League express

[DMS]

Bought my LE as usual this week and cosidering i'm not that interested in all things RL i read it from cover to cover. I read the article titled "Wildcats move towards stadium start" and came across this gobblygook, can anyone interpret for me "In the meantime we have been talking to partners and groups to put together and extend to concept of a sporting village" and also "Part of funding proposal comes from developers. Grant applications are FIRMING up". Now with licences coming up i know Ted wants to impress SL but does it actually mean anything.

On a general note, i've bought LE since it first appeared and find i'm getting more and more ticked off with it. For a championship supporter i don't think it represents value for money. Stats for our divisions very rarely appear in it. The coverage we get appears to be shrinking. Stevo and Sadler appear to not realise we exist. Club of the week went to Saints for drubbing a rubbish Hull KR when even it should obviously have gone to Crusaders or us.

Our divisions now get a page each and a match report, that's it. Amateur rugby does better as does SL U21s. Then we have two pages of letters which are full of one set of supporters having a go at another set.

I'm not gonna buy it for a month and see if i miss it. Anyway Stuarts match report is good enough for me and the snippet of news about FEV is usually a week old and we all know it by then.

[PJT]

Used to get it every week until about 18 months ago but like you got fed up of the Super League coverage and didn't think it was worth

[LOWFIELD]

Bought my LE as usual this week and cosidering i'm not that interested in all things RL i read it from cover to cover. I read the article titled "Wildcats move towards stadium start" and came across this gobblygook, can anyone interpret for me "In the meantime we have been talking to partners and groups to put together and extend to concept of a sporting village" and also "Part of funding proposal comes from developers. Grant applications are FIRMING up". Now with licences coming up i know Ted wants to impress SL but does it actually mean anything.

On a general note, i've bought LE since it first appeared and find i'm getting more and more ticked off with it. For a championship supporter i don't think it represents value for money. Stats for our divisions very rarely appear in it. The coverage we get appears to be shrinking. Stevo and Sadler appear to not realise we exist. Club of the week went to Saints for drubbing a rubbish Hull KR when even it should obviously have gone to Crusaders or us.

Our divisions now get a page each and a match report, that's it. Amateur rugby does better as does SL U21s. Then we have two pages of letters which are full of one set of supporters having a go at another set.

I'm not gonna buy it for a month and see if i miss it. Anyway Stuarts match report is good enough for me and the snippet of news about FEV is usually a week old and we all know it by then.

I only buy it for something to read when im on nights m8, 3/4 of it is all about super league clubs and the League weekly isnt much better with the utter ###### Ray French comes out with. The best thing about the express is the amateur section with Phil Hodgson, good bloke is Phil and if you have been reading his column he is well jacked off with the RFL at the min. They are trying there best to get the whole amateur game to switch to the summer just to justify the 29 million or so they recieved from sport England to improve participation. Phil Hodgson says they are having seminars and hand picking who they invite people they know want to play in summer, they even had Tony Smith doing a speach all in favour at 1 of the seminars. They also keep putting press release out saying the majority of clubs and players are behind the switch. But Phil and some others including BARLA chairman Spen Allison have sounded out clubs and all or nearly all are adamant they will stay as a winter game. Those despicable men are trying to press gang amateur clubs into a whole sale switch to summer but they wont get there way this time too many influencial people to stand up to them

[Robin Evans]

i've always found it's overall coverage disproportionately tilted towards super league. Unless there's a valid fev reason for buying it i tend not to bother. It's become a little too disappointing for my enjoyment these last few years.

As dms says, news re fev tends to be known before it hits the press anyway and altho i did enjoy the reading all the match reports in the express, my insular attitude and ambivalence to super league puts the publication up there with all the same attraction as "cork producers monthly"!

[Martyn Sadler]

Bought my LE as usual this week and cosidering i'm not that interested in all things RL i read it from cover to cover. I read the article titled "Wildcats move towards stadium start" and came across this gobblygook, can anyone interpret for me "In the meantime we have been talking to partners and groups to put together and extend to concept of a sporting village" and also "Part of funding proposal comes from developers. Grant applications are FIRMING up". Now with licences coming up i know Ted wants to impress SL but does it actually mean anything.

On a general note, i've bought LE since it first appeared and find i'm getting more and more ticked off with it. For a championship supporter i don't think it represents value for money. Stats for our divisions very rarely appear in it. The coverage we get appears to be shrinking. Stevo and Sadler appear to not realise we exist. Club of the week went to Saints for drubbing a rubbish Hull KR when even it should obviously have gone to Crusaders or us.

Our divisions now get a page each and a match report, that's it. Amateur rugby does better as does SL U21s. Then we have two pages of letters which are full of one set of supporters having a go at another set.

