lemmy xaan

Least fave - Anfield. They really have no interest in us.

Best experience was Millennium Stadium with a full house and the roof closed. Leeds v Bradford in cup final - can't remember the date. I also have fond memories of Odsal (yes, I know!). The 1978 2nd test (Peter Fox) v Australia with 28k remains a wonderful memory for me. But for sheer romance, I spent many a happy childhood day in the late 60s at Headingley. With its undersoil heating, it was often the only game taking place in the snow. The smell of pipe tobacco in the South Stand, that bloke who used to wander around shouting "Ruuuugby Leeeeger....", Eddie Waring climbing up the steel ladder; The green buses home. Those weird tree-like knobbly posts. I used to trade programmes with the other kids, and it allowed me to see programmes from Lancashire places that seemed so far away and so incredibly exotic. I went to the floodlit game between Leeds and Saints there in the early 70s when the BBC used their own floodlights because normal floodlights were banned in the Heath energy crisis. And the World Cup final with the players fighting after the whistle with police trying to separate them! Tough, happy days.

another vote for Balmain

I'm always surprised at how weak the "Aussie ex-pat" audience can be, and how often you can meet an Aussie and they have no knowledge of what's going on in RL. Case in point, I was talking to someone from Melbourne who had been at the AFL breakfast in Soho a few months back and they didn't even know that Storm were in the Grand Final. Maybe that's just the random Aussies that I've met. Judging by the people I've met at London RL internationals in the past, I think the casual RU audience and soccer fans who like any England sport are more likely to make up the crowd.

I have this photo on my office wall. I've always wondered why all the seats in the shale-end of the paddock in front of the long stand were kept unoccupied that day. Anyone know?

I remember GB winning at Wembley in Oct 1990, with a 50k+ crowd. I think that was the first time in the modern era since Odsal '78 when we won a test at home. The day after, Old Trafford (2nd test) had a massive surge and sold out all at once. The psychology of ticket purchases, especially amongst the RL "passive" audience, is a strange phenomenon. But like any event, you just have to have something that triggers the cultural spark and a ground will surge-sell. It's quite possible to see a near 100k stadium sell out for an event in a very short period of time (NFL, Taylor Swift...). Something that we in RL very rarely manage. Yet sometime do.... We often talk about "marketing" or "the event" - which I support. But there is a cultural trigger at play that means that occasionally, we get a surge. And that is, I wonder, what's happening here. Why it's happening here is the question. I'm guessing Everton will surge now. Then, what will be interesting is whether and why Wembley will surge - or will remain guest to Mr Alternate Row and Mr Grey Upper Deck.

Te Maire Martin from Warriors latest speculation

this is a glitch in the system. If you want to use a code for more than one venue, put the tickets from all venues in the basket first and then pay; otherwise, after one venue paid, you're locked out.

So here's where we are: The biggest UK RL events tend to be played sometimes with very subtle branding and the soccer lines just visible in washed out green. At the other end of the spectrum (Sorry, Huddersfield), the bog-standard to worst case RL game is played with RL markings at bare minimum and soccer line still in near-full white. We NEVER have a pitch dressed as might be classed as ideal (basic NRL, Allegiant, etc). The argument is one or all of these: - Ground owners won't allow it. - Too expensive. - Doesn't matter (English audience doesn't care) - No staff to do it. - Easier to do it digitally (TV viewers see a brand but it's not painted) - Never thought about it Meanwhile, I note: - Peter V'ylandis was obsessing about the markings in Vegas (and he has no time to waste). NRL really care about this stuff (we don't). (Fair, the Allegiant has a whole team of full-time grass-painters). - Why does RL final at Wembley not match the level of the NFL there? - Even if we can't paint the grass, why can't we just power wash the soccer off? - Why can't we even get basis RL markings consistent? - In the late 80s, 90s, Wembley was painted properly. It can be done. We moan and groan about RL Super League being so far behind. But we have it in our own hands to make things happen that would reflect a proper professional outlook. And it's not always just about lack of funds or not having permission. Imagine this year you enter Wembley (final or test) and it's marked out as professionally as the NFL with no soccer lines in sight, coloured in goals, numbered lines, etc. Would the positive benefit on the audience be worth the expense (financial, practical, emotional) that somebody at RFL had decided to expend on making that happen? Or let's not bother. Just watch the game and be quiet.

I don't understand. The Allegiant Stadium doesn't have any conspicuous white soccer lines drawn all over the field. And there are proper rugby league markings everywhere. Bit like proper rugby league grounds like Huddersfield, Hull, Wigan.... Oh hang on a minute.... Here's a fun game. Let's imagine what Vegas would have been like had Super League been running the event....

Indeed it does, but it seems to think that Northern were building team from scratch after bankruptcy, which did happen, but that was 5 years earlier.

The new US White House press secretary is Leeto's mum

So - I use ChatGPT quite a lot and it's rare that it doesn't know something. Quantum mechanics, writing Latin, whatever... However, I asked it when Neil Fox signed for Bradford Northern and it could only say sometime in 1969. So I asked it when Northern played Dewsbury at Odsal that season, as I remember that was his first game. It got that - 23 Aug 1969, score 35-12. So I told it that he must have signed the week before. It said Thank You for the information. It will be interesting to see if it remembers that. Always glad to teach the old AI something.

have they forgotten to mark out the pitch?

I followed Bradford from 66-90s but then lost interest after Bullmania faded. Got disillusioned with a lot of the game, but always loved international. As I live in the South, followed Broncos/HarleQ, but again, got disillusioned by poor ambition. Liked Catalans from afar. Brought my kids up to love RL and always took a gang to Wembley, etc. Then, when Leopards came up, it rekindled my interest - something new and unusual and aspirational. Wembley capped it. Now a massif (sic) Leigh fan. Love all they do. There's a lesson in there.