Wendall Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 VERY sad news from London, where The Times have decided to get rid of the post of fulltime rugby league writer. The current Times league roundsman, Chris Irvine, sent me an emotional message the other night, pointing to News Limited's alleged commitment to rugby league as something of a contradiction. Chris will finish up after the Four Nations and in future, The Times will probably use agency copy and sent colour or general reporters to the big events like Wembley and Test matches. And so, another nail in the coffin of league's national profile in the UK. When Sam Burgess said recently "who knows what will happen to league in England?", this is the sort of thing he was talking about. STEVE MASCORD http://www.rleague.com/db/article.php?id=37316 Bad news for Chris and I wish him well. Enjoyed reading his blogs and stuff. But another blow for RL in that we dont have a RL writer at a national newspaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brooza Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 But another blow for RL in that we dont have a RL writer at a national newspaper. Andy Wilson at The Guardian Occasionally dabbles in cricket, but billed as "the Guardian's rugby league correspondent" http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/andywilson Check out upcoming international fixtures and highlights of past matches at http://rlfixtures.weebly.com St Albans Centurions International Liaison Officer and former Medway Dragons Wheelchair RL player.Leeds Rhinos, St Albans Centurions y Griffons Madrid fan. Also follow (to a lesser extent) Catalans Dragons, London Broncos, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Jacksonville Axemen, Vrchlabi Mad Squirrels, København Black Swans, Red Star Belgrade and North Hertfordshire Crusaders.Moderator of the International board Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistress_Marlowe Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 But another blow for RL in that we dont have a RL writer at a national newspaper. Dave Hadfield at The Independent. Is Julie Stott still at The Sun? A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal. ~ Oscar Wilde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendall Posted August 11, 2010 Author Share Posted August 11, 2010 I should have said a RL writer at the Times. Another one bites the dust!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brooza Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 To be honest though, I've not read anything of his since The Times went behind a paywall Check out upcoming international fixtures and highlights of past matches at http://rlfixtures.weebly.com St Albans Centurions International Liaison Officer and former Medway Dragons Wheelchair RL player.Leeds Rhinos, St Albans Centurions y Griffons Madrid fan. Also follow (to a lesser extent) Catalans Dragons, London Broncos, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Jacksonville Axemen, Vrchlabi Mad Squirrels, København Black Swans, Red Star Belgrade and North Hertfordshire Crusaders.Moderator of the International board Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exiled Wiganer Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 This isn't good, and it continues our ghettoisation, especially because the "colour" writers will of course be vichies and spout their g n t patronising nonsense (while in the same breath praising fringe Wigan player Ashton to the heavens). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deluded pom? Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 He can thank his sports editor's refusal to bring S Jones to book for his anti RL diatribe that turned plenty of people off the Times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckittoticker Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 Andy Wilson at The Guardian Occasionally dabbles in cricket, but billed as "the Guardian's rugby league correspondent" http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/andywilson Not sure he's a staff man rather than someone who supplies copy on basically a freelance basis. Thought he ran/worked for an agency which also employs Gareth Walker - another prominent Guardian byline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWAD Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 This isn't good, and it continues our ghettoisation, especially because the "colour" writers will of course be vichies and spout their g n t patronising nonsense (while in the same breath praising fringe Wigan player Ashton to the heavens). "Ghettoisation"?? "Vichies"?? Ffs . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMancunianCandidate Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 We should turn this on its head? Isn't the fact that the Times online is now behind a paywall causing this cut? By all accounts - none confirmed from News Corp - the users of timesonline have plummeted since the paywall was introduced and revenues are not nearly anywhere near where they want them to be. Trouble at 'mill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paley Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 Hardly surprising, The Times has no interest in covering rugby league although who will be their "northern rugby correspondent" when the union season is back on? Stephen Jones has been crowing quite a bit in the last couple of years about the decline of rugby coverage in the Times so no doubt he will be thrilled as he will get to lie about the game now with no chance of a comeback - not that there was ever much of one anyway - the traffic was all one way - remember when Chris mentioned the Vichy scandal and Jones filled his column with a series of lies to sooth his readers? Fortunately with the Times now behind a paywall Jones and his legion of Times union writers are an irrelevance. Join team TRL to help cure cancer http://vspx27.