I'm not gonna buy it for a month and see if i miss it. Anyway Stuarts match report is good enough for me and the snippet of news about FEV is usually a week old and we all know it by then.

Thanks for all your purchases over the years, and for making some interesting points about League Express.

As you identified, there was a typing error in the piece about Wakefield's proposed stadium - it should have read "the concept" rather than "to concept". Whether Wakefield's proposals mean anything, we will have to wait and see.

On the subject of stats for the Championship, I take your point. In our defence, Sunday's are hard work putting a tremendous amount of information together, and we have only recently started putting the Super League scorers into LE on a weekly basis. I would like to do the same for the Championship, but because most games are played on Sundays it is harder to put the info together. Nonetheless we do intend to start doing it.

Club of the Week this week took some thinking about, and, believe it or not, we had given it to Featherstone until St Helens' sparkling performance against Hull KR on Sunday night, which we thought deserved some recognition.

Your criticism of me for not writing about the Championship very often is probably quite fair, and I shall take careful note of it.

In terms of news generally, major stories involving Championship clubs usually appear on page 2 of League Express, but more general news appears on pages 10 and 11. I think it's fair to say that much news for your own club will already be in the public domain via the Internet, but one of the main functions of our news pages is to allow you to catch up with what is happening at every club in one source, so that you have some idea about what is happening at every other club in your competition.

As for the Mailbag, we can only print the letters we receive, although in defence of our readers, I think there are generally some very constructive views put forward, even those coming from one set of supporters that are critical of Mailbag supporters of other teams.

[Ricardo Taylor]

i've always found it's overall coverage disproportionately tilted towards super league. Unless there's a valid fev reason for buying it i tend not to bother. It's become a little too disappointing for my enjoyment these last few years.

As dms says, news re fev tends to be known before it hits the press anyway and altho i did enjoy the reading all the match reports in the express, my insular attitude and ambivalence to super league puts the publication up there with all the same attraction as "cork producers monthly"!

There are allegdley some 60,000 to 70,000 fans of the greatest game. The vast majarity of them support the SL clubs. If the league papers were to be biased towards the minority, the majority would not bother with the publication.

If it is not FEV i am not really interested, whatever league we are in, when we get in Super League perhaps, just perhaps we might be given an even playing field, just like Batley's with fev playing towards the stand.

Edited May 4, 2010 by Ricardo Taylor

[rover n out]

i only read certain parts of it.....like our match report,news and maybe one or two other things......i then put it back on the stand in morrisons!!

[FEV-KT87]

Thanks for all your purchases over the years, and for making some interesting points about League Express.

As you identified, there was a typing error in the piece about Wakefield's proposed stadium - it should have read "the concept" rather than "to concept". Whether Wakefield's proposals mean anything, we will have to wait and see.

On the subject of stats for the Championship, I take your point. In our defence, Sunday's are hard work putting a tremendous amount of information together, and we have only recently started putting the Super League scorers into LE on a weekly basis. I would like to do the same for the Championship, but because most games are played on Sundays it is harder to put the info together. Nonetheless we do intend to start doing it.

Club of the Week this week took some thinking about, and, believe it or not, we had given it to Featherstone until St Helens' sparkling performance against Hull KR on Sunday night, which we thought deserved some recognition.

Your criticism of me for not writing about the Championship very often is probably quite fair, and I shall take careful note of it.

In terms of news generally, major stories involving Championship clubs usually appear on page 2 of League Express, but more general news appears on pages 10 and 11. I think it's fair to say that much news for your own club will already be in the public domain via the Internet, but one of the main functions of our news pages is to allow you to catch up with what is happening at every club in one source, so that you have some idea about what is happening at every other club in your competition.

As for the Mailbag, we can only print the letters we receive, although in defence of our readers, I think there are generally some very constructive views put forward, even those coming from one set of supporters that are critical of Mailbag supporters of other teams.

THANK YOU, for a reply Martyn nice to see somone in the RL< press bothering to talk to us Championship fans.

can i just ask one question..... would it be possible to have somthing similar to the alfred Goldthorpe medal in the championships, if not why? thanks again

[Martyn Sadler]

THANK YOU, for a reply Martyn nice to see somone in the RL< press bothering to talk to us Championship fans.

can i just ask one question..... would it be possible to have somthing similar to the alfred Goldthorpe medal in the championships, if not why? thanks again

That's an interesting point, and one we have considered.

Putting something together like the Goldthorpe Medal is an expensive thing to do for a small company like ours, if we are going to do it properly and give it the status it deserves. But it is certainly in the 'to do' category.

[Robin Evans]

There are allegdley some 60,000 to 70,000 fans of the greatest game. The vast majarity of them support the SL clubs. If the league papers were to be biased towards the minority, the majority would not bother with the publication.

If it is not FEV i am not really interested, whatever league we are in, when we get in Super League perhaps, just perhaps we might be given an even playing field, just like Batley's with fev playing towards the stand.

