crashmon
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Posts posted by crashmon
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On 02/08/2023 at 12:30, Tommygilf said:
How many top class stadiums have been built or redeveloped (or plan to be) in the past 20 years in areas international RL is played in? The RFL can't really afford or make a business case for a "national stadium", but an association with City of Manchester Stadium was never made, nor the Olympic Stadium in London, nor does it seem anything is being said to the new owners of LUFC who are clear in their plans to redevelop Elland Road to 50k, have we spoken to Man United about them redeveloping Old Trafford? These are just a few examples. I know the RFL is now based at the Etihad campus, but has that actually translated into anything there?
I like that we play around the country*, but a regular venue for every year with a guaranteed fixture seems a no brainer. I recall the new Wembley was originally labelled as the national stadium for Football and Rugby League. Oh how times have changed.
*obviously very limited use of the word country there
I thought Odsal was owned by the RFL. Not saying England should play at Odsal of course, but its indicitive that Football has wembley, Union as Twickenham, and we have a speedway track with a tiny pitch in the middle
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On 02/08/2023 at 09:47, RP London said:
I'm actually surprised that the RFU arent bringing that fiji game (or one of the others) to the north as its normally been a success as clubs take kids etc and the novelty for RU fans in the north of a game that isnt a long trip to twickers etc.
Fully agree. This should have been played in the north somewhere. RU is just as bad keeping games in the South, as RL is keeping it in M62. I've long advocated that England should play one of the Autumn internationals in the north every year instead at the same place
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On the topic of pacific nations, England RU are stuggling to make 45K for the game vs Fiji at twickers. (yet the NZ v SA game looks almost sold out).
But the point is that if you stick to the M62 only the game will die. You have to bring in new demographics. If you had the England v Tonga tickets available in a 20-25K stadium in London the week after the semi-final, I'll bet you would get close to selling it out, just based on the buzz of the semi-final, you would have sold many tickets.But after a couple of months RL is once again forgotton in the south.
What I do know is you will not get any fans apart from the really hard core travelling north from the south for those games. I went to France international, so I have done my M62 trek this year for Engliand
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For SL we need to stay on TV which means SKY, just how low will the offier be Below SL we have to accpet that TV is pretty much gone, and it will be only streaming going forward.
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5 hours ago, gingerjon said:
We have to pretend that we've never played internationals outside the heartlands to bigger crowds.
Not sure why but it's apparently a thing we have to do.
The only way the RFL will risk a london test would be if AUS toured. Otherwise its M62 all the way
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On 28/07/2023 at 08:09, watcherofRL said:
How do you work that out? London 1 point behind play offs - need to settle in for the remaining games as the combination was working with 4/5 wins to focus on
Losing at home to york.. As I expected once the lost in SF, nothing much to play for... They are PT, they know they are not going up, so all finishing 6th means is one week delay on holidays.... Fully expect London to finish between 8th and 10th now
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53 minutes ago, watcherofRL said:
How do you work that out? London 1 point behind play offs - need to settle in for the remaining games as the combination was working with 4/5 wins to focus on
This time last year once saftey was guaranteed, they went to sleep and lost pretty much all (apart maybe from one). Yet to be convinced that anything will change this year
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18 hours ago, John Drake said:
Discuss this weekend's non-televsied Betfred Championship games here.
FRIDAY 28th JULY
Sheffield Eagles v Halifax Panthers KO 19:30SATURDAY 29th JULY
Featherstne Roveros v Batley Bulldogs KO 18:00
Toulouse Olympique v Keighley Cougars KO 17:00 (UK Time)SUNDAY 30th JULY
London Broncos v York Knights KO 15:00
Newcastle Thunder v Swinton Lions KO 15:00
Widnes Vikings v Whitehaven KO 15:00London will now go into holiday mode now they have nothing much left to play for. I know 6th place is potentially possible, but I can't see it.. Fax will now kick on and make top 4. Fev to win this game vs Batley but then lose the one that matters in the Playoffs
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17 minutes ago, Segovia Carpet said:
What a joke of a ground to play a Semi Final on with a couple of hundred people attending. Shocking advert.
Welcome to the world of David Hughes
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Going to be interesting on who picks up NHL \ Elite League Ice Hockey rights
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So I've actually tipped London this time, which means FAX will win by 40
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Lets see the £££££££££ and then we can judge if is a good idea
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3 hours ago, Barley Mow said:
I believe there have been five other IRL recognised men's internationals beyond the England v France match so far this year.
