[Boxing day fixtures]

2 hours ago, Damien said:

Yeah most clubs went down the money grabbing route initially and kept kept them going with the switch. Most also stopped them rather quickly because they aren't a good idea.

I think those that stopped them did so because they weren't particularly lucrative for them. At other clubs they are and hence they remain.

[Boxing day fixtures]

5 minutes ago, Griff said:

Massive lack of respect for the players.

These Boxing Day matches need to be stamped out.

Disrespectful why...? Senior players get paid decent money and asking them to play a game in the middle of pre-season is hardly disrespectful. For the more junior players who get picked in these games it's a massive opportunity and they would be thrilled to be picked.

[Boxing day fixtures]

If Blake Austin was surprised that Leeds had a game on Boxing Day then he can only really blame his (lack of) own due diligence. Although I imagine it would  have been a quickly forgotten concern if he'd been offered a new contract.

[Christmas is nearly here]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

Wigan’s is far worse https://store.wiganwarriors.com/christmas/christmas/jumpers/1318_santa-jumper.html

Seriously lacking in imagination that one.

[Trinity owner has big plans]

5 minutes ago, Eddie said:

You don’t think he’s serious? He’s spent millions of pounds of his own money and turned his local team into winners. He also does a lot of great charity work. 

Personally I find owners who don't grandstand and proclaim how great they are to be somewhat preferable, especially if that owner has a history of dubious behaviour. Let the players and coaches do the talking.

[Trinity owner has big plans]

38 minutes ago, Coco said:

I am amazed with some of the negativity towards Beaumont.  It's absolutely brilliant what he has done for Leigh and Super League.  I am hoping Ellis does the same for Wakefield and they win the Challenge Cup.  Beaumont has shown the way.  The amount of national press Leigh has received is all because of Beaumont and the team he has assembled.

This is a thread for Wakey not another one about Leigh but it's one year of good(ish) stuff after years of negativity. He needs a fair amount more on the credit side of the ledger for me at least to offset the stuff he's done in the past.

[Trinity owner has big plans]

7 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Creates a buzz around the club, gets them promoted, wins the cup and reaches the SL play offs

Do you mean walk out and not pay the players?

I hope and expect the new Wakey owner will be more serious than Beaumont.

[V`landys in the White House (Merged Threads)]

59 minutes ago, DI Keith Fowler said:

I can't find another photo of V'landys wearing a suit that ostentatious. Why would he decide to wear it for the first time on meeting the US President? He looks like a magician. 

This is more the vibe I'm getting.

[England v Tonga series]

 

1 hour ago, Derwent said:

17 hours ago, Derwent said:

Absolutely. Especially when you hear that Tom Burgess and the other NRL players had to pay for their own flights over as the RFL couldn’t afford it.

  

15 hours ago, M j M said:

This is untrue.

Not according to Tom Burgess who says he is actually out of pocket for playing in this series. Re the flights he said every other time he has played for England the RFL have paid for business class flights for the players but this time they were told the RFL would only pay economy. Burgess and others paid for business class themselves and the RFL reimbursed them the equivalent of an economy flight fare.

I made no comment on whether it was appropriate or not that the RFL didn't pay for business class.

But your claim that they just made the players pay for their own flights is clearly not the case.

[England v Tonga series]

1 hour ago, Derwent said:

Absolutely. Especially when you hear that Tom Burgess and the other NRL players had to pay for their own flights over as the RFL couldn’t afford it.

This is untrue.

[The 2024 Kit Thread]

2 hours ago, Damien said:

Well that's one way to ruin a Saints kit.

It doesn't quite work does it. The collar is nasty. I prefer the shallower V to the bad deep V they used this year but it's ben obliterated by the sponsors logo.

[V`landys in the White House (Merged Threads)]

Nice of Albo and Biden to spend time talking to the wine waiter.

[Sat 4th Nov: Third Test: England v Tonga KO 2.30pm @ Headingley (BBC One)]

In mascot news the support team have just performed urgent surgery on the half-bee, half-Frank Sidebottom that appears to be the England mascot.

His tail had fallen off  Will it be a metaphor?