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py...e&teamnum=43780 Team number 43780 Team summary: http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/tea....php?s=&t=43780 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paley Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 We should turn this on its head? Isn't the fact that the Times online is now behind a paywall causing this cut? By all accounts - none confirmed from News Corp - the users of timesonline have plummeted since the paywall was introduced and revenues are not nearly anywhere near where they want them to be. Trouble at 'mill. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/0...81151921000.htm With The Times now deciding to not cover rugby league other than to send ######s such as Jones along to the Challenge Cup final so he can lie about it and Sky marginalising the sport as much as it is able the old argument about increased coverage after a move to summer is looking rather ridiculous. I feel sorry for Christopher Irvine but he must have known that there is no future in being a RL journalist on a national newspaper. Join team TRL to help cure cancer http://vspx27.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py...e&teamnum=43780 Team number 43780 Team summary: http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/tea....php?s=&t=43780 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trakl Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 Andy Wilson at The Guardian Occasionally dabbles in cricket, but billed as "the Guardian's rugby league correspondent" http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/andywilson He "occasionally dabbles" in club rugby union, presumably at the invitation of his Sports Editor, leaving nobody at his newspaper to report on the seismic Australia v NZ 4 Nations clash at the Stoop last time around. A curious turn of events for a "rugby league correspondent" The paper's vast army of rugby union journalists must have been hors de combat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trakl Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/0...81151921000.htm With The Times now deciding to not cover rugby league other than to send ######s such as Jones along to the Challenge Cup final so he can lie about it and Sky marginalising the sport as much as it is able the old argument about increased coverage after a move to summer is looking rather ridiculous. I feel sorry for Christopher Irvine but he must have known that there is no future in being a RL journalist on a national newspaper. I feel desperately sorry for Chris Irvine too. I enjoyed reading his blog which was witty, inventive and insightful - underpinned by an unapologetic passion for the game. It was too, at least in the early days, successful in terms of popularity by comparison with many of the Times' more established blogs on Establishment sports. The Times' "Rugby (sic) Correspondent" David Hands and the Sunday Times' "Rugby (sic) Correspondent" Stephen Jones - the latter has in the past boasted repeatedly about rugby league's negligible coverage - must be inconsolable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Futtocks Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 Shame. His RL blogs used to be good reading, especially the ones he posted during the last RWC. But, like most on here, I'm not paying any money to the company who employs the plastic Welshman Jones. Best of luck for the future, Chris! "We are easily breakable, by illness or falling, or a million other ways of leaving this earthly life. We are just so much mashed potato." Don Estelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Future is League Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 Hardly surprising, The Times has no interest in covering rugby league although who will be their "northern rugby correspondent" when the union season is back on? Stephen Jones has been crowing quite a bit in the last couple of years about the decline of rugby coverage in the Times so no doubt he will be thrilled as he will get to lie about the game now with no chance of a comeback - not that there was ever much of one anyway - the traffic was all one way - remember when Chris mentioned the Vichy scandal and Jones filled his column with a series of lies to sooth his readers? Fortunately with the Times now behind a paywall Jones and his legion of Times union writers are an irrelevance. surely with the times now behind a paywall jones lies will not reach the audience they was before. still on the subject of jones has anyone ever tried to sue him or the times for the lies he constantly tells? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Future is League Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 We should turn this on its head? Isn't the fact that the Times online is now behind a paywall causing this cut? By all accounts - none confirmed from News Corp - the users of timesonline have plummeted since the paywall was introduced and revenues are not nearly anywhere near where they want them to be. Trouble at 'mill. good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Future is League Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 Dave Hadfield at The Independent. Is Julie Stott still at The Sun? Martin Richard at the Express. Trevor Baxter at the Mirror. