HawkMan

My choice would be option 2. Too big and the game would lose that something that makes the game special, the ties to the fans and community.

Don't you mean you know nothing about football because you're an Everton fan ?

How big do you want TGG to be ? The obvious answer may be as big as possible , as big as Soccer. However it's naive to think any global sport could really operate without some sort of greed, MASSIVE tv deals means powerful agents milking the game for whatever they can get, players not showing refs great respect with so much at stake , vested interests evident in the game's governance, possible corruption in bidding for World Cups etc. In short if RL went global it would change massively. So how big do you want it to be ?

Just watched a bit of Bundesliga 2, Holstein Pils vs Ernst Blofeld, at least I think that's right ! ?

I like it quite a lot as I do RL, about evens and I voted accordingly. I have no problem with the money at the top, just as I don't mind or care about movie stars earning big bucks, the market dictates. I don't think money as spoiled anything, without it the great players wouldn't be here, I want to watch the Zolas, Viallis, Cantonas etc. Now we have Sala, De Bryunne, Ageuro, great players. Yes without the top dosh the league would be more open and the governance of the game less greed driven, but I'm sanguine about it all. EPL CL, WC and Euros Brill. If I go to watch live then its Dagenham and Redbridge.

Looking at the league table, Huddersfield Town will certainly be voting to end the season now. ?

Yep, fitness will play a big part in second halves for a little while yet. FT 28-16 Tigers.

Great take from Luke Garner , enjoying this game, best since restart. 16-14 Sharks 22 to go.

I've mentioned this before, but as a Londoner I can tell you that the city is tribalised in its team support bases. A team called London anything doesn't sit well. Galling or not, calling the Broncos by the name of the local soccer team will get more publicity. The Brentford Broncos sounds nice and alliterative and the Bees are moving into a new stadium, they might be up for having a partnership with the Broncos.

Please don't laugh but I've used Amazon to get food stuff for the first time, after using it for CDs and DVDs for years. Good old fashioned blancmange! You can't get it anywhere now, so I ordered a box of twelve strawberry sachets. Arrived promptly, well packaged, now to make home made trifle. De ' smegging' licous.

Globally football is for sure number 1, but I'm not sure the NFL for example would say they're operating in its shadow. Nevertheless other sports learning from each other to expand is as you say useful, but how about learning from football, or is that just daft. It's not all about money, football was massive back in the bygone days of b+w telly. How did they do it? What is a game day experience like now at football, can we learn or just plain copy. Presumably they haven't expanded around the globe using black magic, if they can do it why can't we, in a smaller scale of course. Trouble is RL had woken up after 100 odd years and decided to give expansion a real go, and found a congested sports market with other sports doing the same, it may be a wee bit too late. If in 20 years RL is as popular globally as RU is now it will be a remarkable success story worthy of praise, anything else is pie in the sky. There's also a hidden or maybe not so hidden conceit about proposals for a World League or whatever. Somehow I don't think global tv companies are going to be lining up to throw millions at a league played in cities where RL is unknown in front of 3/4 empty stadiums, at least for a year or two, it doesn't look good on tv, and would be a massive gamble. I've watched some t20 or t10 cricket from Qatar and Canada, yes they got a tv deal, probably Indian or Aussie, played in front of nobody whilst the Qataris and Canadians serenely carried on with their lives and ignored it. So any proposal for RL gobal competition would require an enormous leap of faith from broadcasters to even consider it, unless Australians stepped in and then it would just be the same eyeballs watching it.

Reminder - tonight Dortmund vs Bayern Munich at 5, should be a cracker.

I was surprised because if players have 5 or 6 weeks to complete the season then their kids are cooped up for all that time in a bubble so Daddy can play footy or rugby. I expected Bundesliga players to be in hotels, which is costly. But possible good news for RL , if that cost can be averted. Perhaps the RFL should contact the Bundesliga and get a lowdown on how they managed it all so successfully....so far.

Something that may be relevant to SL return regarding cost. On Saturday I was watching the Bundesliga on tv when the commentator said the players after the first set of matches all WENT HOME!! This surprised me, does it mean player's homes, wives, children , are also in the bubble? If players don't necessarily have to be put up in hotels that is a huge cost that RL may not need to be concerned with.

As has been pointed out elsewhere the Premier League needs to spend millions on testing kits, and keeping players, coaches, security staff, caterers etc in a quarantine bubble for weeks on end to ensure the virus doesn't enter the " Premier League Restart Project ". RL can't afford this, and even in Model One has too many games left for that to be practical. Starting later in the summer gives hope that perhaps these prohibitive costs might be lessened.

Yes I remember it well, here's a classic clip of Olly Reed completely out of his skull on the show.

Just finished the latest series of inside no 9, fantastic. What a great series, if you've not tried it, here's some reasons why you should.

Ah a fellow Whovian. I love classic Who, not too keen on NuWho but have watched them all......once, and only once it will stay. Recently watched a story from each Doctor. Started with Space Museum, then , Invasion, The Daemons, Seeds Of Doom, Arc Of Infinity, Trial of a Time Lord ( 9-14), Ghostlight., then enjoyed it so much went through the process again with, Tenth Planet, The Web Of Fear, Monster Of Peladon, Invasion of Time, Earthshock, Timelash, and Remembrance Of The Daleks.

Sort of enjoyed the matches I've seen so far. Best though is the current offering from Bundesliga 2, Gunther Froth vs Cheeseburger, or whatever. Good game.

Just caught up with the latest series of Curb Your Enthusiasm, brilliant. The series arc has Larry setting up a coffee shop, Latte Larry's, next door to Mocha Joe's, a coffee shop he was banned from. image.webp

Definitely the 16million was to keep clubs afloat and the game from imploding, to protect the World Cup. It's not the government's responsibility to pay so that RL can resume , or any sport for that matter, the Premier league is paying for testing kits and all other measures. Not only players have to be tested, but security staff, coach drivers, hotel staff, caterers etc. Everyone in the bubble has to be tested, fed, put in hotels for weeks, and unless the RFL or SL have riches stashed away that we don't know about then I can't see RL back until the Covid Alert level is at level 2 . Also soccer players jostling each other at corners is pretty minor contact compared to rugby players contacting and interacting with each other. But SL doesn't need to start soon, August or September is fine, and the 16million should ensure the clubs are still there.

Who to support in the Bundesliga. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52632680 Tottenham are Fortuna Dusseldorf !? Bloody cheek.

We have some live football this weekend to watch on BT Sport. I don't normally follow the Bundesliga, only EPL and International football and Champions League, but I'll give it a watch I think. Anyone else planning to watch? Saturday; Dortmund vs Schalke, Frankfurt vs Monchengladbach, and Leipzig vs Freiburg Sunday; Cologne vs Mainz and Union Berlin vs Bayern Munich.

Do you think it would be useful to study the EPL Project or even get some input from them , or are the requirements of the two sports too different for that to be of any use?

I refuse to believe that with all the eggheads around the world working on it, we're decades from a vaccine. Anyway we don't necessarily need a vaccine, just a combination of drugs to stop people dying, there's no AIDS vaccine but drug treatment exists to keep people alive. But for RL clubs to play with no crowd is a loss making exercise. Only the richest clubs can afford it for any length of time. That's why the lower league clubs in Scottish football were keen to end the season, ( Partick and Stranraer excepted), better to mothball the club and start again next season . If RL can start in autumn with maybe a small social distancing crowd, a short truncated season , then all is not lost. There's talk of bus passengers limited to one tenth capacity to be Covid safe, so maybe crowds of one tenth capacity would be permitted. Won't bother Salford much I know !! Oops sorry only joking.