I realise that Richard and SL will attract the Lions share of it's coverage. It just feels disproportionately stacked in SL's favour. It may well not be, and I'm sure the column inches can be measure to illustrate the point. But, in a world where SL dominates our game, a comp which I have little interest, it appears to become increasingly difficult for the championship to get represented adequately in the press.

These are only my thoughts and of course, as usual, my oneeyedness regarding the RL at the moment may well be effecting my judgement.

Nonetheless, for the life of me, I can't see anyone from the management team of the express newspapers, Newscorp or Murdoch daily cak replying to criticism on a message form! At least we got some feedback. Amazing and appreciated.

[Mick H]

Evidently were not as invisible and insignificant as some may think! Thank you for your input Martyn.

I still buy the League Express, usually for the Championship and Amateur coverage and it keeps me intouch with whats going on in the game right accross the board.

[FEV-KT87]

Evidently were not as invisible and insignificant as some may think! Thank you for your input Martyn.

I still buy the League Express, usually for the Championship and Amateur coverage and it keeps me intouch with whats going on in the game right accross the board.

honestly i dont buy the LE as much as i used to do i normaly pinch my grans when shes done with it haha

and thanks alot for the answer Martyn

[FEV-KT87]

Evidently were not as invisible and insignificant as some may think! Thank you for your input Martyn.

I still buy the League Express, usually for the Championship and Amateur coverage and it keeps me intouch with whats going on in the game right accross the board.

honestly i dont buy the LE as much as i used to do i normaly pinch my grans when shes done with it haha

and thanks alot for the answer Martyn

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

I stopped buying any of the league papers years ago when they devoted more space to Leroy Revett pranging his hire car than to Dewsbury winning the NFP.

I don't think their attitude to the lower leagues has changed one iota since then.

[DMS]

Thanks for all your purchases over the years, and for making some interesting points about League Express.

As you identified, there was a typing error in the piece about Wakefield's proposed stadium - it should have read "the concept" rather than "to concept". Whether Wakefield's proposals mean anything, we will have to wait and see.

On the subject of stats for the Championship, I take your point. In our defence, Sunday's are hard work putting a tremendous amount of information together, and we have only recently started putting the Super League scorers into LE on a weekly basis. I would like to do the same for the Championship, but because most games are played on Sundays it is harder to put the info together. Nonetheless we do intend to start doing it.

Club of the Week this week took some thinking about, and, believe it or not, we had given it to Featherstone until St Helens' sparkling performance against Hull KR on Sunday night, which we thought deserved some recognition.

Your criticism of me for not writing about the Championship very often is probably quite fair, and I shall take careful note of it.

In terms of news generally, major stories involving Championship clubs usually appear on page 2 of League Express, but more general news appears on pages 10 and 11. I think it's fair to say that much news for your own club will already be in the public domain via the Internet, but one of the main functions of our news pages is to allow you to catch up with what is happening at every club in one source, so that you have some idea about what is happening at every other club in your competition.

As for the Mailbag, we can only print the letters we receive, although in defence of our readers, I think there are generally some very constructive views put forward, even those coming from one set of supporters that are critical of Mailbag supporters of other teams.

Many thanks for your reply Martyn, i wasn't expecting one. I do realise that the majority of your readers are SL followers of which i have no interest. But i do agree with R Evans that the coverage seems loaded in favour of SL. The club of the week award was i think a major mistake and smacked of lets look after our elite. For me Crusaders were the team of the week followed very closely by us. Beating a poor team by such a massive score is not close to nilling a team you weren't even expected to beat.

I will admit to being a bit one-eyed in regard that since the abolition of P + R i have taken no part in things RL outside of FEV. I no longer care how GB or England do. SL is of no interest to me and many Championship supporters. The iniquities in our sport are just too damaging. Just take a look at the continuing struggles of a majority of our part-time clubs. This has nothing to do with expansion because i believe in sustained expansion but not the way RL go about it.

I would like to say that LE gives good coverage of the amateur game which is the bed rock of our sport.

The letters pages are a real pain for me because it just seems like saints/wigan fans or bradford/leeds fans slagging each others clubs but as you say if that's all you get that's all you can print, seems a bit sad to me.

As for not buying LE for a month most of my mates will tell you that'll never happen, i'd be too scared i missed something. I'll still be at Dransfields next Monday for me fix. It's become too much of an habit.

Finally even with the corrected statement Ted still sounds like the old song "busy doing nothing lasting the whole day long" I sincerely hope RL see through this and throw them out of SL. They have had enough chances.

