lemmy xaan

The small-minded laziness of UK field-marking has always been my bug-bear. Even talking into account the weather and ground-sharing, and possibly even a UK antipathy amongst some people towards "Americanisation" of field, it beggar's belief that our administrators can't see how much you impress key audiences, sponsors, etc by setting out a proper field dressing. There was a brief period (Leeds v Wigan "Offiah" challenge cup final springs to mind) when there was a bit of effort in pitch marking, but not much. It can be done. When NFL use Wembley or Spurs, they dress the field with colour. Alas, we can't even be arsed to wash out the soccer lines. That Las Vegas field, as it rolled in from outside, looked amazing. DW the week before? - errr not quite....

Strong sweet pipe tobacco smell at the back of the South Stand at Headingley, late 60s. Strong sweet urine smell at the back of the main Odsal stand, late 60s.

Anyone remember Paris Saint-Germain V Sheffield Eagles?

Yes, but not if your IP address is non-UK. It only shows for UK viewers.

As someone who remembers the absolute contempt with which RL was treated, more of less until post-2000 and the digital era, this news is absolutely seismic. There were many low points, but Widnes v. Canberra was one such. It is now on YouTube and was a cracking match at OT. But when I got back home and watched it on TV, they showed the most cursory highlights-only on Sportsnight, the dour, unsophisticated commentary awful. They'd taken a wonderful match and British sporting victory, and just killed it. (YouTube has the full match and a proper Aussie commentary.) The incredible Wigan V Manly game was never aired on terrestrial. Remembering this and many other terrible low-points in the sport's media history, this is a dream. Things can always be bettered, but, with what we have endured a sport, we should be celebrating this day.

The bigger question for me is whether we will have a more professional attitude to the painting out of the soccer lines at shared grounds. So often, it's a disgrace how they've only made a lazy, token, cost-cutting effort and we have grid-frenzy with lines and circles everywhere. There should be more event-pride in doing a proper job. Where the reverse applies (painting out the rugby lines for soccer), the rugby lines miraculously disappear back to green.

At least this one was. But agree, not many.

I can remember certain league matches being shown (1970s?), such as the Leeds v Cas Boxing Day game when they'd get 18,000 range crowds. Leeds was a popular fall-back for games as they had the undersoil heating and I can recall going to freezing cold league games at Headingley that were on Grandstand. The infamous Leeds v Halifax match with the dog on the pitch (K9) was also, I feel, a league game (possibly the lowest point of morale ever reached in our game). I think it was in the 80s-90s when they decided to only screen cup, JP/Regal and internationals. If true, this will be the best ever television season for RL. We forget or are too young to remember how awful RL was once treated. All games (bar CC final) were 2nd half only, the commentary was incomprehensible, no summarisers, no other channel broadcasters, and there was absolutely no context discussion. Relatively speaking, we have it incredibly good at the mo.

Terry Price ("Spud") at Bradford Northern in c. 1967. With very little justification, he was my hero as a kid. His heart wasn't usually in it, but when he wanted to, he couldn't half kick a goal.

I watched the horrendous GB v Aus test at Wembley in 1973 on tv. GB won but 9800 fans meant an empty-looking stadium, terrible Eddie Waring commentary, and cut to guest of honour, Ted Heath, reading his programme bored out of his mind. 2nd test, 16,000; 3rd test, 10,000. Throughout the late 60s and early 70s, international attendances were paltry. Grandstand used to cover only the 2nd halves. It's a myth that things were better. They were grim beyond imagination.

I think they have played at least 2 union games here (one on 22-11-97), and I may be wrong, but the in-goal areas were slightly larger, suggesting the in-field was smaller. Maybe they made new sockets. The steep slope exacerbates the issue as players approaching at speed then actually accelerate into the boundary. I can see why there's no good alternative to OT - given the various circumstances of our game - but you could imagine that, in a modern, innovative alternative universe, they might invent some kind of safety net, padding, or whatever.

Les Dragons song..... Couldn't get it out of my head. Play to end, where he sings "Six again" to the beat.... Gold!

I suspect IMG are constrained more by vested club interests slowing decisions than by their own inadequacy - an example being how difficult it is proving to get clubs to dump the loop fixtures. IMG have a financial incentive to grow the sport, so my guess is that they will be pushing next year for some tangible progress - or resign through sheer frustration at the client. But they will know - it being blindingly obvious - that underselling of the big RL events is an issue.

This struck me as well. No one uses hard-to-read shouty capitals for all of the body-copy. Very much looks like an office trainee cooked it up.

Sadly, in the short term, it's managed decline, I think. Longer term, God help us.... Economically/managerially, best option would be for RU and RL to merge. But RU is too powerful worldwide to see much value in taking on RL, apart from gaining NRL, but why should the Aussies give up as they are too powerful locally? In any case, as in politics and society, what is best is rarely achievable because too many vested interests and individual beliefs get in the way. Would Wigan, Sts etc just roll over and sell out to RU? Would their fans take that? Of course not. So we'll just probably carry on for a bit with IMG trying to make it short-term profitable. Longer term, I think all sport will move to simulation (as WWE in US is heading) and eventually digital/virtual driven by AGI where audiences attend but watch non-real (but can't tell it's non-real). Not a pleasing future, but insurance/social attitudes/legislation will make real player participation impossible. Indeed, the deep state probs wants no one going out anyway. How's the working from home chaps? They can't take our (Test match) memories though. Or can they?......

I might be misremembering this, but I seem to think she was the pre-match entertainment before the London Broncos (Richard Branson, Edwards, Offiah days) v Leeds final at Wembley. The teams entered the field to her singing STB. (Or am I dreaming that....?)

Of all the things that show up the lack of professionalism/respect, it is the way the soccer pitch markings are not properly erased. Wigan DW today looks shocking with the soccer lines still very visible. This is sheer laziness or cost-cutting. It's not difficult to green them out. Just a bit of effort and someone asserting the RL demands. When the soccer is on, do we think the rugby lines will be sticking out like a sore thumb?

You have to admire the precision wording here.... "The tickets below have been invalidated... the below tickets are the valid tickets." Errr, which is it exactly? My tip is to take both sets. My prediction - lot of people sitting on each other's knees.

Judging by this, it seems like the duplication issue relates to hard copy tickets and/or early pre-22 orders.

I did too. I bought multiple seats for different games when the sale started 2 years ago - very expensive ones too. They all got duplicated - oddly at slightly different prices. I checked my credit card and it had not been double-charged. I thought it might just be on the web-site, but they sent me hard copies of them in the post. In the interests of honesty, I have not tried to sell on the duplicates. Is this some kind of computing error and/or accounting scam, I wonder.

Phil Gould - your boys took a helluva beatin' !

In 1970, they announced the World Cup Final would be all-ticket at Headingley. I sent off for my schoolboy ticket and must have been the first person to bother (and probably the only one) because it was number 00001. The crowd was only 19,000. GB lost to Aus. A dirty, brutal match, head-high tackles, random off-ball punch-ups, Fred Lindop lost control, Billy Smith and Syd Hynes sent off, and after the final whistle John Atkinson head-butted someone sparking a 26-player brawl with police running onto the pitch trying to separate players. Fighting went on for ages. All on BBC with Eddie W gabbling about it all. Sunday papers and Look North called for league to be banned as a sport. Truly awful times for any league fan – and there have been many down the years. But as Solomon says, any moment passes. And today, by comparison (including professional, respectful TV), what a wonder Newcastle and this WC will be. Enjoy the weeks ahead.