Four more are scheduled in addition to the England v Tonga series.
These may not be our premier nations, but countries like Greece, Serbia, Malta, Netherlands and Czechia are really taking the bull by the horns and organising their own internal calenders (seemingly without much outside support). The standard might not be brilliant, but they are taking place outside the small corridor in the north of England and should be recognised on your list for the year.
Apologies
I should have said top tier international games which would be covered on mainstream TV (eg BBC, C4, Sky even viaplay).
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OK Let me requote
There focus is Origin, and expanding the NRL Brand
The focus on ANY international Rigby from the NRL is probably less than 1% of any planning
But if they have to have International RL (in Aus why do you need it, when you have origin), then the small effort they will make will be to a 4 nations in the SH
Personially I don't believe that outside of England v Tonga in the M62,there will be ANY international games at the end of the year, apart from possibly a one off test involving two of NZ, Samoa, PNG, Fiji.
So for 2023 the only internationals will be played in a small corridor in the north of England. With a possible couple of games in NZ featuring pacific islands playing each other \ NZ -
41 minutes ago, Jughead said:
Samoa (2023), Tonga (2024), World Cup in New Zealand (2025) and then an Ashes series (2026) would be a good announcement. If it happens, it’ll be subject to change and almost certainly won’t have happened in that order in 2026.
I'll belive an Ashes series when the Aussie's run onto the park for the first test, and not until that point actually happens
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Just now, crashmon said:
If Tolouse finish 2nd and London 6th, do not be surprised if London win that. I can see Tolouse just as easily losing at home to 6th placed team as I can see them beating Fev, they really blow that how and cold.
London won't get very far if they make it ( I still think Fax will finish 6th TBH), but away at Tolouse is the one game I'd actually fancy them to nick it.oops uts 3rd vs 6th, so Unlikely London woould play tolouse... Still I don't think London will make the 6
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19 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:
Really tough to predict apart from top and bottom places but will have a go.
1. Fev - Not much to say other than comfortably more consitant than any team.
2. Toulouse - Got some players back and starting to look the part but away form would be the thing that could let them down.
3. Batley - Will win enough games to get 3rd but could easily nick 2nd.
4. Bradford - Not in the same class as the teams above them but should benefit from Sheffields sketchy form.
5. Sheffield - If we were to have a shock drop off in form and a team miss the playoffs Sheffield are that candidate. They should win enough games to keep away the chasing pack though.
6. London - 2nd form team in the league and a tough one to predict, they could easily finish anywhere between 4th and 8th.
7. Fax - With us still to play Sheffield(a), Fev(h), London (a), Toulouse (h) all games we don't traditionally fair too well in we may only win 4/8 so would likely just miss out on the playoffs with that. Will be interesting to see if a loss in next week semi final would force a change of coach. Some Fax fans will tell you 7th is an over achievment when you consider our budget been around 10th/11th. I don't buy it.
8. Widnes - Decent looking run in but hard to see them putting together a run of games without a shock defeat.
9. York - Too little, too late. They need at least 3 teams above them to have a disaster and have a good run which is too unlikely. For me the only team in the middle who has nothing really to play for.
10. Swinton - Look capable of picking up the odd win. They must win their next two though Newcastle(a), Keighley(h), if they lose them 2 then they will likely be the 2nd team to go down.
11. Barrow - "Easiest" last 4 games of the bottom teams, they should have enough to stay up but if the next few games go against them and they can't beat Haven then there will be a lot of pressure on them for the last 4 games.
12. Haven - Tough to see many wins for them but two wins should see them safe.
13. Keighley - Could easily lose every remaining game, its such a tough run in for them. On paper they have points difference advatage over Haven but still have to play both the top 2 where as Haven only have Toulouse at home the last game. Could go down to the wire for them.
14. Newcastle - Won't win enough to make up the lost ground.
As for the playoffs its going to be so hard to predict. Fev fans can likely breathe a sigh of relief as it looks unlikley that they would have to play Batley so in theory they should have a very winnable semi against Bradford or Sheffield. Fax could throw a spanner in the works if they manage to make the playoffs but can't see it. 2nd place is huge as Batley won't go to Toulouse and win which would see the Fev V Toulouse final that Fev fans would dread. I just have this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that Fev get upset in the final. Sorry Fev fans, easily the team most deserving of a shot but not as convinced as what the league table suggests.
