effort in the first place. please don't tell me the RFL would provide the money and coaching staff as they seem to be skint all the time.

toby king and harry newman would be the two players from the hudderfield area clubs

from what i know of the game no player says that. i know im an old sod but at whatever level i played and watched i always saw player putting in what they had. if not, the coach would drop them. having said that i suppose times and attitudes change but i would hope not by much

fair enough. for me it sems a good thing. think of the guy who wants to have a job outside of rugby that may well be skilled and pays well and will last a lot longer than the average rugby 10 year or so playing pro rugby. I'm not saying all players have to be pro or all part time but that element of flexibility can bring in some good players who want to also look far into there life after rugby and have a good job well paid until they retire. the productive years for progression in work is often the early 20s to 35 according to research .

a lot of clubs already have them. indeed, i can think of one club that's got a successful one that brings in close to a million quid a year. with of course the provision that it is spend on work in the community and not on propping up the club. thus, enabling a large reach into the community clubs and youth development as well as schools. also, it provides none rugby events such as dementia groups and refugee outreach among other things

where would the grants come from because the RFL is skint

its so easy the part time players would train in the evening and of course the full-time players would also be able to train in the evening. the full timers would be able to do extras like gym work in the daytime as well or indeed go round the schools

and quite right . if they had been good enough to stay in super league they would still be getting them. as it is London will get them

nobody trains fulltime. how many teams spend more than a couple fo hours a day out on the training ground and then maybe only 3 or 4 days at that .

i thought wakefield had already committed to been full time and fev were full time as indeed were toulouse

i don't know how it works for other clubs but at leeds its actually in the contracts of the first team squad that they do a certain amount of community work through the leeds rugby foundation

or indeed Workington and Whitehaven may do so. depends what part of the country you're in i suppose as to which is the worse journey

the question is do we know what he means by what he said

you would b e lucky to get a quid each.

a number of seasons building London up and restarting there very good academy and junior set up. add that to a good record with London and also that Eccles said he did not want the job on a permanent basis although i think if part of a team such as ward hard with jamie Langley he would thrive

he lives in surrey where he has a business

old mate of mine came up with a rumour i had not heard before. maybe it's true or maybe it was the 5th pint i don't know but here it is. Danny ward coach consultant at London broncos which sounded more like director of rugby but with on field input when he told it. it would certainly help the inexperienced coach they have .

indeed, no keep trying but remember that next time it's not so much what you do on the field as when you do off it. times change and what we did in the 70s and 80s is not what we do now. we have gone away from small club been run by the local butcher as part of a committee of local people to a business that runs as such. sure, every team can try for the dream but reality say if you don't have that strong business behind the team then you don't have what's needed for long term success. what's needed is a long-term business that will make money nearly every year. do i think it's right that it should be so. well, no i would much prefer how it was back in the 1960s when i started watching but there again i don't dream of the past i look to the future and im afraid what i liked back then will not sustain the game in the future. WE EITHER ADAPT AND CHANGE OR THE GAME GOES THE WAY OF SHINTY. shinty used to b e a major sport in Scotland and now struggles in isolated areas in the north of Scotland. seems not too different from our game's future if we don't embrace change.

fev have had a number of chances to achieve that dream including in 2023 which was there best chance i would think and i would say if they could not manage it in 2023 then i think that dream has had its day.

corruption is a big claim and something i don't recognise as a fact. of course, if you have proof of actual corruption then i would be interested to hear about it as a fact but not if it's just bitterness because the process did not suit you .