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindle xiii Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 Isn't this media dying anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Future is League Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 Isn't this media dying anyway? Possibly. is it any wonder when everyday you read the dross they print. most tabloids this week have been fillling their pages with the Peter Crouch story. i don't give a toss about Crouch and what he does, but the tabloids seem to think i and many others do. back on topic i think all of us Rugby League fans should only buy newspapers with a Rugby League correspodent. not many options to choose from, but i think we should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paley Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 (edited) Possibly. is it any wonder when everyday you read the dross they print. most tabloids this week have been fillling their pages with the Peter Crouch story. i don't give a toss about Crouch and what he does, but the tabloids seem to think i and many others do. back on topic i think all of us Rugby League fans should only buy newspapers with a Rugby League correspodent. not many options to choose from, but i think we should. The best method is to comment on articles and blogs by RL writers - so Dave Hadfields articles or the RL blogs in the Guardian. Unfortunately the Independent changes its comments system every month or so none of whoch I have ever been able to work out how to register with. I am banned from commenting on Guardian blogs because they don't like you pointing out on Shaun Edwards' pieces of fiction that Richard Branson is a billionaire and the muppet at Bath isn't. Edited August 11, 2010 by paley Join team TRL to help cure cancer http://vspx27.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py...e&teamnum=43780 Team number 43780 Team summary: http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/tea....php?s=&t=43780 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindle xiii Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 Possibly. is it any wonder when everyday you read the dross they print. most tabloids this week have been fillling their pages with the Peter Crouch story. i don't give a toss about Crouch and what he does, but the tabloids seem to think i and many others do. back on topic i think all of us Rugby League fans should only buy newspapers with a Rugby League correspodent. not many options to choose from, but i think we should. Without wanting to de-rail the thread/read a tabloid, what Peter Crouch story?! I read the Bradford Telegraph and Argus, that's it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Future is League Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 The best method is to comment on articles and blogs by RL writers - so Dave Hadfields articles or the RL blogs in the Guardian. Unfortunately the Independent changes its comments system every month or so none of whoch I have ever been able to work out how to register with. I am banned from commenting on Guardian blogs because they don't like you pointing out on Shaun Edwards' pieces of fiction that Richard Branson is a billionaire and the muppet at Bath isn't. doesn't it help when we click on Rugby League articles. isn't that what encouraged jones to continue to spew out his lies with people were clicking on his online articles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trakl Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 doesn't it help when we click on Rugby League articles. isn't that what encouraged jones to continue to spew out his lies with people were clicking on his online articles? Stephen Jones has been the Sunday Times' Rugby (sic) Correspondent for around 25 years and has gloried in damning rugby league and humiliating even its greatest players throughout this period. He won the prize - I kid you not! - for (William Hill?) Sports Book of the Year for his "masterpiece" "Endless Winter..." Read the sections on rugby league and weep. He's untouchable. Refusing on principle to click on his online articles would make no difference whatsoever to his status on the newspaper. Sports Editors have come and gone but Jones remains - inviolable, imperious in his shamelessness and cawing derisively, no doubt, upon Chris Irvine's demise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletproof Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 VERY sad news from London, where The Times have decided to get rid of the post of fulltime rugby league writer. The current Times league roundsman, Chris Irvine, sent me an emotional message the other night, pointing to News Limited's alleged commitment to rugby league as something of a contradiction. Chris will finish up after the Four Nations and in future, The Times will probably use agency copy and sent colour or general reporters to the big events like Wembley and Test matches. And so, another nail in the coffin of league's national profile in the UK. When Sam Burgess said recently "who knows what will happen to league in England?", this is the sort of thing he was talking about. STEVE MASCORD http://www.rleague.com/db/article.php?id=37316 Bad news for Chris and I wish him well. Enjoyed reading his blogs and stuff. But another blow for RL in that we dont have a RL writer at a national newspaper. What on earth does this have to do with Warrington, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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