If players played for their nearest hometown club

[Steve Slater]

If it applied to place of birth then Pontefract should have a club, though some argue they've got two, Cas & Fev. The maternity hospital serves the best area for Rugby League talent.

[The Cube]

With 400 miles travelling this weekend, I've had some time to think about this topic. So I have written a futuristic short story, which means that it will be too long for most people to read. I can see that ullman had some of the same ideas.

 

As we approach the 200th anniversary of rugby league, I thought it time to look back at the period where everything started to go right. Many historians have written that the rise and rise of the sport started with the surprise resignation of Supreme Commander Nigel Wood (who left rugby league in order to run a different sport that no longer exists).

But I think the really significant advance came about with the 2019 eligibility change. It was ground-breaking when the RFL announced that from now on players were only able to play for the club nearest their place of birth.

There were some immediate casualties - Wakefield’s proposed ground-share whilst they rebuilt Belle Vue had to be called off, as they would cease to have any players. And of course that meant the rebuilding couldn’t happen, which is why Belle Vue still stands, looking exactly the same as it did in those far-off days.

With Brexit on the horizon, Catalan Dragons were also dumped out of Super League. As the Foreign Secretary put it in during one of his more diplomatic phases, “Froggie not welcome here“.

In the first couple of years after the change Wigan and Leeds dominated, until the arrival of the Dover Roos. Their back-to-back Grand Final wins prompted a final eligibility change, as the game was now restricted to players born in the UK. “Bloody convicts - we don’t want them back”, said the recently elevated Prime Minster. Dover disappeared quickly.

The next big change could have come when business man Alan Crook-Banker announced a new club called Wigan Hospitallers. He had made a deal to build a new stadium on Wigan Hospital car park, and would therefore have been able to call on just about all of the Wigan Warriors squad. The deal fell through only when it was discovered that Crook-Banker’s correspondence address relayed to Thorn Cross Open Prison, where Her Majesty had invited him to spend some years at her expense following some previous financial dealings.

To avoid this happening again, Wigan Warriors took a visionary long-term move, something completely unassociated with the traditions of rugby league. They built a maternity unit next to their ground, and encouraged prospective parents to put their names down for it. Other clubs followed suit, Leeds being able to make better use of the flat grassy area behind their main stand by siting the Sir Kevin Sinfield Birthing Clinic there. Nowadays, of course, much of the country has maternity services provided only by rugby league clubs. One exception is Wakefield, who hope to sign a Heads of Terms Agreement next year.

Clubs are naturally competitive, and Castleford Tigers made the next breakthrough. They recognised that an important start to many lives was when the heavily pregnant expectant mother was driven at speed to the maternity unit by a family member. They therefore started a programme of road improvements that would make it easier for people to get into Castleford, and in particular to arrive at The Jungle's Cubs and Cubettes Club. Shortly afterwards, Featherstone built roads that made it easier for people to get out of Castleford, for which Rovers won a community award. Other clubs followed suit, and we now expect that much of our road budget each year will come from a nearby rugby league club. Well, except for Wakefield who are still looking to dot a few j’s and cross a few bridges before committing themselves.

With the pool of player talent available to clubs, the game is healthier than ever, and if the eligibility rules are the reason, then who does the credit belong to? I’ve done some research and I’ve discovered an anonymous post on an archaic messageboard suggesting the change. That was written by “JDINTHEHIZZOUSE” with some help from his mum.

[thehullram]

Dewsbury would have the 4 burgess brothers and Danny Brough shepherding them around the Tetleys Stadium! 

[JDINTHEHIZZOUSE]

10 hours ago, The Cube said:

With 400 miles travelling this weekend, I've had some time to think about this topic. So I have written a futuristic short story, which means that it will be too long for most people to read. I can see that ullman had some of the same ideas.

 

 

As we approach the 200th anniversary of rugby league, I thought it time to look back at the period where everything started to go right. Many historians have written that the rise and rise of the sport started with the surprise resignation of Supreme Commander Nigel Wood (who left rugby league in order to run a different sport that no longer exists).

 

 

 

But I think the really significant advance came about with the 2019 eligibility change. It was ground-breaking when the RFL announced that from now on players were only able to play for the club nearest their place of birth.

 

There were some immediate casualties - Wakefield’s proposed ground-share whilst they rebuilt Belle Vue had to be called off, as they would cease to have any players. And of course that meant the rebuilding couldn’t happen, which is why Belle Vue still stands, looking exactly the same as it did in those far-off days.

 

With Brexit on the horizon, Catalan Dragons were also dumped out of Super League. As the Foreign Secretary put it in during one of his more diplomatic phases, “Froggie not welcome here“.

 

In the first couple of years after the change Wigan and Leeds dominated, until the arrival of the Dover Roos. Their back-to-back Grand Final wins prompted a final eligibility change, as the game was now restricted to players born in the UK. “Bloody convicts - we don’t want them back”, said the recently elevated Prime Minster. Dover disappeared quickly.

 

The next big change could have come when business man Alan Crook-Banker announced a new club called Wigan Hospitallers. He had made a deal to build a new stadium on Wigan Hospital car park, and would therefore have been able to call on just about all of the Wigan Warriors squad. The deal fell through only when it was discovered that Crook-Banker’s correspondence address relayed to Thorn Cross Open Prison, where Her Majesty had invited him to spend some years at her expense following some previous financial dealings.

 

To avoid this happening again, Wigan Warriors took a visionary long-term move, something completely unassociated with the traditions of rugby league. They built a maternity unit next to their ground, and encouraged prospective parents to put their names down for it. Other clubs followed suit, Leeds being able to make better use of the flat grassy area behind their main stand by siting the Sir Kevin Sinfield Birthing Clinic there. Nowadays, of course, much of the country has maternity services provided only by rugby league clubs. One exception is Wakefield, who hope to sign a Heads of Terms Agreement next year.

 

Clubs are naturally competitive, and Castleford Tigers made the next breakthrough. They recognised that an important start to many lives was when the heavily pregnant expectant mother was driven at speed to the maternity unit by a family member. They therefore started a programme of road improvements that would make it easier for people to get into Castleford, and in particular to arrive at The Jungle's Cubs and Cubettes Club. Shortly afterwards, Featherstone built roads that made it easier for people to get out of Castleford, for which Rovers won a community award. Other clubs followed suit, and we now expect that much of our road budget each year will come from a nearby rugby league club. Well, except for Wakefield who are still looking to dot a few j’s and cross a few bridges before committing themselves.

 

With the pool of player talent available to clubs, the game is healthier than ever, and if the eligibility rules are the reason, then who does the credit belong to? I’ve done some research and I’ve discovered an anonymous post on an archaic messageboard suggesting the change. That was written by “JDINTHEHIZZOUSE” with some help from his mum.

Not quite what I meant but certainly one of the greatest posts I've ever read,sheer genius!