[Sat 4th Nov: Third Test: England v Tonga KO 2.30pm @ Headingley (BBC One)]

Pay on the day available for the Western Terrace via the ticket office on St Michael's Lane.

 

[The 2024 Kit Thread]

1 hour ago, Chrispmartha said:

 

Meh.

[Headingley]

It depends how much interest Ashley takes of the shared operation or if he just lets Yorkshire carry on operating it as tenants.

With his arrival if I were Leeds I'd have done some checks to ensure the legal agreements concerning access and revenues around the shared bits are as robust as they should be. Either party could cause major headaches for the other if they really put their minds to it.

 

['Gen Z' Engagement...]

4 hours ago, Ackroman said:

A bunch of iPhone warriors who think coffee is the caffeine equivalent of craft beer?

They're priorities are all consuming and self centred while living at home with mum and dad. That's why hey have money.

Are you watching big brother ATM?

You're joking right? Real people don't really believe these tabloid stereotypes do they?

['Gen Z' Engagement...]

1 hour ago, 17 stone giant said:

I downloaded it. It seems as though the definition of engagement is:

anyone who has watched/followed, participated or attended that sport within the last 12 months

Rugby League potentially benefitting from the World Cup in those figures.

[England v Tonga series]

Less than 30 still left on the Eastern Terrace for Saturday.

Anyone buying after they're gone the only tickets left are for the Western Terrace. And rain is forecast for the duration of the game.

[Weird memories of games.]

4 hours ago, Whippet13 said:

I was a student living in Huddersfield at the time and decided to attend this game as a neutral since it was tipped to be a classic. Obviously it wasnt at 4-24 but all I recall of the game itself is a Widnes fan who used to go to their away games and wave a skull and cross-bones pirate flag, plus Phil Ford chasing down and catching Martin Offiah from a clean break.

You can see that flag on the far left on that Offiah video at around 1:46.

[England v Tonga series]

29 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

The western terrace can look pretty full even if its only half full, there's nothing you can do about corporate seats, even if sold some won't even go to the seats. In reality I don't think you will see a mass of empty seats there.

It's hard to say on the corporate. I've not heard anything about Leeds making offers to their regular customers but hopefully it's happened. If the RFL have really gone it alone they're leaving tens of thousands of pounds on the table.

[The IMG Gradings Thread - Post all your IMG Gradings related questions or comments here]

7 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Then it isn't the best job possible and they aren't going to be good enough to add to Super League at that time. Try harder.

Have you actually tried to calculate the figures? 

This wilful ignorance of how this will work in reality and how it will affect the health of clubs and the sport would be breathtaking if it wasn't so unsurprising. And fans of clubs who struck lucky can complacently sit back and enjoy the fruits of them being in the right place at the right time.

[The IMG Gradings Thread - Post all your IMG Gradings related questions or comments here]

8 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Well without seeing their current points and how they got them its difficult tell but

Attendances

Digital

Performances

Community

I'm not talking about them making it by 2025, in fact that's my whole point it might take 3+ years or more

It's a vicious circle. With the best will in the world it's almost impossible to grow some of these things over the levels required in the Championship. Attendances, tv viewing figures, social media are inherently lower in the Championship and willing them to be larger is not going to change that reality.

York could do the best job possible and not get the scores required. 

[The IMG Gradings Thread - Post all your IMG Gradings related questions or comments here]

1 minute ago, Chrispmartha said:

Just to clarify I don't think there will be much movement either but my point was that clubs aren't frozen out, and we don't know what will happen, look at a club like York, now they know they are a few years off SL standard but they could be one of the clubs that can grow and keep on pushing their grades up, they are doing great foundation work and are the champions in the women's game, which is growing year on year, if they can push on and being successful on the field is a big part of that then they could get above some of the higher grade B teams.

Can you explain how it would be possible for York to assemble enough points to get there? By my reading of the criteria it's pretty much impossible for them. 

[The IMG Gradings Thread - Post all your IMG Gradings related questions or comments here]

Some of the arguments for this system are a bit facile tbh, I'm not seeing much pervasive argument for how we get from A to B under it more just people pointing out the sport's current weaknesses.

It's possible to think things weren't going particularly well and that the grading system as devised and implemented by IMG is wrong and in fact dangerous to the sport's health.