[elppaxr2i]

Personally i thought Blackpool deserved the team of the week, never mind us saints, or crusaders

Coming from behind to beat south wales and playing with 12 men at 3 different intervals, due to 3 sin binnings preserving their undefeated run deserves more credit than any of the teams mentioned in my eyes

I dont get the LE much but may be tempted to purchase in the future if the propsals mentioned by Martyn Sadler are slowly implemented

Edited May 4, 2010 by elppaxr2i

[lorne mosley.]

how many times has mr. sadler posted on here before ? do you really think he scours the boards looking to reply ? my @rse he does, it's a damage limitation reply, just lets see how may points we made he acts upon

But there's still no chance of me buying it so can someone let me know

[Phil Loxton]

I buy both these two newspapers and read about the championship clubs. Super League clubs, England and the Australian scene bores the pants off me. Stevo doesn,t even know that the championship exists. Millward has a column in LEAGUE WEEKLY but never mentions the championship let alone his own club Leigh. Front cover very rarely gives credence to championship shocks unless its involving the challenge cup. But to be fair minded if it wasn't for these two newspapers where else apart from the internet can people read about Rugby League. THE OLD RUGBY LEAGUER was much more well balanced often giving headlines to the main stories whether it be a top club or a more unfashionable one. To be honest I thought like others that Crusaders, Blackpool or Featherstone were more worthy of team of the week. It is commonplace now for clubs like St Helens to notch up big scores against lowly opposition.The reason that such as the Murrayfield magic weekend lacks support is because championship fans now feel alienated from the game. Its as though SL is a separate sport altogether.

[Martyn Sadler]

how many times has mr. sadler posted on here before ? do you really think he scours the boards looking to reply ? my @rse he does, it's a damage limitation reply, just lets see how may points we made he acts upon

But there's still no chance of me buying it so can someone let me know

Lorne, you're a hard man to please, but I'll let you know myself.

[Martyn Sadler]

I buy both these two newspapers and read about the championship clubs. Super League clubs, England and the Australian scene bores the pants off me. Stevo doesn,t even know that the championship exists. Millward has a column in LEAGUE WEEKLY but never mentions the championship let alone his own club Leigh. Front cover very rarely gives credence to championship shocks unless its involving the challenge cup. But to be fair minded if it wasn't for these two newspapers where else apart from the internet can people read about Rugby League. THE OLD RUGBY LEAGUER was much more well balanced often giving headlines to the main stories whether it be a top club or a more unfashionable one. To be honest I thought like others that Crusaders, Blackpool or Featherstone were more worthy of team of the week. It is commonplace now for clubs like St Helens to notch up big scores against lowly opposition.The reason that such as the Murrayfield magic weekend lacks support is because championship fans now feel alienated from the game. Its as though SL is a separate sport altogether.

The trouble is, Phil, that we have to provide a newspaper that covers as many part fo the game as possible to cater for those people who are interested not just in the Championship, but also the rest of the game, in whatever form it comes. It's a balancing act, and it's difficult to be sure that we are getting it right, so threads like this are very useful to us and I would be crazy not to take note of them, even if I can't satisfy everyone.

[tms]

Bought my LE as usual this week and cosidering i'm not that interested in all things RL i read it from cover to cover. I read the article titled "Wildcats move towards stadium start"

Intersting DMS because in Nosey Parkers column in league weekly info from magic weekend c*s and wakey to share stadium at escape with the help of wmdc

[DMS]

Personally i thought Blackpool deserved the team of the week, never mind us saints, or crusaders

Coming from behind to beat south wales and playing with 12 men at 3 different intervals, due to 3 sin binnings preserving their undefeated run deserves more credit than any of the teams mentioned in my eyes

I dont get the LE much but may be tempted to purchase in the future if the propsals mentioned by Martyn Sadler are slowly implemented

Yeh it was a good result by Blackpool but i thought a team that not only beats but nils a team they weren't even expected to beat deserve team of the week.

[Phil Loxton]

The trouble is, Phil, that we have to provide a newspaper that covers as many part fo the game as possible to cater for those people who are interested not just in the Championship, but also the rest of the game, in whatever form it comes. It's a balancing act, and it's difficult to be sure that we are getting it right, so threads like this are very useful to us and I would be crazy not to take note of them, even if I can't satisfy everyone.

Thanks for your reply Martyn and I fully respect that you have to cover all aspects of the sport. But I get the feeling that we are trying to sell what is already sold and that is Super League when in fact we should be trying harder with the leagues below. What would be so wrong with a cover headline shouting....EIGHT IN A ROW FOR FEV...or BLACKPOOL DEFY ODDS TO GO TOP. just something to capture the imagination. The old Rugby Leaguer never used to differentiate between the leagues. Those at Red Hall are alienating the championship supporters and its easy for the press to follow suit. I will continue to buy the two newspapers, apart from the internet its the only way to get your rugby league fix and your reporters do an excellent job though it does need a shift towards the lower leagues.