If Tolouse finish 2nd and London 6th, do not be surprised if London win that. I can see Tolouse just as easily losing at home to 6th placed team as I can see them beating Fev, they really blow that how and cold.
London won't get very far if they make it ( I still think Fax will finish 6th TBH), but away at Tolouse is the one game I'd actually fancy them to nick it.-
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The only 4N's type comp going forward will only be in SH, and won't include England unless England travel to SH... Not going to happen in NH.
Aus are not going to tour again in the forseeable future., they have made that loud and clear, there focus is on the Pacific Islands. In fact considering that the Next WC is almost certain to be in the SH, I would not be surprised if we don't see an AUS international team in the UK again this decade.
Expect a cycle of Tonga \ Samoa \ PNG (possibly NZ but not sure) for the foseeable future with all games in the M62 corridor. With the occasional game vs France as well
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On 12/07/2023 at 11:45, John Drake said:
Discuss this weekend's Betfred Championship games here.
SATURDAY 15th JULY
Toulouse Olympique v Batley Bulldogs KO 17:00 (UK time)SUNDAY 16th JULY
Barrow Raiders v Featherstone Rovers KO 15:00
Halifax Panthers v Newcastle Thunder KO 15:00
Keighley Cougars v Widnes Vikings KO 15:00
Swinton Lions v London Broncos KO 15:00
Whitehaven v Bradford Bulls KO 15:00
York Knights v Sheffield Eagles KO 15:00 -
3 hours ago, Tommygilf said:
It is interesting to look at Sky's "rugby" coverage.
From being the home of Super League and international RL matches, then pretty much all domestic RU in the Home Nations and France, the 2 European Cups, Domestic RU in the big 3 southern hemisphere nations and Super Rugby, Summer tours, Autumn internationals, Lions tours, indeed the only RU they didn't have was the Six Nations.
Now they have Super League, the occasional RL mid season international, and for RU its just South African Domestic Rugby, Super Rugby Pacific, and Lions Tours, I assume they still have the NZ Domestic comp but I could be wrong.
Its a really dramatic shift in content.
Yes since Comcast took over they seem to be shifiting to US sports more and more.
Like do we need a full channel dedicated to the NFL when they only show 4 games a week live. Makes no sense at all, and you seem to get to sjy sports action is mainly NBA -
15 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:
You going to crush it?
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2 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:
I'd love to see how you'd break that down category by category.
I was taking the ###### lol. I'm a london fan, and in serious talk I have us at about 8 or 9. I'd be very surprised if we made grade b, we are a nailed on cert for grade C.
However if Hughes had not thrown his toys out of the Pram after the CC semi final loss to Wigan, we could easily had been in the high B's but it was not to be, and now we will probably never be FT again, and give it 2 or 3 years Rosslyn Park will be our Home ground for teh 750 or so fans we have left-
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1 hour ago, StandOffHalf said:
Yeah, but RL should try to be better than soccer. A Home Nations comp in soccer would have more passion and fervour than a half-baked, limpid friendly against a visiting big boy.
I fully agree. But England soccer team would play France or Brazil instead of Scotland or NI given the chance.
I would love to see an Ashes, but the NRL and Aus are just really not interested in it. I full agree with your posts, its just that the NRL cannot see past SOO, and a 4 nations of Aus, NZ, Tonga and Samoa is pretty much an NRL only comp anyway as 95% of the players come from there
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13 hours ago, StandOffHalf said:
Bring back the Ashes! That is RL's big ticket internationally. Games at such venues as the Etihad, Headingley, Wembley, maybe Newcastle. Go big.
NZ, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, PNG should all be playing several games against one another every year mid-season.
A Euro Comp and other comps for the developing regions.
I realy don't know how many times I have said this
Aus see no value in playing Eng in RL. For there to be an ashes needs both parties at the table. Aus are not interested in playing England either home or away
Its like Scotland or NI saying lets bring back the football home nations, can you see England wanting to play scotland and NI every year, or rather play teams like France, Germany, Brazil, Arg etc
Aus have no interest in playing Eng.... They would much rather play SH....-
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New World Cup format confirmed for 2026
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted
As I said in another forum, I'll believe an Aus tour of england only when they are on the pitch for the first test, and the Ref has blown the whistle to start the game.
I do think NZ will probably tour however